What Happens When the At-Fault Driver Has No Insurance in Colorado
You did everything right. You were not at fault, you called the police, you got medical care. Then you find out the driver who hit you does not have insurance, or has so little that it will not come close to covering what you actually lost. It is one of the more frustrating situations an injured driver can face, and it is more common in Colorado than most people realize.
Here is what actually happens next, and what coverage you may have even when the at-fault driver’s insurance falls short.
Colorado’s Minimum Insurance Requirements Are Lower Than You Might Think
Colorado requires drivers to carry liability insurance of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, along with $15,000 in property damage coverage, according to the Colorado Division of Insurance. Those numbers sound reasonable until you consider what a single emergency room visit, a course of physical therapy, or a short hospital stay actually costs. A serious injury can burn through the at-fault driver’s minimum coverage almost immediately, leaving you responsible for covering the rest unless you have another source of recovery.
And that assumes the at-fault driver has insurance at all. Some do not, whether through a lapsed policy, a canceled one, or simply never having purchased coverage in the first place.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage
This is where your own policy can step in. Under C.R.S. 10-4-609, Colorado insurers must offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, commonly called UM/UIM, and that coverage is automatically included on your policy unless you reject it in writing. Uninsured motorist coverage pays for your injuries when the at-fault driver has no insurance at all or cannot be identified, as in a hit and run. Underinsured motorist coverage pays the difference when the at-fault driver has insurance, but not enough to cover your full damages.
Many drivers do not realize they have this coverage until they need it, because the rejection paperwork can be buried in a stack of policy documents signed years earlier without much attention. If you were hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver, the first thing worth checking is whether you rejected UM/UIM coverage or whether it is quietly sitting on your policy waiting to be used.
Underinsured Claims Are More Common Than Fully Uninsured Ones
Most people picture UM/UIM coverage as something that only matters when the other driver has zero insurance. In practice, underinsured claims come up far more often. A driver carrying Colorado’s bare minimum $25,000 per person policy can exhaust that entire limit on a single serious injury, an ambulance ride, an ER visit, and one round of imaging can approach that number before any ongoing treatment even begins. Once the at-fault driver’s policy limit is paid out, your own UIM coverage can step in to cover the gap between what their policy paid and what your damages actually total, up to your own UIM limit.
Why Insurers Fight UM/UIM Claims Differently
Here is something that surprises a lot of people: when you file a UM/UIM claim, you are making a claim against your own insurance company, and that company’s incentives are not aligned with yours the way you might expect. Your insurer is now the party paying the claim, which means they may investigate, dispute, or delay it much the way an at-fault driver’s insurer would in a normal claim. Some insurers require you to go through arbitration rather than a standard settlement negotiation, and Colorado law gives you a limited window to bring these claims, generally three years from the date the cause of action accrues, so this is not something to leave sitting for long.
What to Do If the At-Fault Driver Is Uninsured
A few steps make a real difference in these cases:
- Confirm the at-fault driver’s insurance status through the police report, which typically documents whether valid coverage was verified at the scene
- Pull your own policy declarations page to see whether you have UM/UIM coverage and at what limits
- Report the claim to your own insurer promptly, since delays can complicate the claim even when you did nothing wrong
- Keep detailed records of medical treatment and lost income, since these claims are evaluated much like any other injury claim
- Do not assume a low property damage limit or no insurance at all means there is nothing to recover
When to Talk to a Lawyer
UM/UIM claims can feel like a dead end when you first learn the at-fault driver has little or no coverage. In reality, your own policy may be doing exactly the job it was built for.
- Colorado Hit and Run Lawyer – if the driver who hit you fled the scene or cannot be identified, this covers the UM claim process specifically for those situations.
- Colorado Insurance Bad Faith Lawyer – if your own insurer is delaying, undervaluing, or disputing a UM/UIM claim without a reasonable basis, this is worth a conversation.
Questions Worth Answering Before You File
- Do you know your UM/UIM coverage limits, or do you need to request your declarations page from your insurer?
- Has the at-fault driver’s insurance status been confirmed in writing, not just assumed from the scene?
- Have you reported the claim to your own carrier yet, and within what timeframe?
- Are you documenting medical treatment the same way you would for any other injury claim?
If you were hurt by a driver with little or no insurance, Travis Legal Offices can help you figure out what coverage is actually available and how to pursue it.
