The short answer
Food delivery has a lower bar than rideshare on every axis. Uber Eats accepts a 2-door car and a P2 provisional licence in Victoria, Queensland, WA, South Australia and Tasmania — though not in NSW, the ACT or the Northern Territory. Menulog and DoorDash start at 18. And no state commercial passenger licence applies, because carrying food is not carrying passengers. The catch is the rental contract: of the 75 independent operators we track, only 10 say delivery is allowed and 3 ban it outright.
Delivering food is often treated as the easy version of rideshare — same apps, same car, less hassle. It is genuinely a lower bar, and the differences are bigger than most people realise. But the door that closes on delivery drivers is not the platform or the law: it is the rental contract.
Platform rules read from Uber, DoorDash and Menulog directly in August 2026. Operator rules read from the websites of 75 independent operators across nine Australian cities.
The P-plate rule, which changes by state
This is the most useful thing on this page, and almost nobody states it plainly. Uber publishes it as a split:
| Where you deliver | Licence Uber accepts for car deliveries |
|---|---|
| VIC · QLD · WA · SA · TAS | Provisional P2 accepted |
| NSW · ACT · NT | Full Australian licence required |
So the same driver with the same licence can deliver in Melbourne and not in Sydney. Menulog draws its line in the same place from the other direction: learners and P1 licences are not accepted, which leaves P2 as the floor.
For rideshare there is no equivalent opening at all — carrying passengers requires a full unrestricted licence held for a period, plus the state vehicle authorisation. Delivery is the only door into gig driving that a P2 holder can walk through.
No commercial vehicle licence applies
Rideshare drags in a whole state regime — a licence for the vehicle, a specific purpose of use on the registration, a particular CTP insurance class. We go through it in detail in renting a car for Uber and DiDi.
None of it applies to delivering food, and the reason is in the wording of the law rather than in anyone’s policy. Queensland’s Act defines a booked hire service as a “public passenger service” provided by hiring a vehicle with “not more than 12 seating positions” together with “a person to drive the vehicle”. Every element of that test measures people: the word passenger, the seat count, and the CTP class the vehicle must carry — Compulsory Third Party being personal injury insurance.
A bag of food triggers none of them. On the face of the Act, carrying goods is not a booked hire service, and the $294.50-a-year licence a rideshare driver needs is not something a delivery driver has to think about.
The exception is the obvious one: the moment you accept a passenger, the whole regime applies. Plenty of drivers run Uber Eats and UberX from the same phone, and that is where the exposure sits. This is a reading of Queensland’s definition rather than a determination by the regulator — if you drive in another state, or you do both jobs, put the question to your own regulator in writing.
You need much less car than for rideshare
| Uber Eats (delivery) | UberX (passengers) | |
|---|---|---|
| Doors | 2 or 4 | 4 |
| Safety rating | Not stated | ANCAP 5-star, or an exemption |
| Vehicle age | Not stated | 15 years or less |
| Cosmetic condition | Not stated | No scuffs, scratches, dents or hail damage |
| State authorisation | None applies | Booked hire licence, purpose of use, CTP class |
Menulog asks only for a registered vehicle “in good operating condition” that meets industry safety standards for its kind. DoorDash publishes even less — its requirements page names an age of 18, a smartphone and a background check, and does not state a licence class or a vehicle rule at all.
For someone renting, this inverts the usual advice. A rideshare driver has to rent a newer car because the platform and the state both demand one — and in South Australia the rideshare cap is 10 years, stricter than Uber’s own. A delivery driver has no such floor. You want the cheapest thing that runs reliably, because the car is a cost, not a qualification.
The real gate: only 10 of 75 say yes
Platform and law are the easy part. The contract is where delivery drivers actually get caught.
| What the operator publishes | How many of 75 |
|---|---|
| Food delivery is allowed | 10 |
| Food delivery is banned in the terms | 3 |
| Publishes nothing either way | 62 |
The ten that allow it name the platforms — DoorDash, Menulog, Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex — and several of them market to delivery drivers directly.
The three that ban it are worth reading closely, because two of them do not use the word delivery in a way you would find by skimming. One prohibits “on-demand, Uber, car hire, food delivery driver or security patrol” use in a single clause. Another bans all commercial use, naming “rideshare, food delivery, courier or delivery services”. The third uses the legal phrase that catches everything at once — “the carriage of passengers and/or property for hire or reward”. That last one is the trap: “property … for reward” is your delivery, and the sentence never mentions food.
