Uninsured Motorist (UM)
Your protection when a driver with no insurance hits you. Your policy steps in for their missing one.
Uninsured motorist coverage is the part of your own policy that stands in for insurance the other driver did not have. The other driver still has to be at fault, because UM does not pay simply because a crash happened. It fills the hole where their bodily injury liability would have been.
It comes in two pieces, and only one of them is sold everywhere. UM bodily injury covers injuries to you, your household members and your passengers. UM property damage covers your vehicle, but only some states offer it, and where it exists a deductible often applies. UM limits are usually capped at the liability limits already on the policy.
Hit-and-run is handled here too in most states, though the conditions are specific. Some states require physical contact between the vehicles, and many require the crash to be reported to police within a set window. Where UM property damage is unavailable, damage from an unidentified driver generally falls to collision instead.
Whether the coverage is required depends on the state. Some mandate it, some require insurers to offer it and allow a customer to decline in writing, and a few leave it entirely optional. Because it lives on your own policy, the claim is filed with your own insurer, which surprises people the first time it happens.
When the at-fault driver does carry insurance but not enough of it, a different coverage responds: underinsured motorist. The two are usually sold together and printed as UM/UIM on the declarations page.
In real life
An uninsured driver runs a red light and hits you. Treatment and lost wages come to $38,000. There is no policy on the other side to pay it, so your uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, carried at 50/100, responds and your insurer pays the $38,000. Without that coverage the bill would fall to your health insurance and to a lawsuit against a driver who had no policy at all.
Common questions
What happens if someone without insurance hits me?
If your policy carries uninsured motorist coverage, your own insurer pays for the injuries the at-fault driver would have owed, up to your UM limit. Vehicle damage is handled by UM property damage where the state offers it, or by collision coverage. Without either one, the loss falls to your health insurance and to whatever can be collected from the driver directly.
Does uninsured motorist cover hit and run?
In most states an unidentified driver is treated as uninsured, so UM responds. The conditions vary. Some states require physical contact between the vehicles rather than a car that ran you off the road, and many require a police report filed within a set number of hours. Vehicle damage from a hit-and-run is often covered by collision instead.
Is uninsured motorist coverage required?
It depends on the state. Some require it on every auto policy, some require insurers to offer it and let the customer reject it in writing, and in others it is fully optional. Where it is required, the minimum UM limits are usually tied to the state's minimum liability limits and can generally be raised up to the policy's own liability limits.
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Definitions describe how these terms are generally used across the U.S. market. Wording, limits and exclusions vary by insurer, policy form and state — the policy you hold is what controls. See the full Insurance Glossary.