Uninsured Motorist Claims: Who Pays After a Crash Without Insurance

A crash is hard enough without finding out that someone had no insurance. If that was the other driver, your own policy usually pays through an uninsured motorist claim: uninsured motorist (UM) coverage for your injuries, and collision or UM property damage coverage for your car, if you bought them. If you were the one without insurance, it depends on who caused the crash. If the other driver did, you can usually still claim against their insurance, though some states limit what uninsured drivers can recover. If you did, you can be held personally responsible for the damage, and your state’s penalties for driving uninsured apply.

If you’re not sure who pays now, you’re far from alone: an estimated 15.4% of U.S. drivers, more than one in seven, were uninsured in 2023, according to a 2025 Insurance Research Council study reported by the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), an insurance industry research group. Michigan’s rules are in the boxes marked “In Michigan.”

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What is an uninsured motorist claim?

It’s a claim to your own auto insurer, under coverage you bought for exactly this situation. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the organization of state insurance regulators, defines the two coverages:

• Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage “reimburses you if an uninsured or a hit-and-run driver hits you.”
• Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage “pays claims when an at-fault driver doesn’t have enough insurance to pay for your loss fully.”

“Uninsured” can reach further than a driver with no policy: California’s law, for example, also counts a driver whose insurer denies coverage and, with conditions, an unknown hit-and-run driver (Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(b)). If the driver fled, see what to do after a hit-and-run.

Do you have UM coverage?

Check your declarations page, the summary of your coverages and limits. Twenty states and Washington, D.C., require UM or UIM coverage (Triple-I). Some others, including California, Florida and Texas, require insurers to include it in policies with bodily injury liability coverage unless you turn it down in writing (Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(a); Fla. Stat. § 627.727(1); Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101). Elsewhere it’s optional.

What if the driver who hit you had no insurance?

Usually your own coverage pays, along with other coverage you already have:

How does an uninsured motorist claim work?

Your own policy pays, but as if you’d claimed against the driver who caused the crash. State UM laws describe the coverage as paying what you’re “legally entitled to recover” from the uninsured driver, up to your limit (for example, Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(a)(1); Fla. Stat. § 627.727(1); Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101(a)). So you still have to show that the other driver was at fault and uninsured, and prove your losses (Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, or DIFS).

The claims process is the real hurdle here. Your own insurer weighs a UM claim much as the other driver’s insurer would, and it can question fault and what your injuries are worth. Give it complete records of your treatment, bills and lost pay. If you disagree with a decision, ask for a written explanation, and your state insurance department’s consumer services staff can help (NAIC). Check how your policy settles disputes: California’s law sends UM disagreements over whether you’re owed anything, and how much, to a single neutral arbitrator (Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(f)).

Deadlines come from your policy and your state’s law, and they can be short. In California, a UM claim fails unless, within two years of the crash, you sue the uninsured driver, reach an agreement with your insurer on the amount or formally start arbitration by certified mail (Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(i)).

What if the driver had insurance, but not enough?

That’s what UIM coverage is for. The at-fault driver’s liability limit is the most their insurer will pay, and state minimum limits are low: the NAIC warns they’re “too low to fully cover you if you cause a serious accident.” How much UIM adds depends on your state. Say your damages come to $200,000, the at-fault driver’s insurer pays its $30,000 limit, and you carry $100,000 in UIM:

• In California, UIM pays only after the at-fault driver’s liability limits are paid out, and at most your UIM limit minus what was paid: up to $70,000 here (Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(p)(3), (4)).
• In Florida, the law counts an underinsured driver as uninsured and doesn’t subtract the liability payment from your coverage, so it can pay the rest of your damages up to its full limit: up to $100,000 here (Fla. Stat. § 627.727(1), (3)(b), (6)(c)).

Before you accept the at-fault driver’s policy limits or sign a release, tell your UIM insurer and check your policy’s rules. Some states set the steps: in Florida, you must first send your UIM insurer written notice of the proposed settlement by certified or registered mail, and it has 30 days to approve it or pay you the offered amount itself (Fla. Stat. § 627.727(6)).

Can you sue the uninsured driver?

