When a delivery van hits you, the driver is rarely the only one responsible. The van may belong to an Amazon delivery partner, a FedEx Ground contractor, a utility, a local business or the Postal Service. Each one carries different insurance, keeps different records and follows different rules. Knowing which one you are dealing with in the first week decides what evidence survives.

The driver had a schedule, a route and a camera watching the road. All three are evidence, and the company that holds them is already deciding what to keep.

Why Is a Delivery Van Crash Different From an Ordinary Car Crash?

In an ordinary crash, you deal with one driver and one insurance policy. Missouri requires that policy to cover only $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for bodily injury (RSMo 303.190). A serious injury can use that up in a single hospital stay.

A delivery van is different in three ways.

  • There is a company behind the driver. A business that puts a driver on the road to earn money for it is usually responsible for what that driver does on the job.
  • The insurance is often larger. Commercial fleets commonly carry policies well above the Missouri minimum. Amazon, for example, says the commercial policy that covers its Flex drivers while they are actively driving and delivering includes $1,000,000 in auto liability coverage.
  • The company holds the evidence. In-cab video, GPS, route and stop timestamps and dispatch messages sit in company systems, not at the crash scene.

Who Can Be Responsible When a Delivery Van Hits You?

Often three layers: the driver, the company that employs the driver and the company whose packages are in the van.

The driver

The driver who ran the stop sign, backed out without looking or was reading the delivery app is the starting point. Every other claim builds on proving the driver was careless.

The delivery company

Many brands do not employ the people who drive their packages. Amazon’s Delivery Service Partners are separate businesses whose staff are not Amazon employees, and they deliver in Amazon-branded vans and uniforms. FedEx Ground has said it contracts only with incorporated businesses that treat their drivers as their own employees. That company, the delivery partner or contractor, is usually the driver’s employer and the first company responsible.

The brand

Then there is the brand whose name is on the van. If that company assigns the routes, sets the pace, watches the driver through its own cameras and grades the driver’s performance, there is a strong argument that it controlled the work. How much control it had is where most of the fight in these cases happens.

Can You Sue Amazon for a Crash by an Amazon Delivery Driver?

You can name Amazon, and in some cases it should be named. Amazon’s position has been that its delivery partners and their drivers are independent contractors, not Amazon employees, so Amazon is not responsible for how they drive.

The argument on the other side is about control. Amazon-branded vans and uniforms, Amazon’s delivery technology and Amazon’s cameras in the cab are all evidence of how much Amazon directs where, how and how fast the work gets done. When a company hires a contractor, its right to control the details of the work is what usually decides whether it answers for the contractor’s carelessness.

One jury has accepted that argument. In December 2023, a jury in the Dorchester County Court of Common Pleas in South Carolina found that Amazon had the right to control its delivery partner, MJV Logistics, and the partner’s driver after a 2021 crash with a motorcyclist. The verdict totaled about $44.6 million, including $30 million in punitive damages against Amazon. That is one case in another state. It does not predict the outcome of any Missouri case, and each case turns on its own facts.

The independent-contractor label is where the company’s argument starts, not where it ends. Control is a question of fact, and the facts are in the company’s records.

What Do Respondeat Superior and Negligent Hiring Mean?

Respondeat superior is Latin for “let the master answer.” In plain words, an employer is responsible for the carelessness of an employee who is doing the employer’s work. If a delivery partner’s driver hits you while running a route, the delivery partner answers for it.

Companies can also be responsible for their own mistakes:

  • Negligent hiring: putting someone behind the wheel whose driving record should have kept them out of the job.
  • Negligent training: sending a driver out without teaching them to back up safely, park legally or handle a large van.
  • Negligent retention or supervision: keeping a driver on after crashes, tickets or camera alerts showed a pattern.
  • Negligent entrustment: handing the keys to someone the company knew, or should have known, was unfit to drive.

In Missouri, these theories interact. The Missouri Supreme Court has held that once an employer admits its driver was acting for it, the separate negligent hiring and entrustment claims generally should not go to the jury, because the employer is already responsible for the driver’s negligence (McHaffie v. Bunch, 891 S.W.2d 822, Mo. banc 1995). That makes the first question, who employed the driver and who controlled the work, even more important.

Do Federal Trucking Rules Apply to Delivery Vans?

Sometimes. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations apply to commercial motor vehicles. Federal law defines one as a vehicle used on a highway in interstate commerce to carry property that has a gross vehicle weight rating, or actual weight, of 10,001 pounds or more, whichever is greater (49 CFR 390.5T).

Many delivery vans fall below that line. Rivian’s electric delivery van, which Amazon had in its fleet by the tens of thousands as of early 2025, has a gross vehicle weight rating of 9,500 pounds. Walk-in step vans used on parcel routes are a different story. One widely used step-van chassis was introduced with ratings from 14,140 to 19,000 pounds.

Interstate commerce is broader than it sounds. It includes a trip within Missouri that is part of a shipment that began or will end in another state (49 CFR 390.5T). Whether a particular van and route are covered is a question of fact. We check the weight rating on the door label, the company’s federal registration and where the cargo came from.

When the rules apply, they create records: a driver qualification file kept for as long as the driver works there and three years after (49 CFR 391.51), and inspection and maintenance records kept for a year (49 CFR 396.3). When they do not apply, Missouri negligence law still does, and the company’s own safety policies and training materials can set the standard the driver failed to meet.

How Much Insurance Is Behind a Delivery Van?

It depends on who operates the van and how heavy it is.

