What Happens If the Driver Who Hit You Has No Insurance or Not Enough Insurance

Getting into a crash is bad enough. Learning the other driver has no insurance, or not enough of it, only compounds a dire situation.

Now you are dealing with the injuries, pain, missed work, car damage, and a new question on top of all of that. Who is going to pay for this? That is a real concern. And it is one a lot of people have right away.

In Washington, drivers are required to carry liability insurance or some other form of financial responsibility. RCW 46.30.020 makes that clear. But 19.1% of Washingtonians are driving uninsured, making our state the 10th highest for uninsured motorists. When that happens, the person who did nothing wrong is often the one left dealing with the fallout.

Fortunately, there is an option available to protect oneself from both the negligence of the others and the carelessness of failing to obtain appropriate insurance. That option is called UM/UIM coverage, otherwise known as uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.

Why Uninsured and Underinsured Drivers Create So Many Problems

In a normal injury claim, the at fault driver’s liability insurance is usually the first place to look for compensation.

But when the driver has no insurance, there may be no easy source of recovery through that route. And when the driver has only minimum coverage, that policy may not come close to covering what the crash really cost.

That matters because serious injuries are expensive. Emergency care is expensive. Treatment is expensive. Time away from work is expensive. The disruption to your life is real, and it adds up quickly.

That is why UM and UIM coverage matter so much.

What Uninsured (UM) and Underinsured (UIM) Coverage Mean

UM stands for uninsured motorist coverage. UIM stands for underinsured motorist coverage.

UM applies when the driver who caused the crash has no insurance at all.

UIM applies when the driver has insurance, but not enough to fully cover the harm they caused.

That can also matter in hit and run cases. Under RCW 48.22.030, Washington insurers are required to offer this coverage unless it was rejected in writing. That is important because a lot of people do not realize how valuable this coverage is until after a crash happens.

If you have UM or UIM coverage, it may help pay for things like medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and future treatment.

In other words, when the at fault driver cannot pay, your own policy may step in.

Insurance Company Is Forbidden From Increasing Rates for Using Coverage If You’re Not at Fault

If the crash was not your fault, Washington law says an insurer cannot cancel your policy, refuse to renew it, deny coverage, or raise your rates based on the accident information in your driving abstract unless you were determined to be at fault. RCW 46.52.130. So, if you make a UIM claim after a not-at-fault wreck, the insurance company is not supposed to treat that accident as a basis to increase your premium just because you used the coverage you paid for.

Your Own Insurance Company May Still Fight the Claim

This part catches a lot of people off guard.

Even when the claim is through your own UM or UIM coverage, that does not mean the insurance company will simply do the right thing. In Washington, a UIM carrier can still fight over fault and damages because it effectively steps into the place of the underinsured driver. As the Washington Supreme Court explained in Ellwein v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 15 P.3d 640, 647 (Wash. 2001),, a UIM insurer “stands in the shoes” of the underinsured motorist, which means it can raise the same liability and damage defenses the at-fault driver could have raised. So even though it is your own policy, the claim can still become adversarial.

They may still argue over fault. They may still question how badly you were hurt. They may still push back on treatment, delay the process, or minimize the value of the claim.

So even though it is your own policy, it can still turn into a fight.

That is one reason these cases need to be handled carefully from the beginning.

Why Legal Help Matters in These Cases

These claims are often more complicated than a standard car wreck case.

You may be dealing with coverage issues, liability issues, policy limit issues, and an insurance company that is still trying to save money even though the person who hit you broke the law or did not carry enough coverage to begin with.

A lawyer can help identify what coverage exists, protect the claim, deal with the insurance company, gather the right evidence, and push for a result that reflects what the crash actually cost you.

Because that is what this should be about.

Not whether the insurance company can get away with paying less.

Not whether the at fault driver made a bad choice and now you are the one left holding the bag.

It should be about accountability and making sure the cost of someone else’s conduct does not stay on your shoulders.

You Came to the Right Place

If you were hit by a driver with no insurance or not enough insurance, do not assume you are out of options.

There may still be coverage. There may still be a valid claim. But these cases need to be looked at the right way, early.

At Narwal Injury Law, we help people figure out what insurance applies, where the real sources of recovery may be, and how to push back when an insurer tries to undervalue what a case is really worth.

Contact Narwal Injury Law for a free consultation.