Hit by an Uninsured Driver in California: What to Do

You did everything right at the scene, and then the other driver handed you an expired insurance card, or no card at all. Or their insurance turned out to be real but tiny, and your hospital bill passed their policy limit before you left the emergency room. This post explains what actually pays in that situation in California, where the money comes from, and the deadline that trips people up most.

The short version: if you bought uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, your own policy steps into the at-fault driver's shoes. If you waived it, your options narrow quickly.

This is more common than people expect

Being hit by someone with no coverage is not a freak event. Using Insurance Research Council data, the Insurance Information Institute puts California's uninsured driver rate at 17.0 percent as of 2022, against a national rate of 14.0 percent. Roughly one in six drivers around you is carrying nothing.

Underinsured drivers are a separate and larger group. California's minimum liability limits were raised on January 1, 2025 by the Protect California Drivers Act to $30,000 for injury to one person, $60,000 per accident, and $15,000 in property damage, up from 15/30/5, where they had sat for decades. Those limits are scheduled to rise again on January 1, 2035. Thirty thousand dollars sounds like a lot until you price out an ambulance ride, imaging, a few months of physical therapy, and time off work.

Check your own policy first, not theirs

Pull out your declarations page and look for a line reading "uninsured motorist bodily injury," usually abbreviated UMBI, with two numbers next to it. That coverage is what pays when the at-fault driver has nothing, when they flee, or when their limits run out.

California does not force you to buy it, but it does force your insurer to sell it to you. Under Insurance Code § 11580.2, uninsured motorist coverage must be included in an auto liability policy unless you signed a written waiver declining it. The California Department of Insurance describes the same rule in plainer terms: the insurer must offer the protection, and if you turn it down you have to sign a form saying so.

So there are only two possibilities. Either you have UM coverage, or there is a signed waiver somewhere with your name on it. If you cannot remember declining, ask your agent for a copy of the waiver. People are wrong about this more often than you would think, especially when a policy has been renewed or rewritten several times.

What each piece of coverage actually does

Your declarations page probably lists several coverages that matter here, and they do different jobs:

• UMBI (uninsured motorist bodily injury). Pays for your injuries, and injuries to passengers in your car, when an uninsured at-fault driver hurt you. The statutory floor is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident, matching the new liability minimums, and you can carry more.
• UIM (underinsured motorist). The same coverage doing a different job: it fills the gap when the at-fault driver had insurance, but not enough.
• UMPD (uninsured motorist property damage). Pays for damage to your car from an uninsured driver, capped at $3,500 and only available when the uninsured driver is actually identified. It is not a substitute for collision coverage.
• Medical payments (MedPay). Pays medical bills regardless of who was at fault. The minimum you can buy is $1,000 per injured person, and higher limits are available. It is often the fastest money in the entire claim.

Collision coverage on your own policy will usually repair your car regardless of the other driver's status, subject to your deductible.

How underinsured coverage really pays out

This is where most people misread their own policy. Underinsured motorist coverage is not a second full payment stacked on top of the at-fault driver's. It is a gap filler, and California law defines the gap narrowly.

Two rules from § 11580.2 do the work. First, UIM only comes into play after the liability limits of every policy covering the at-fault vehicles have been exhausted by settlement or judgment. Second, your insurer's maximum exposure is your UIM limit minus what has already been paid to you by or for the people legally liable.

Run the numbers. If you carry $100,000 in UIM and the at-fault driver pays their $30,000 policy limit, your own insurer's ceiling is $70,000, not $100,000. If you carry $30,000 in UIM and the at-fault driver carries the same $30,000 minimum, your UIM adds nothing at all. That surprises people, and it is a good argument for carrying limits well above the state minimum.

One practical consequence: never accept the at-fault driver's policy limits without telling your own insurer first. Settling out from under a UIM claim, without giving your carrier the notice and consent your policy requires, can wipe out coverage you paid for.

Your own insurer is not on your side here

When you make a UM or UIM claim, the company writing the check is your company. The relationship changes anyway. Every dollar they pay you comes out of their pocket, so you get the same script the other side would have used: the recorded statement, the questions about prior injuries, the early offer that arrives before you have finished treatment.

Handle it the same way you would handle the other driver's adjuster. Be cooperative, be accurate, and be careful. Your policy likely does require you to cooperate with your own insurer, which is different from being required to guess, speculate about fault, or minimize symptoms you are still being treated for. The recorded statement traps are identical, and so is the reason the first offer is almost always a lowball.

What this means in California

Two deadlines run at the same time, and they are not the same deadline.

Against the driver who hit you, California's personal injury statute of limitations under CCP § 335.1 gives you generally two years from the date of the injury. If a government entity is involved, a city vehicle, a public bus, a dangerous condition on a public road, a formal government claim is usually due within six months, long before that two-year date.

Against your own insurer on a UM or UIM claim, § 11580.2 sets its own clock. Within two years of the date of the accident you must have filed suit against the uninsured motorist, reached a written agreement with your insurer, or formally demanded arbitration in writing by certified mail. Sending in claim forms and exchanging emails with your adjuster does not satisfy that requirement. Claims are lost this way, on facts that were otherwise strong, because everyone assumed friendly correspondence counted as a demand.

California's pure comparative negligence rule still applies inside a UM claim. If you are found partly at fault, your recovery is reduced by your share rather than eliminated, and your insurer has every reason to argue that your share was larger than you think.

Practical next steps

Get treated and keep treating consistently. Report the crash to your own insurer promptly, whether or not you think you will make a claim. Ask in writing for a copy of your declarations page and any UM waiver on file. Get the police report, which documents the other driver's insurance status. Keep the other driver's information even if their coverage is worthless, because identifying them is a precondition for some coverages. And do not sign a release of the at-fault driver's policy limits until you know what it does to your UIM claim. If any of that is unclear, a free consultation costs nothing and there is no fee unless there is a recovery.