Does Admiral do food delivery insurance?

Admiral continues to lead the 2026 market as a primary provider for delivery and courier Hire and Reward (H&R) insurance. While the average cost of standard car insurance in the UK has settled at approximately £551 (as of 2025/26), delivery drivers still face specialized premiums that can exceed £4,000 a year. This guide breaks down how to secure this vital cover without overpaying.

Does Admiral cover delivery or courier driving?

Yes! Admiral now does offer cover for delivery driving if your policy includes the 'Carriage of goods for hire and reward' class of use. A 'class of use' determines how you can use your car. For example, here are some classes of use that a private car might be covered for:

H&R insurance can cover courier and delivery driving and is required by law for anyone earning money for making deliveries. (You can learn more in our in-depth guide to delivery driving and food delivery insurance.)

Please note that delivery and courier driving is NOT covered under Admiral's other classes of use such as 'social, domestic and pleasure' or 'business use'. If you want to engage in paid courier or delivery driving work, hire & reward cover/class of use is required by law.

Admiral remains the primary 'big name' insurer to offer Hire and Reward as a direct 'class of use' choice during the quote process. However, the market has evolved; Direct Line, RSA (More Than), and Tesco Bank have indicated they may now permit supplemental top-up cover on a case-by-case basis. As the UK’s largest car insurer—holding a 15% market share with over £3.3 billion in annual premiums—Admiral’s entry into this space has set the standard for others to follow.

How do I get courier or delivery insurance from Admiral?

To get courier or delivery driver insurance with Admiral, you'd select 'Carriage of goods for hire and reward' as your class of use when getting a quote—it's one of the options. Or if you already have a policy with them, you can call up and request a change of your class of use.

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Consider this if you want car insurance that covers courier and delivery driving from the UK's largest car insurance company.

Can I make deliveries without hire & reward cover?

No, it is critical that you do not make any deliveries until you've secured your H&R cover. Doing so would be illegal, invalidating your underlying SD&P policy—and if you have an accident or are caught it could result in points, fines, seizure of your car, having your licence taken away and possible financial ruin! Best avoided.

Can you use top-up H&R cover with Admiral instead?

'Top-up' hire & reward insurance is a supplemental cover that you can buy to insure just your hire & reward driving. It essentially 'tops-up' your underlying social car insurance. 'Top-up' cover would typically be purchased from a different insurer, as in not your social car insurance provider—so you have two different insurance policies, one to cover your social driving and a different one (the top-up cover) to cover your delivery driving.

Short-term top-up policies from providers like Zego are ideal for those 'testing the waters' of delivery work. In the 2025/26 market, Zego’s pay-as-you-go hourly insurance starts from £0.80 per hour, while their 30-day policies begin at approximately £99.50 per month. These concrete benchmarks allow drivers to calculate exactly how many deliveries they need to complete to cover their insurance overhead.

So can an Admiral policyholder get top-up H&R cover from a different insurer, instead of buying their H&R cover from Admiral? We think so—but they need to get clearance to do this from Admiral.

To confirm that Admiral policy holders can get top-up cover, we reached out to Admiral. Here's what they said:

"Admiral ... do allow our customers to use top-up PAYG hire & reward insurance policies alongside their main insurance. They will be covered as normal while using their vehicle for social and commuting. If an accident occurs while delivering, the top-up insurance would step in and deal with this claim."

Admiral is one of the only big UK car insurers to work with top-up H&R cover for delivery people. Most insurers will invalidate your policy if you work as a courier, even if you've bought top-up cover.

But before doing this, keep in mind that it may be a lot simpler to get both your social and H&R cover from one company, like Admiral—not only does this mean having only one premium to pay but if you ever need to claim you don't have to worry about which insurance company will cover it (e.g. your underlying social insurance provider or the top-up H&R provider).

If you already have an Admiral policy and are thinking of adding top-up H&R from another provider, do first enquire with Admiral about switching your class of use to include carriage of goods for hire & reward so all your cover is with them. It might be a lot easier in the long run.

Where to buy top-up hire & reward cover

While there are a few options in the marketplace for top-up H&R cover, we've scoured forums reading what delivery drivers have to say and it seems like Zego is the most popular option. 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 (say, with Admiral) that covers their personal driving, and then they buy Zego PAYG top-up H&R insurance which covers their delivery driving.

What to look out for

If you go for top-up H&R from another provider, then your underlying Admiral policy would cover your social, domestic & pleasure driving; the top-up H&R insurance would cover your food delivery driving—but who covers your commute between home and work? It depends. Either the top-up insurance will cover your commute, or else you'll need to declare commuting on your Admiral policy.

Commuting should show up on one of your certificates of motor insurance (but not both, as this could lead to confusion regarding who was liable if you have an accident on the way to or from work).

Final thoughts

Driving without specific Hire and Reward cover is a severe legal risk. If caught, you face a £300 fixed penalty and 6 points, alongside the immediate risk of vehicle seizure and destruction. Beyond the legalities, with more than 29,000 serious injuries recorded annually on UK roads, being properly insured is a safety priority. Without H&R cover, a single accident could leave you personally liable for unlimited third-party damages.

Keep in mind that insurance with H&R cover does cost more, so you'll need to budget accordingly. And given the extra cost, it is a good idea to compare prices from different providers if you're buying H&R cover.

If you want to get permission from Admiral to get top-up cover elsewhere, beware that it might not be straightforward as not all of their customer support team seem to know that top-up cover is acceptable—if you get someone who thinks this is unacceptable, perhaps ask the rep to check with the underwriting team, as they have the final say.

Our 2026 Value Strategy suggests that while annual cover is most cost-effective for full-time couriers, pay-as-you-go models remain superior for those working under 20 hours per week. For those seeking an annual policy on a budget, Admiral Essential may be a competitive option; it allows you to strip back optional features like windscreen cover to keep your comprehensive Hire and Reward premiums as low as possible.