Which Rideshare and Delivery Apps Accept DUI Drivers in Michigan

Michigan requires SR-22 filing for 3 years after a DUI conviction, but the filing itself disqualifies you from most delivery platforms even if your conviction is accepted. Uber and Lyft run 7-year background checks that flag DUIs, but their commercial insurance policies permit SR-22 filings if you're approved. DoorDash and Grubhub accept DUI convictions under 7 years old during background review, but their occupational accident policies explicitly exclude drivers carrying SR-22—your application clears background, then fails at insurance verification. The conflict sits at the intersection of two separate approval gates. Background check companies (Checkr for most platforms) evaluate your criminal and driving record. Insurance underwriters evaluate your personal auto policy and state-required filings. A platform can pass you through background and reject you at insurance, or reject you at background despite acceptable insurance. Michigan DUI drivers hit both gates differently depending on platform type. Most drivers discover the SR-22 conflict only after investing time in vehicle inspection, document upload, and onboarding. The platform sends an automated approval, then a secondary rejection citing "insurance requirements not met" without naming SR-22 specifically. Understanding which platforms evaluate what—and in what order—determines whether you can work during your filing period.

Uber and Lyft both use 7-year lookback windows for DUI convictions in Michigan. A first-offense standard DUI disqualifies you for 7 years from conviction date. An aggravated DUI (BAC .17+, minor in vehicle, injury, or refusal) creates a permanent disqualification under Uber's current policy and a 10-year lookback under Lyft. If your conviction falls outside the lookback window and you're otherwise approved, both platforms accept SR-22 filings on your personal auto policy without additional restriction. This creates a narrow eligibility window: Michigan drivers whose DUI convictions are 7+ years old but still within their 3-year SR-22 filing period qualify for rideshare. That window exists only if your filing period started late—court delays, license suspension served before filing, or a lapse that reset your clock. Most first-offense DUI drivers complete SR-22 filing years before the 7-year background check window closes. If you're approved to drive, your SR-22 filing appears on your insurance verification documents but doesn't trigger secondary rejection. Both platforms require personal auto liability minimums at Michigan's state floor: $50,000 bodily injury per person, $100,000 per accident, $10,000 property damage. Your SR-22 is filed on that policy, and the rideshare platform's commercial coverage layers on top during active rides. The filing itself costs $25–$50 in Michigan, and your liability premium typically runs $180–$320/mo in the non-standard market after DUI.

DoorDash permits DUI convictions under 7 years old during background screening, and Grubhub uses a 7-year window with case-by-case review for aggravated offenses. Both platforms pass most standard first-offense DUI drivers through Checkr without disqualification. The rejection comes at the second gate: occupational accident insurance verification requires a personal auto policy free of state-mandated filings, including SR-22. Michigan DUI drivers meet background criteria but fail insurance review because the SR-22 filing appears on their declarations page. The platform's occupational accident carrier—not the platform itself—enforces the exclusion. DoorDash's policy underwriter (currently Chubb for occupational accident) and Grubhub's carrier both treat SR-22 as a disqualifying risk factor regardless of conviction age. You can have a 6-year-old DUI that clears background and still be rejected for carrying the filing required by Michigan law. This creates an impossible compliance position: you cannot legally drive in Michigan without SR-22 after DUI, and you cannot be approved for delivery platform insurance while carrying it. The only resolution is completing your 3-year filing period, obtaining a clearance letter from Michigan Secretary of State, and reapplying. Drivers who attempt to hide the SR-22 by providing outdated insurance cards are terminated when the platform runs quarterly MVR checks and discovers the filing.

Amazon Flex disqualifies any DUI conviction within 10 years in Michigan, and Instacart enforces a 7-year window with no case-by-case review. Both platforms also reject SR-22 filings during insurance verification, compounding the restriction. A Michigan driver with a 5-year-old DUI fails background before reaching the insurance gate. A driver with an 8-year-old conviction still within their extended filing period (repeat offense or lapse reset) fails at insurance review. Amazon Flex's 10-year window exceeds Michigan's 3-year SR-22 requirement by 7 years, creating a multi-year gap where your filing is complete but your background remains disqualifying. The platform updates background check criteria periodically, and drivers report inconsistent application of the 10-year rule—some approvals appear at 7 years, others hold firm at 10. Instacart provides no transparency on aggravating factors but denies most DUIs involving property damage, injury, or refusal regardless of age. Neither platform permits SR-22 on your personal auto policy even if background clears. Their occupational accident and commercial auto policies exclude high-risk filings explicitly in underwriting guidelines. Michigan drivers in the non-standard market after DUI often carry SR-22 on policies from The General, Dairyland, or Bristol West—carriers these platforms flag during insurance document review.

