A crash with an uninsured driver

At the scene

1. Call the police. A report shows who was involved and is often the first thing your insurer asks for. The Texas Department of Insurance advises calling the police if the other driver refuses to name an insurance company.
2. Get the driver's name, address, phone, driver's license number and plate. Photograph the license and registration if they agree.
3. Ask who owns the car. If the driver doesn't own it, the owner may have a policy that covers people who borrow the car.
4. Photograph the cars, the plates and the road, and get names and numbers from witnesses.
5. Don't settle at the roadside. A promise to pay you later is not insurance. Collect the details anyway; your insurer can pursue the driver.

Some states lower their reporting thresholds when a car is uninsured. Illinois requires you to call the police right away after a crash with more than $1,500 of damage, but the line drops to $500 if any car involved has no liability insurance; see the Illinois claim rules.

Which part of your policy pays

A UM claim is a claim under your own policy, so your insurer owes you the claim-handling duties of a first-party claim, and your state's deadlines apply. In Idaho, for example, an insurer that doesn't pay the amount justly due on uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits within 60 days after proof of loss can owe your attorney's fees in a lawsuit, against 30 days on other claims; see the Idaho claim rules. How these claims are valued is in uninsured motorist claims.

You can also sue the uninsured driver personally. A court judgment is only worth what the driver can pay, so most people claim under their own policy first and let the insurer decide whether to pursue the driver.

Reports and license penalties for the uninsured driver

What happens to the uninsured driver is set by each state, and some states put a duty on you as well. Three examples show the range:

• Missouri requires a written report to the Director of Revenue within 30 days after a crash with an uninsured motorist that kills or injures someone or causes more than $500 of damage to one person's property. Under a separate section, the Director can suspend the driving privilege or the registration of an owner or driver who had no financial responsibility, after mailing notice and waiting 33 days.
• Ohio lets anyone involved in a crash send the BMV registrar a written report within six months alleging that a driver or owner was uninsured. The registrar then asks that person for proof of coverage.
• California requires each driver in a crash with an injury, a death or more than $1,000 of damage to file an SR-1 with the DMV within 10 days, and the DMV says a missed report can lead to suspension of the driving privilege.

A driver whose license is suspended for driving uninsured is often required to file proof of insurance, such as an SR-22, before it is reinstated. What that involves is covered in SR-22 after an accident. Your state's reporting duties are on its page in claim rules by state.

No pay, no play: when the uninsured driver is hurt

Some states limit what an uninsured driver can collect after a crash, even when someone else caused it. These are often called "no pay, no play" laws. Louisiana's is among the strictest.

The bar doesn't apply when the other driver is cited and then convicted of, or pleads no contest to, operating a vehicle while impaired under R.S. 14:98, intentionally causes the crash, flees the scene, or was committing a felony at the time. The law took effect on August 1, 2025. Whether the old or new amounts apply to a particular crash, and how the exceptions work in a specific case, are legal questions for a licensed Louisiana attorney.

What your insurer will ask for

• The police report number, and the officer's notes on the other driver's insurance status.
• The other driver's details: name, address, license and plate, and the owner of the car if different. Your insurer uses them to confirm there really was no policy.
• Photos and witnesses, to show how the crash happened. Fault still matters on a UM claim: your insurer pays what the uninsured driver would have owed.
• Medical records and bills for an injury claim, and a repair estimate for the car.

Report the crash promptly; most policies require it, and a UM claim can have its own notice conditions. If your insurer pays, it can try to recover the money from the uninsured driver, and it may ask you to sign papers that let it do so.

Questions people ask