If the driver who hit you has no insurance, your own policy is usually what pays. The coverage is called uninsured motorist coverage, your insurer was required to offer it to you, and unless you turned it down in writing, you probably have it.
That matters more here than almost anywhere. The Insurance Research Council estimated 20.4 percent of California drivers were uninsured in 2023, against 15.4 percent nationally. Roughly one in five cars around you on the 118 is carrying nothing at all.
The claim itself runs much like any other car accident claim. The difference is who ends up paying, and that changes what you have to do in the first few days.
This article is by Accident Lawyer of California, P.C., the personal injury practice of Aryan Aliakbarzadeh, Esq. in Northridge, California, admitted to the State Bar of California in October 2012. It describes how these cases work in California; it is not advice about yours.
Start with your own policy, not theirs Link to this section
Pull out your declarations page, which is the one or two page summary your insurer sends at renewal. You are looking for four things.
UM or UMBI is uninsured motorist bodily injury. This is the one that pays for your injuries when the at fault driver has no coverage.
UIM is underinsured motorist. Different thing, covered further down, and the difference costs people money.
UMPD is uninsured motorist property damage, which handles your car and usually carries a small deductible.
MedPay is medical payments coverage. The limit is usually small compared with your other coverage, and it pays medical bills quickly without anyone deciding fault first. If you have it, it is the fastest money in the file and it does not wait for the liability fight.
Most people do not know which of these they have. That is normal. Nobody reads a declarations page until the day they need it.
The question everyone asks first Link to this section
Will using it put my rates up.
This is the question that stops people from claiming at all, and it is worth getting past. An uninsured motorist claim is a first party claim, meaning you are claiming against coverage you already paid for, in a collision somebody else caused. California restricts when an insurer can surcharge a driver for a collision they did not cause. If the fear of a rate rise is the only thing stopping you, ask your insurer the question directly and in writing, and ask a lawyer before you decide to absorb the cost yourself. Paying your own medical bills for someone else’s mistake is a far more expensive outcome than a premium.
A hit and run is the same coverage, with stricter rules Link to this section
If the driver fled, this still runs through uninsured motorist coverage. California attaches two deadlines, and they are short enough that people miss them while they are still in the hospital.
Report the collision to the police within 24 hours.
File a sworn statement with your own insurer within 30 days.
Then there is the rule that catches almost everyone. Under Insurance Code section 11580.2, subdivision (b)(1), there generally has to have been physical contact between the vehicle that fled and you or your car. Courts have read that strictly. If a car drifted into your lane and you swerved, hit a pole and never actually touched them, that has been held not to qualify as a hit and run claim under this coverage.
It is still worth the phone call, because contact can be indirect, including an object thrown or dropped from the vehicle, and because there may be another route entirely. But do not assume it is automatic, and do not wait out the 24 hours because the damage looked minor at the scene.
Underinsured is not the same as uninsured, and the arithmetic surprises people Link to this section
Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the other driver had insurance, just not enough to cover what they did. Here is the part people get wrong.
Your insurer’s maximum is your own limit minus what the at fault driver’s insurer actually paid you. Not your limit on top of theirs.
So if the driver who hit you carries the state minimum and pays it, your underinsured coverage is looking at the gap between their limit and yours, not at your full limit on top of theirs. And a vehicle only counts as underinsured in the first place if it is insured for less than your own limits, which is why two drivers who both carry the state minimum leaves nothing to claim.
That rule comes from Insurance Code section 11580.2, subdivisions (p)(2) and (p)(4).
The order of events also matters. You generally cannot demand underinsured benefits until the claim against the at fault driver is resolved. Settle that one carelessly, or too early, and you can damage the claim that was going to carry most of the weight.
If you were a passenger, on foot, or on a bike Link to this section
You do not have to have been driving your own car.
If you were a passenger in someone else’s vehicle, there may be uninsured motorist coverage under that driver’s policy, and often under your own policy at the same time.
If you were walking or cycling when an uninsured driver hit you, your own auto policy’s uninsured motorist coverage frequently still applies, even though your car was parked at home. People who were hit crossing Reseda Boulevard routinely assume they have no coverage because they were not in a car. Check before you accept that.
Do not sign a release that closes other doors Link to this section
When an insurer pays you, section 11580.2, subdivision (h) says you should not have to sign away your rights under other coverage that might also apply.
Early in a claim, a modest payment arrives attached to a broad release. People sign it because the rent is due. Months later the full extent of the injury is clear and the door that mattered is shut. Read what you are signing, and if you cannot tell what it releases, that is exactly the moment to ask someone who can.
There is a clock, and it is not the one you think Link to this section
For an uninsured motorist claim, within two years of the accident you need to have done one of three specific things under section 11580.2, subdivision (i). Filed a lawsuit, reached a written agreement on the amount, or formally demanded arbitration by certified mail with return receipt requested.
A phone call to your adjuster is not a demand for arbitration. Neither is an email, and neither is an open claim file sitting with the company. People lose otherwise sound claims because they were talking to the insurer the whole time and assumed talking counted.
Underinsured claims work differently. The two year arbitration deadline does not apply the same way, but you still have to act within a reasonable time after the claim against the at fault driver is finished.
Your dispute goes to arbitration, not a jury Link to this section
One more thing worth knowing early. If you and your own insurer cannot agree on what your uninsured motorist claim is worth, the disagreement is usually resolved in arbitration rather than in front of a jury. It is a different process with different rules, and it is one reason the file needs to be built properly from the beginning rather than assembled at the end.
What to do this week Link to this section
Find your declarations page and look for UM, UIM, UMPD and MedPay. If you cannot find it, your insurer will email it the same day.
If it was a hit and run, make the police report now and ask your insurer what their sworn statement form is called.
Keep every bill, every referral and every appointment, including the ones that feel minor.
Do not give a recorded statement about how the collision happened before you understand what your own policy covers.
If the other driver’s insurer has already suggested the crash was partly your fault, that changes the arithmetic but not whether you have a claim.
If you are not sure what you have, bring the policy and we will read it together. The consultation costs nothing and the line is open 24 hours.