Hit and Run Accident Claim: What to Do and Who Pays

If the driver is identified, by police investigation, cameras, a witness, or because they are caught, the claim is an ordinary crash claim against their liability insurer, with two differences. The flight is evidence of consciousness of fault, and insurers rarely contest liability when their driver fled. And in many states, leaving the scene is the kind of conduct that supports punitive damages in the civil claim, in addition to the criminal charges the driver faces. A driver who fled because they were impaired, uninsured or had a warrant is the usual case, and their insurance, if any, pays regardless of the criminal outcome.

If the driver is not identified, the claim is against your own policy. Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage treats an unidentified driver as uninsured in most states and pays for your injuries up to its limit, valued as a liability claim would be, with your own insurer standing in for the driver. Collision coverage pays for the car. Medical payments or personal injury protection pay early medical bills. Health insurance covers treatment in the meantime.

Many hit and run victims have no uninsured motorist coverage because they declined it, or have it only at the minimum. It is the coverage that matters most in a hit and run, and the time to check the policy is now, before it is needed.

Insurers and states guard against fabricated hit and run claims, and the rules reflect it. Most policies require that the crash be reported to the police within a short period, commonly 24 hours, and to the insurer promptly, and failure to report in time can forfeit the uninsured motorist claim. The police report is the evidence that a hit and run occurred, and a late report invites the argument that the damage happened some other way.

Several states require physical contact between the unidentified vehicle and yours for a UM claim; a phantom vehicle that forced you off the road without touching you does not qualify in those states, or qualifies only with an independent witness who saw it. Others allow phantom vehicle claims on corroborating evidence. The policy language and the state's law together decide it, and the distinction matters most in single-vehicle crashes caused by another driver's maneuver.

The insurer will investigate as if it were the at-fault insurer, because for the UM claim it is. It will examine the damage for consistency with your account, look for the other vehicle's paint, and ask for a recorded statement, which on a first-party UM claim the policy's cooperation clause generally requires. The claim is valued like a liability claim and negotiated like one, and your insurer's interest on the UM claim is opposed to yours.

Suppose you were stopped at a red light when a pickup struck your car from behind and drove off. You got a partial plate and the color. You called the police from the scene, were taken to the emergency room with a neck injury, and completed twelve weeks of therapy, with $18,500 in medical bills and three weeks off work. Your policy carried $100,000 in uninsured motorist coverage and collision with a $500 deductible.

The police located the pickup within a week from the partial plate and a traffic camera; the driver had been driving on a suspended license with no insurance. The claim against him was worthless, and the criminal case proceeded. Your claim went to your own insurer under the uninsured motorist coverage, which paid the car repair under collision, waiving the deductible under its hit and run provision, and valued the injury claim as a liability claim.

Your insurer's first injury offer was $9,000. With the complete records and the wage documentation, the UM claim settled at $31,000. Had you not carried uninsured motorist coverage, the injury claim would have been limited to medical payments coverage, if any, and health insurance. All figures are hypothetical; the pattern is the common one.

The first hour decides whether the driver is found and whether the claim is allowed.

• Do not chase the vehicle; note everything you can, the make, color, plate or partial plate, damage, direction of travel, and the driver's description, and write it down immediately.
• Call the police from the scene and stay until they arrive; the report must be made within the period your state and policy require, usually 24 hours, and a report from the scene is strongest.
• Photograph your vehicle's damage, any paint transfer, debris, broken parts from the other vehicle, and the scene.
• Look for witnesses and for cameras on nearby businesses, homes, traffic signals and buses, and tell the police where they are; footage is overwritten within days.
• Get medical care the same day and report every symptom.
• Report to your own insurer promptly, and ask specifically about uninsured motorist, collision and medical payments coverage and whether the collision deductible is waived for a hit and run.
• Post on neighborhood apps and local groups; doorbell camera owners often identify hit and run vehicles.

Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory in about twenty states and optional elsewhere, and whether it covers an unidentified driver, and on what conditions, is set by each state's statute and the policy. The physical contact requirement applies in a number of states, including California, which requires contact or an independent witness for a hit and run UM claim; others allow phantom vehicle claims on corroborating evidence. Reporting deadlines are set by policy and statute, with 24 hours to the police common.

Property damage from an unidentified driver is covered by collision coverage everywhere, and a few states offer or require uninsured motorist property damage coverage that applies to hit and run, sometimes with a deductible. Some states' insurance regulations require insurers to waive the collision deductible for a hit and run; others leave it to the policy. No-fault states pay the victim's medical bills through PIP regardless, and the UM claim covers the injury beyond the threshold.

Criminal penalties for leaving the scene of an injury crash are felonies in most states, and a victim has rights in the criminal case including restitution orders, which are rarely collected but are available. Punitive damages in the civil claim for the flight are allowed in many states and not in others. Deadlines for the civil claim are the state's injury statute, one year in Tennessee and Kentucky, two in Texas, California, Florida and Georgia, three in New York and North Carolina; UM claims have contractual deadlines in the policy that may be shorter.

Pedestrians and cyclists are the most common victims of fatal hit and runs, and they have no vehicle policy of their own at the scene. Their claim against an unidentified driver is under the uninsured motorist coverage of any auto policy in their household, which covers household members as pedestrians in most states, and if there is none, under state victim compensation funds in some states, which pay limited amounts for medical expenses.

Health insurance pays treatment. The claim for the injury beyond that depends on the household UM coverage and on whether the driver is found, which for pedestrian hit and runs is often through vehicle parts left at the scene, which police can match to a make and model, and through cameras.

A pedestrian struck by a driver who is later identified has the ordinary claim against the driver's insurer, with the flight as evidence and the criminal case as a source of information.

A hit and run claim is decided by what was done in the first day, whether the driver is found, and what uninsured motorist coverage exists, and the claim against your own insurer is negotiated like a claim against any insurer. The questions to answer early are whether the report deadlines were met, what coverage the policy provides, and what evidence might identify the driver. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt by a driver who left the scene, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
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• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Airbag Did Not Deploy in a Crash: Can You Sue, and Whom?
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Broken Bone Car Accident Settlement: What Drives the Value

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