Amazon pays damages after delivery van hits Kansas City couple’s car; critics say response was indifferent

A Kansas City couple says an Amazon delivery van struck their parked car and drove off, an incident captured on a neighbor’s Ring camera and later corroborated by police footage. The couple, Virginia Bernstein and her husband, returned home on June 30 to find their car damaged and the rear wheel obstructed by debris from the impact. They initially suspected a neighborhood hit-and-run, not realizing the culprit was an Amazon van until a neighbor shared the Ring video two days later. The police reviewed the footage and found it showed the Amazon vehicle striking the Bernstein vehicle, according to the couple’s police report. The discovery galvanized the couple, who faced a repair bill and an arduous path to compensation that stretched over months.

The Durand neighborhood video is central to the case: it depicts a marked Amazon delivery van colliding with Bernstein’s car and driving away without stopping. An auto shop later removed the obstruction from the wheel damaged by the crash, but the Bernsteins were left with a $2,600 repair bill. They pressed Amazon for compensation, but their outreach encountered persistent resistance. Bernstein said she spent countless hours on the phone and had to pursue the issue through the van’s third-party employer rather than the company directly. The third-party operator reportedly denied responsibility, telling Bernstein there was “no evidence” to support the driver’s liability, despite the police report and the video evidence that pointed to the van as the culprit.

With the case drawing attention from FOX4 Problem Solvers, Bernstein and her husband staged a media appeal to seek comment from Amazon and the van’s employer. FOX4’s inquiry prompted a response from Amazon: the company apologized for the incident and said it would work directly with Bernstein to resolve the matter, adding that it was reviewing the case with the driver’s employer and would take appropriate action when more information was learned. A few days after the media inquiry, Amazon paid for the damages, resolving the immediate financial fallout for the Bernstein family.

The episode fits into a broader pattern the notes describe regarding Amazon delivery vans and liability. In another case reported in the same timeframe, an Amazon van crashed into a woman’s garage door; the company reportedly offered refunds for the affected packages rather than covering property damage. In a separate incident in November, a drunk Amazon worker drove a delivery van on the wrong side of the road, continuing after a Good Samaritan who attempted to intervene was knocked to the ground, resulting in injuries. There are also older cases cited, including a February 2021 crash through the front door of a Georgia home, and a 2019 articulation that, at least in some instances, delivery drivers bear responsibility for incidents. The Bernstein case, however, underscores ongoing questions about how liability is assigned and how consumers are compensated when a delivery driver is involved in property damage, even when evidence strongly implicates the company’s vehicle in the incident.