Walmart Spark uses a 7-year DUI lookback and requires commercial-grade auto liability during active delivery, not just personal auto. Michigan's SR-22 filing satisfies state reinstatement requirements but does not convert your policy to commercial classification. Spark's onboarding process requests proof of business use coverage or hired/non-owned auto liability, which most SR-22 policies in the non-standard market do not include. You clear background, upload your SR-22 policy, and receive a rejection citing inadequate commercial coverage. Shipt enforces a 5-year DUI window—the shortest among major delivery platforms—and accepts SR-22 filings if your personal auto policy meets their liability minimums. Michigan drivers with convictions older than 5 years but still within the 3-year filing period qualify. Shipt requires $100,000 bodily injury per person, $300,000 per accident, and $50,000 property damage—higher than Michigan's state minimums and higher than most non-standard SR-22 policies carry. Upgrading liability limits after DUI increases your premium 15–25%, but it's the only path to Shipt approval. Drivers who secure Shipt approval report monthly premiums of $240–$380 for 100/300/50 liability in Michigan's non-standard market with SR-22. Carriers willing to write this combination include Dairyland, Direct Auto, and GAINSCO, though availability varies by county. Spark remains functionally inaccessible to SR-22 filers unless you obtain a separate commercial auto policy, which costs $4,200–$7,800 annually in Michigan after DUI—economically unviable for part-time delivery work.

Postmates was acquired by Uber in 2020 and now applies Uber's 7-year DUI lookback and SR-22-permissive insurance requirements. Existing Postmates drivers were migrated to Uber's fleet app, and new applications route through Uber's background and insurance verification. Michigan DUI drivers face the same approval criteria as Uber rideshare: conviction older than 7 years passes background, and SR-22 filing does not trigger secondary rejection if you're approved. Caviar was acquired by DoorDash in 2019 and applies DoorDash's background criteria with the same SR-22 exclusion in occupational accident insurance. Caviar operates as a restaurant delivery vertical within DoorDash's platform, and Michigan drivers onboard through the standard Dasher application. DUI convictions under 7 years clear background, but SR-22 filings fail insurance review. The conflict remains identical to DoorDash's main platform. These mergers collapsed previously independent approval criteria into parent company rules, eliminating options for Michigan DUI drivers who were grandfathered under legacy policies. Drivers approved before acquisition report account deactivation during the first post-merger insurance reverification cycle if SR-22 appears on updated declarations pages. No notice period or appeal process exists—termination is immediate and final when the occupational accident carrier flags the filing.

Michigan calculates the 3-year SR-22 requirement from your DUI conviction date, not your license reinstatement date or the date you first file. A conviction on March 1, 2022 requires SR-22 through February 28, 2025, regardless of whether your license was suspended for 6 months and you didn't file until September 2022. The filing period does not pause during suspension—it runs concurrently. This means most Michigan DUI drivers complete SR-22 before their conviction ages out of platform background checks. If your DUI occurred 4 years ago, you have 3 years of SR-22 complete and are 3 years into most platforms' 7-year lookback windows. You remain disqualified for background reasons even though your filing is discharged. If your DUI occurred 8 years ago, you clear most background checks, but SR-22 applies only if a lapse or violation reset your filing clock or a repeat offense extended it beyond the standard 3 years. Drivers who let SR-22 lapse—even one day—reset the 3-year clock to zero in Michigan. A lapse 2.5 years into your original filing period creates a new 3-year requirement starting from the lapse date. This extends your total SR-22 duration to 5.5 years and keeps you disqualified from delivery platforms long after your conviction would otherwise age out of background review. Maintaining continuous coverage is the only way to compress your ineligibility window.