Hit and Run Accidents
Usually yes, and the answer is normally your own policy rather than the missing driver’s. Uninsured motorist coverage is designed for exactly this and is on your policy unless you rejected it in writing. It comes with reporting deadlines that are far shorter than the two-year limit, so it matters that you report promptly.
Uninsured motorist coverage exists for the driver who has no insurance and for the driver who cannot be found. Texas requires insurers to offer it, and it is on your policy unless you signed a rejection.
It pays the same categories a claim against the other driver would: medical care, lost earnings, and pain and impairment. Personal injury protection sits alongside it and pays medical costs and part of lost wages regardless of fault.
Making a UM claim is not the same as being at fault, and it is not a liability claim against yourself. People leave this coverage unused because nobody explains that.
The two-year limitations period is rarely the problem. The policy conditions are.
UM coverage typically requires prompt notice to your insurer, and most policies require that a hit and run be reported to the police, often within a defined window. Miss those and the insurer can deny on the condition rather than on the merits.
So the order of operations matters: police report first, insurer second, both quickly, then treatment and the rest.
Fleeing is a crime, not merely a civil wrong, and leaving the scene of a crash involving injury is a felony in Texas. Police investigate these differently from an ordinary collision.
Vehicles get identified more often than people expect. Debris and paint transfer identify make and model, nearby businesses and residences have cameras, toll and traffic systems capture plates, and body shops see the damage.
That footage is the part with a clock on it. Private cameras commonly overwrite within days, so canvassing has to happen immediately rather than after the insurance is sorted out.
A UM claim and a claim against the driver are not mutually exclusive. Where the driver is found and carries insurance, the claim may shift to them, with your UM carrier’s rights adjusted accordingly.
Your insurer generally has subrogation rights against a driver later identified, which is another reason to keep it informed rather than settle quietly on the side.
Call the police from the scene and get a report number. Write down anything you remember about the vehicle immediately, before it fades — color, body style, damage, direction, partial plate.
Look for cameras before you leave: stores, gas stations, homes, buses. Ask for footage in the first days.
Notify your own insurer promptly and say it was a hit and run. That is what opens UM and PIP.
Get treated and keep the records. A UM claim is proved the same way any injury claim is.
Normally your own uninsured motorist coverage, which is designed for this and is on your policy unless you rejected it in writing.
A UM claim is not a liability claim against yourself. Ask your agent about your specific policy, but this is coverage you have already paid for.
Immediately in practice. Most UM policies require prompt notice and a police report, and late reporting is the usual reason these claims are denied.
The claim can shift to that driver and their insurer, with your UM carrier’s rights adjusted. Keep your insurer informed either way.
Yes. Drivers must stop, give information and render aid, and leaving the scene of an injury crash is a felony.
Automated intake assistant. It does not give legal advice and using it does not create an attorney–client relationship.