A Milford, Massachusetts, man had video of a hit-and-run crash that damaged his car — but the driver involved in the incident worked for an online food delivery platform, and that complicated matters.
"I came around the corner here and I looked and I noticed there was a giant dent here," said Ed Clare, pointing at his car.
He discovered the damage to his vehicle, which was parked outside of his house, in March.
"It was completely caved in, scratch marks, the whole works," Clare said.
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He asked his neighbor across the street to check his driveway video camera to see what happened.
"He found that the previous night, there was a DoorDash delivery he had done, delivered to his house," said Clare. "Apparently, the DoorDasher, after dropping the food off at the door, was backing out, struck my car and then just took off."
Armed with the video of the incident, Clare didn't think it would be a problem to get the damages covered. He had recently dropped his collision coverage with his insurer to save some money, and he knew he would be on the hook for the full amount, about $1,000, if not.
But it wasn't easy.
"DoorDash was saying that she had already physically delivered the food onto the doorstep. So as soon as that happened, she was no longer an independent contractor. She was no longer working for DoorDash," said Clare. "And they directed me to reach out to her insurance company."
But the company would not disclose the identity of the driver, Clare said. He added that Milford police eventually tracked the woman down after obtaining vehicle information from the video. But he says her insurance company wouldn't cover the damages, either.
"They had basically said that her car was being used for commercial purposes, therefore it's not covered on her policy," he said. "So I would have to go to DoorDash to get reimbursed. And it was a lot of finger-pointing, back and forth, for like four months."
He contacted NBC10 Boston Responds for help.
"It was just frustration," he said. "I threw my hands up in the air, and it was just like, 'Alright, if you guys can solve this for me, that's great. But then that's it, it is what it is.'"
We contacted DoorDash on Clare's behalf and the company looked into the issue.
A DoorDash spokesperson told us:
All Dashers agree to maintain insurance that covers them while dashing, and to follow the law. We know this was an unfortunate and frustrating incident for Mr. Clare, and he has been made whole, directly, for the damages to his vehicle. The Dasher responsible has been removed from the DoorDash platform.
"I just want to say I'm always going to carry full collision coverage with my insurance provider, because I don't ever want to go through this again," he said. "But, you know, it's good to know the resources exist to help with this these kind of incidents, so I appreciate it."
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