And the 62 who say nothing are not a soft yes. Driving outside the permitted use in your contract is the fastest way to void your cover, which on a hire car means you are personally exposed for a vehicle you do not own.
The age gap between platform and rental market
Menulog and DoorDash both start at 18. Uber requires 19 to deliver with a car.
That collides with something we found reading the operators: only three of 75 publish a minimum age below 21 — one at 18, one at 19, one at 20. So an eighteen-year-old can be approved by a platform in a week and still have almost nowhere to rent a car from. Six operators publish a young-driver surcharge on top, and one of them charges it right through to 28.
The full picture of who will and will not rent to you is in car rental without a credit card, under 25, or on P plates.
The paperwork is the same on all three
- An ABN. Uber, DoorDash and Menulog all require one. It is free and you apply online through the Australian Business Register.
- A criminal background check. All three run one. Menulog specifies it must be recent — within 90 days.
- Work rights. If you are not a citizen or permanent resident, Uber and DoorDash run a VEVO check; Menulog asks for proof of work eligibility such as a passport or work permit. Uber also notes that overseas licences are accepted in selected Australian cities.
- Insurance and registration. Menulog asks you to upload both. On a rental, that documentation belongs to the operator, so it is another thing to confirm before you commit.
Before you rent
- Ask whether the contract permits delivery — and listen for “commercial use” or “hire or reward”, which cover it without saying the word.
- Check your state’s licence rule if you are on a P2 — accepted for delivery in five jurisdictions, not in NSW, the ACT or the NT.
- Do not pay for a newer car than the job needs. Delivery has no published vehicle age limit on any of the three platforms.
- Check the kilometres included per week and the rate beyond them. Delivery is short trips at high volume, and a daily cap will cost you more than the hire.
- Confirm the bond before anything else. Across the operators that publish one it runs from $200 to $700, and on a debit card it can more than double.
City-by-city lists of independent operators, with published weekly rates, bonds and licence rules, are in our rankings of car rental companies in Australia.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you deliver for Uber Eats on P plates in Australia?
- On a P2, in five of eight jurisdictions. Uber states that provisional P2 licences are accepted for car deliveries in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, and that a full Australian licence is required for cars in New South Wales, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Menulog states that learners and P1 licences are not accepted, which leaves P2 as the floor there too. So the same driver with the same licence can deliver in Melbourne and not in Sydney.
- Do you need a special licence to deliver food in a rental car?
- No state commercial passenger licence applies. Queensland’s Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act defines a booked hire service as a “public passenger service” hired with a driver and no more than 12 seating positions, and the vehicle test turns on CTP — personal injury — insurance. Every element measures people, and a bag of food is not a passenger. What you do need is an ABN, a criminal background check and, if you are not a citizen or permanent resident, a work-rights check.
- Which rental companies allow food delivery in Australia?
- Of the 75 independent operators we track across nine cities, 10 state that food delivery is allowed — naming DoorDash, Menulog, Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex — and 3 ban it in their terms. One of those three prohibits “on-demand, Uber, car hire, food delivery driver or security patrol” use in a single clause. The remaining 62 publish nothing either way, so ask before you sign.
- What kind of car do you need for food delivery?
- Much less car than for rideshare. Uber allows a 2-door or 4-door car for delivery, against four doors and an ANCAP 5-star rating for UberX. Menulog asks only for a registered vehicle in good operating condition that meets industry safety standards. Neither publishes a maximum vehicle age for delivery, while UberX caps at 15 years and South Australia caps rideshare vehicles at 10. For a renter that changes the whole calculation: you want the cheapest car that runs, not a late model.
- How old do you have to be to deliver food in Australia?
- Menulog and DoorDash both state 18. Uber states you must be at least 19 to deliver with a car. That one-year gap matters more than it sounds, because it lines up with the rental market: only three of the 75 independent operators publish a minimum age below 21, so an 18-year-old can be signed up by a platform and still have almost nowhere to rent from.
- Do you need an ABN to deliver food?
- Yes, on all three platforms. Uber, DoorDash and Menulog each require an Australian Business Number, and each runs a criminal background check. Menulog specifies the check must be recent — within 90 days — and also asks you to upload vehicle insurance and registration. Non-citizens face a work-rights check: Uber and DoorDash use VEVO, and Menulog asks for proof of work eligibility such as a passport or work permit.
Cristobal Galilea
Co-founder, Carz
Cristobal builds Carz alongside the operators who use it — fleet software for independent car-rental businesses leasing weekly to gig drivers in Australia.