Does Tesco do food delivery insurance?

Tesco Bank policyholders are NOT covered for using their cars for food delivery or other paid delivery or courier work. Here's what you'll need to do if you have Tesco car insurance and want to work as a courier or food delivery driver.

Does Tesco Bank cover delivery or courier driving?

No, Tesco car insurance does not cover delivery driving. Paid delivery drivers need a form of cover called Hire & Reward (H&R) to cover their delivery driving, and Tesco does not offer H&R insurance.

That said, they may allow a policyholder to buy a top-up Hire & Reward (H&R) policy that is meant to cover the delivery work aspect of driving. In that case the driver can keep their Tesco policy to cover their regular personal driving and buy a second top-up H&R policy to protect the work driving.

To confirm this, we recently reached out to Tesco media team to confirm whether or not they'll cover delivery driving. Here's what they said:

"... we allow customers to use their vehicle if they are volunteering to drop off supplies, but policyholders are not covered for paid delivery work.

Customers can buy top up Hire and Reward if they need this cover for paid delivery work."

However, before you go an buy a top-up policy it is critical that you call Tesco and inform them of your new job and get the a-o-k to buy a top-up policy, as these decisions are typically made on a case-by-case basis.

Can I make deliveries without hire & reward cover?

A driver cannot make any deliveries with their vehicle until they've secured hire & reward (H&R) cover—it's required by law. Being paid to make deliveries without H&R insurance is illegal and could invalidate your underlying social domestic & pleasure (SD&P) policy. That means if you have an accident or are caught driving this way, it could result in points, fines, seizure of your car, having your licence taken away and possible financial disaster.

You can learn more about hire & reward insurance in our in-depth guide to delivery driving and food delivery insurance.

What do I do now?

If you want to work as a delivery driver or courier and you currently have Tesco insurance, you'll need to call them to ask if they'll still cover your social, domestic & pleasure driving if you get top-up hire & reward cover. If they say no, you have two options for finding delivery driver insurance:

You can read our full Zego review to learn more about the company and the product. The way Zego top-up cover works is that a driver has a regular car insurance policy that covers their personal driving, and then they buy Zego PAYG top-up H&R insurance which covers their delivery driving. In addition to top-up cover, they also offer a full package to cover both delivery and personal SD&P driving.

What to look out for

If you go with the top-up H&R insurance option and SD&P from another company, be sure to inform your SD&P insurer of your delivery work as you'll need their approval to do all of this.

Also, make sure one of the policies covers your commute between work and home—this is a formal declaration of use on a certificate of motor insurance, and without it you won't be covered during that portion of your journeys. Commuting should show up on one of your certificates of motor insurance, but not both. Why? It could lead to confusion regarding which company was liable if you have an accident during your commute.

Final thoughts

It is always critical to call up your insurer or potential insurers and confirm that you are covered on all fronts and if you're going with the top-up cover route, be sure to get the formal blessing of your SD&P provider. Be aware that not all car insurance customer support team members seem to know the rules around delivery driving, however, so if you get a confusing or conflicted answer, perhaps ask the rep to check with the underwriting team, as they have the final say.