Pizza Delivery Costs 1,500 Bucks?

Lu Ann Cahn and the NBC 10 Investigators expose the truth behind pizza policies

By LU ANN CAHN and JACKIE MORLOCK

Updated 10:56 AM EST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009

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Where do you order your pizza? Papa John’s? Domino's? Pizza Hut? It doesn’t matter. They all have similar policies that only require their pizza delivery drivers to have state minimal Personal Auto Liability coverage.

Pretty much, your pizza delivery could cost you more dough than you called for if one of those drivers hits your car.

Take Amber McQuigon for example. All she wanted was some extra cheese and pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s. What she got was a $1,500 bill after her pizza deliveryman dented and scratched her car. The driver had car insurance, but not the kind that’ll cover pizza delivery. Now, Amber is left with a mucked up car and a beefy bill. That’s when she called Lu Ann Cahn and the NBC 10 Investigators.

The NBC10 Investigators found out this problem spreads way beyond your pizza person and herein lies the problem. It doesn’t matter what kind of delivery drivers are doing, whether it’s newspaper delivery, pizza delivery or whatever, the person behind the wheel needs to have a commercial auto policy.

But, commercial auto policies cost about 30 percent more than minimal liability coverage, according to insurance companies like Progressive.

“If my driver is only making $50 a week and is paying $200 extra for insurance for delivery, I don’t know how many drivers I would have,” a Papa John’s spokesperson said.

In a national survey of pizza restaurant owners, over 70-percent said they only require employees to show proof of insurance, which means drivers can have the cheapest coverage possible. Thirteen percent of restaurant owners don’t even ask at all! They have a "Don’t ask , don’t tell " policy. Only 16 percent of restaurant owners said their company provides insurance for delivery vehicles.

“It is irresponsible corporate citizenship to do this kind of thing, to put on your employees the responsibility to buy minimum insurance coverage and not protect the public,” Trial lawyer Tom Kline told Cahn.

In a bad accident, this pizza policy probably wouldn’t hold up in court, Kline went on to say. His position: companies should be insuring the drivers and taking responsibility.

On Monday, November 17, Papa John’s informed the NBC10 Investigators that the company will now pay for Amber’s expenses.

Papa John’s and Domino’s both say they can use their own liability insurance if their drivers are not properly covered, Cahn reported. So far, there has been no word from Pizza Hut.