  • For-hire carriers hauling ordinary freight across state lines in vehicles rated 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage (49 CFR 387.9).
  • That federal minimum does not reach vehicles rated under 10,001 pounds unless they carry certain hazardous materials, and for ordinary freight it covers for-hire carriers, not a business moving its own goods (49 CFR 387.3). A florist, a plumbing company or a utility running its own fleet is covered by its own commercial policy and Missouri law.
  • Amazon Flex drivers use their own cars. Amazon says drivers who keep personal auto insurance are protected under its commercial auto policy while they are actively driving and delivering, with $1,000,000 in liability coverage. Whether the driver was actively delivering at the moment of the crash is often the first dispute.
  • Every Missouri auto policy must include uninsured motorist coverage (RSMo 379.203). Your own policy may also include underinsured motorist coverage. Both matter if the van’s coverage is denied or too small.

We request the policies from every company in the chain and read the exclusions, not just the limits.

What if a Mail Truck Hit You?

A crash with a Postal Service vehicle follows a different set of rules. Tort claims arising out of Postal Service activities go through the Federal Tort Claims Act (39 U.S.C. § 409(c)). When the carrier was acting within the scope of the job, the claim is against the United States, not the carrier personally (28 U.S.C. § 2679).

Before any lawsuit, you must present a written claim to the Postal Service, usually on Standard Form 95, that states a specific dollar amount (39 CFR 912.5). The claim must be presented within two years after it accrues, or it is barred forever (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)). You cannot sue until the Postal Service denies the claim in writing or six months pass without a decision (28 U.S.C. § 2675(a)). After a written denial, you have six months from its mailing to file suit (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)).

Two details trip people up. The lawsuit generally cannot ask for more than the amount stated in the claim (28 U.S.C. § 2675(b)), so underestimating your injuries early can cap your recovery. And the claim can be filed with the Tort Claims Coordinator for the Postal Service district where the crash happened or sent to the National Tort Center at 1720 Market Street in downtown St. Louis (39 CFR 912.4).

Not every vehicle carrying mail belongs to the Postal Service. The Federal Tort Claims Act does not cover contractors with the United States (28 U.S.C. § 2671), so a crash with a private contractor’s truck follows ordinary Missouri law.

What Evidence Disappears After a Delivery Van Crash?

The most important evidence is digital, and it lives on company servers.

  • In-cab cameras. Amazon-branded delivery vans carry a Netradyne camera system with lenses aimed at the road, the driver and both sides of the van. Amazon has said the cameras record the whole time a driver is on route and upload footage when the system detects events such as speeding, hard braking, a missed stop sign or distracted driving.
  • Telematics and GPS. Fleet vehicles commonly report speed, location, braking and idle time.
  • The delivery app. Route assignments, stop order, package scan times and the gaps between stops show where the driver was and how far behind the route had fallen.
  • Dispatch and pace records. Messages pushing the driver to catch up are evidence of pressure on speed.
  • Driver files. Hiring records, driving history, training records, earlier crashes and camera alerts.
  • Maintenance records. Brakes, tires, mirrors and backup cameras, and who was responsible for fixing them.

None of this is in the police report. All of it can be overwritten, purged on a routine schedule or simply never pulled if nobody asks.

How a preservation letter works

A preservation letter is a written demand that a company keep specific evidence because a claim is coming. We send one to each company in the chain: the driver’s employer, the brand whose packages were in the van, the vehicle’s owner or leasing company and, where it applies, the camera or telematics vendor. Each letter names the van, the driver, the date, time and place, and the categories of data to save. Once a company is on notice, destroying that evidence can carry real consequences in court.

How Do Delivery Van Crashes Happen?

  • Double parking and stopping in a travel lane, which forces traffic to swerve around the van into oncoming lanes or bike lanes.
  • Backing out of driveways and cul-de-sacs, where a cargo van’s blind spots hide children, pedestrians and low cars.
  • Speeding on residential streets between stops to stay on schedule.
  • Pulling away while a pedestrian or cyclist is passing the open door or the front of the van.
  • Distraction from a phone or handheld scanner mounted near the windshield.
  • Fatigue late in a long shift, when the route is behind and the driver has been climbing in and out of the van for hours.

Pedestrians and cyclists are often hurt worst in these crashes. If you were on foot or on a bike, you have the same right to recover as a driver, and Missouri law does not require you to have been perfect.

What Missouri Rules Apply to Your Claim?

  • Deadline: five years from the crash for most injury claims (RSMo 516.120), three years for a wrongful death claim (RSMo 537.100) and two years to present a claim against the Postal Service (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)).
  • Fault: Missouri uses pure comparative fault. If you were partly at fault, your recovery is reduced by your share, not eliminated (Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11, Mo. banc 1983).
  • Minimum insurance: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for bodily injury (RSMo 303.190). A commercial van often carries more, but someone has to find it.
  • Your own coverage: uninsured motorist coverage is required on every Missouri auto policy (RSMo 379.203).

What to do this week

  • Get medical care and follow the treatment plan.
  • Photograph the van, the company name on it and any fleet or van number on the bumper or doors.
  • Write down the time and the delivery address the van was at or heading to, if you know it.
  • Do not give a recorded statement to the delivery company’s insurer before you speak with a lawyer.
  • Call The Injury Counsel for a free, confidential consultation. We identify every company in the chain and send the preservation letters right away.

The companies behind the van already have their records and their lawyers. You should have someone working on your side just as quickly. Call The Injury Counsel at (314) 727-7220.