Uninsured Motorist Claim in California: Hit-and-Run, Deadline, Arbitration

What is an uninsured motorist claim in California?

It is a claim under your own auto policy for the injury damages you could have recovered from an at-fault driver who has no usable insurance. Insurance Code section 11580.2 requires every California auto bodily injury liability policy to include uninsured motorist coverage unless you deleted it by a signed written agreement.

The coverage pays for bodily injury and wrongful death, measured by what you would be legally entitled to recover from the uninsured driver: medical bills, lost earnings, pain and suffering, up to your coverage limit. Damage to your car falls under a separate, optional coverage covered in our guide to car accident property damage claims.

Because the claim is against your own insurer, it is a first-party claim. The insurer owes you the claim-handling duties in the Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations, but on the value of your injuries it is your opponent.

Which drivers count as uninsured, and which do not?

If a city truck or a county bus caused the crash, the route is a government claim, generally within six months. See our guide to filing a claim against a city in California.

Hit-and-run: the physical contact, 24-hour and 30-day rules

A hit-and-run driver counts as uninsured only if three conditions in section 11580.2(b) are met. These steps line up with them:

1. Confirm there was physical contact between the other vehicle and you or the car you were in. A driver who ran you off the road without touching your car does not qualify under this rule.
2. Report the accident within 24 hours to the city police department where it happened, or in unincorporated areas to the county sheriff or the local California Highway Patrol office. Keep the report number.
3. Photograph paint transfer, dents and debris that show the contact.
4. Notify your insurer promptly and open the uninsured motorist claim in writing.
5. Within 30 days after the police report, file with your insurer a statement under oath that you have a claim against a person whose identity cannot be found, with the supporting facts.

The statute lets someone else make the police report on your behalf, and your legal representative can sign the sworn statement.

How long do you have to bring an uninsured motorist claim?

Within two years from the date of the accident, one of three things must happen (Insurance Code section 11580.2(i)(1)):

• You file a suit for bodily injury against the uninsured driver.
• You and your insurer conclude an agreement on the amount due.
• You formally start arbitration by written notice to the insurer, sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the insurer or its designated agent for process.

Some older guides cite a one-year period; the current text of section 11580.2(i) says two years. Once started, arbitration must be concluded within five years, with a longer window in some workers' compensation cases. Estoppel, waiver, impossibility, impracticality and futility can excuse a missed timeframe, as a court decides, and the parties can agree in writing to extend the time to finish arbitration.

Underinsured motorist claims: the other policy comes first

An underinsured vehicle has liability insurance, but less than the uninsured motorist limits on your policy. Underinsured coverage does not apply until every liability policy covering the at-fault vehicles has been paid out to its limits, through judgments or settlements, and you send proof of that payment to your insurer (section 11580.2(p)(3)).

Your insurer then pays up to your limit, minus what you received from the at-fault side (section 11580.2(p)(4)).

Example (hypothetical): your policy has $100,000 in uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. The at-fault driver carries the $30,000 per-person minimum, and that insurer pays its full $30,000. The most your insurer can pay under underinsured coverage is $70,000, and only if your damages support it.

If you sue the underinsured driver, the statute requires you to give your own insurer a copy of the complaint by personal service or certified mail.

Demand, then arbitration: how disagreements with your insurer are decided

Whether you are entitled to recover, and how much, is settled by agreement with your insurer or, if you disagree, by arbitration before a single neutral arbitrator (section 11580.2(f)). A demand letter is how you start the agreement route: it lays out fault, injuries, records and a number.

Every arbitration demand must include a declaration under penalty of perjury stating whether you have a workers' compensation claim. If you do, the arbitrator generally waits until your condition is stationary and ratable.

Send any arbitration demand by certified mail, return receipt requested, to meet the statute's notice method. For more on building the injury figures, see our personal injury demand letter guide.

What deadlines does your own insurer have to meet?

California's claim regulations give your insurer 15 days to acknowledge the claim and begin investigating (10 CCR 2695.5(e)), and 40 days after proof of claim to accept or deny it, in whole or in part (10 CCR 2695.7(b)). If it needs more time, it must tell you in writing what it needs and why, and update you every 30 days.

A denial of a first-party claim must be in writing, list every basis for it, and tell you that you can have the matter reviewed by the California Department of Insurance. The Department's Consumer Hotline is 1-800-927-4357. For answering a written denial, see responding to an insurance claim denial.

A lawyer's letter when your own insurer is the other side

Uninsured motorist claims mix two things: a statute full of conditions, and an injury valuation on which your own insurer is your opponent. A letter from a lawyer ties your hit-and-run report, sworn statement and medical records to section 11580.2, and can serve as the formal arbitration notice the statute calls for.

Through Talk to My Lawyer, a licensed California attorney writes your letter from your policy, police report, medical records and bills, and sends it on your behalf to your insurer. For advice about arbitration strategy or the value of your injuries, talk to a lawyer about your facts.