Yes, but a judgment is only worth what you can collect, and that depends on what the driver has. If your UM coverage pays you, your insurer can take over your right to sue the driver for what it paid, a process called subrogation (Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, or Cornell LII; in California, Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(g)).

Not sure which coverage pays, or whether a policy deadline has started? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

What if you didn’t have insurance?

Virtually all states require drivers to carry liability insurance (Triple-I), and each state sets its own penalties for driving without it. After a no-insurance accident, what happens next depends mostly on who caused the crash.

Not at fault in a car accident without insurance: can you still get paid?

Often, yes. Being uninsured doesn’t change who caused the crash. If the other driver did, their bodily injury liability coverage applies to injuries they cause to others, and their property damage liability pays for damage they cause to your car (NAIC). But being uninsured can shrink what you recover:

• “No pay, no play” laws. About a dozen states limit what uninsured drivers can recover, usually damages for pain and suffering (Triple-I). In California, for example, the owner of an uninsured vehicle involved in the crash, or a driver who can’t show the financial responsibility the state requires, can’t recover pain and suffering. The owner still can if the other driver is convicted of driving under the influence (Cal. Civ. Code § 3333.4; Cal. Veh. Code §§ 23152, 23153).
• No-fault benefits. In no-fault states, crash victims collect benefits from their own insurers, whether or not the other driver had insurance (Triple-I). Without a policy, you can lose those benefits, as Michigan’s rules show.

At fault in a car accident without insurance: what happens?

The people you hurt can come after you personally. Liability insurance is what normally pays for injuries and damage you cause to others, and it “will pay the cost of an attorney to protect you if you’re sued” (NAIC). Without it:

• You answer the claim yourself. The other driver can sue you for their injuries and their car. If their own UM or collision coverage pays them first, their insurer can take over their right to sue you for what it paid (Cornell LII).
• Your state’s penalties apply. Michigan’s are below.
• Your own injuries go to your health insurance, if you have it, under its own terms.

If the other driver was partly to blame, you may still have a claim of your own; our car accident lawsuit guide explains how fault is decided and how long you have to sue. Get advice before you discuss fault with any insurer, and right away if you’re served with a lawsuit. Our guide to talking to insurance adjusters explains what to hold back.

What to do next

1. Report the crash, and get the other driver’s details. Call the police and ask how to get the report. If the other driver has no insurance card, write down their name, driver’s license number and plate number for your insurer (NAIC).
2. Notify your insurer promptly, and read your policy’s UM and UIM sections: notice rules, deadlines and how disputes are settled. In Michigan, also give written PIP notice within one year, or notify the Assigned Claims Plan within one year if no policy covers you (MCL 500.3145(1), 500.3174).
3. Get medical care, and keep every record: bills, pay stubs, mileage to appointments and notes on what you can’t do.
4. Hold off on signing. Don’t accept the at-fault driver’s policy limits or sign a release until you’ve checked your UIM coverage and told that insurer.
5. Get a free case review, especially if you were uninsured or badly hurt. Tell us what happened in four quick questions, or, in Michigan, compare injury lawyers near you.

What waiting can cost

• Your UM claim. In one Michigan case, two people learned the other driver was uninsured only after suing her, more than a year after the crash, and their policy’s one-year limit ended their UM claim (Rory v Continental Insurance Co, 2005).
• Your no-fault benefits. In Michigan, missing the one-year notice to your insurer or the Assigned Claims Plan can cost you those benefits (MCL 500.3145(1), 500.3174).
• Your lawsuit. Every state sets a deadline to sue the driver. In Michigan, most injury lawsuits must be filed within three years (MCL 600.5805(2)).

What a good outcome looks like

Your medical bills are paid while you heal, from your own coverage if the other driver had none. Your UM or UIM claim is filed on time with complete records, and any dispute is settled on the evidence. If you were the one without insurance, you know what you can still claim and what you may owe before anyone asks you to sign or pay. From wondering who pays to knowing which coverage applies, what your claim needs and when each deadline falls.

For more, see what car accident settlement figures really mean and all our car, truck and motorcycle accident guides.

Updated September 25, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.