What should I do if the other driver had no insurance?

The short answer

First, confirm whether any policy covered the driver or vehicle on the crash date. Ask the insurer named on the card to confirm the policy status in writing, and keep the card even if it appears expired.

Then check the declarations page and full wording of every auto policy that may cover you or the vehicle. Look specifically for uninsured motorist (UM), underinsured motorist (UIM), medical payments (MedPay), and personal injury protection (PIP). Whether any coverage applies or pays depends on state law, the policy terms and the crash facts.

This page cannot tell you whether you have a claim, what it might be worth, or how long you have. Those answers depend on your state and your facts, and they come from a licensed attorney reading your file, not from a website.

How to tell whether there really is no insurance

What gets said standing in the road is not always true, in either direction. It is worth confirming before you treat it as settled.

• Ask for a photo of the insurance card right there, even if they say it expired.
• Write down the full name, phone number, license number, and plate.
• If police came, ask the agency’s records unit whether a report exists and how to get it. The linked USAGov page only helps locate local-government contacts; it does not say whether a report exists or what it contains.⁴
• Call the company they named and ask whether that policy was active on the day.
• Ask your own insurer whether it can verify other coverage; do not assume that it can.
• Most states require some kind of auto insurance to drive legally.¹ New Hampshire has no general mandatory-insurance law, although financial-responsibility requirements can still apply after certain events.⁵ Use USAGov’s state motor-vehicle directory to find the issuing state’s agency and check its current rules.³

Also ask whether the vehicle owner or another policy covered the vehicle. Do not treat what was said at the scene as the final coverage answer.

Your own policy may carry a coverage by name

Check the declarations page and complete policy for every policy that may cover you or the vehicle.

The declarations page identifies the policy term, coverage limits, insured and covered vehicles.¹ Look for these exact labels:

• Uninsured motorist, often shortened to UM.
• Underinsured motorist, or UIM.
• Medical payments, or MedPay.
• Personal injury protection, or PIP, which exists in some states and not in others.

Seeing one of those lines does not mean the coverage applies or pays. The NAIC state-department page is a contact and complaint directory, not a 50-state coverage chart. Use it to reach the relevant insurance department, then check that department’s current rules alongside the actual policy.²

If you do not have the declarations page and complete policy, ask the insurer or agent for both. If you have trouble getting an answer, the NAIC directory provides state-department contact and complaint links.²

If the other driver left

A hit and run looks a lot like this one, with a single difference: there is nobody to call.

What helps in those first hours is boring and it works. The exact spot, the time, any piece of the plate, the color and model, which way they went, and who else saw it. Businesses on that block sometimes have a camera, and many record over themselves after a few days, so writing down where they are matters more than getting the video yourself.

Check the full policy now for any notice, cooperation or police-report requirement that may apply to a hit-and-run claim. Ask the insurer to identify the exact clause in writing. If the requirement is unclear or time has passed, seek prompt legal advice and ask the agency directly how to report the crash. The USAGov page only helps locate local-government contacts.⁴

What your own insurer may ask for

When the claim involves your own policy, that insurer may ask for a recorded statement, medical records or an inspection of the car.

Before postponing or responding, ask in writing whether a policy deadline or cooperation duty applies and where the policy says so. Get the claim number, adjuster’s name and direct line. If the request or deadline is unclear, seek prompt advice from a licensed attorney.

Some policies impose notice deadlines or cooperation duties. Read those parts of the complete policy rather than relying on the declarations page alone, and seek prompt advice if you are unsure how they apply.¹

What to write down today

Memory fades faster than people expect, and the details that matter later are the boring ones.

1. Everything the other driver said about insurance, in their words.
2. The name, phone, license, plate, and what the car looked like.
3. The date, the closest time you can give, and the street names.
4. Who was with you and who stopped to help.
5. If you called police, what number you called and what you were told.
6. The first part of your body that hurt and when you noticed.
7. Every place you were treated, in order.
8. Which calls you have already made to your own insurer and who you spoke to.

Put it in the notes app on your phone, the way you would tell a friend. Nobody expects a report and nobody is grading spelling.

What a case check asks

Expect plain questions. Where it happened, what you remember the other driver saying about insurance, whether police came, which coverages appear on your declarations page, and where you went to get looked at.

If you do not know something, the honest answer is that you do not know. That answer is fine. It beats guessing, because a guess that turns out wrong is harder to fix later.

A licensed attorney reads what you send. You get one of three answers back: a request for more detail, an offer to talk about representation, or a plain no with the reason.