Texas requires drivers to establish financial responsibility, for example through liability insurance, but the driver who causes a crash may have no insurance at all, or only the minimum. When that happens, the injured person's own policy can become an important source of recovery. That is the job of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, often shortened to UM/UIM. This guide explains what Texas law says about the coverage and what to check after a crash.
Section 601.051 of the Texas Transportation Code says a person may not operate a motor vehicle in Texas unless financial responsibility is established for that vehicle, including through a motor vehicle liability insurance policy. Section 601.072 sets the minimum liability coverage at $30,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in one collision, $60,000 for bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in one collision, and $25,000 for damage to or destruction of the property of others in one collision.
Those are minimums. A serious injury can produce medical bills and lost income well beyond what a minimum policy pays.
Section 1952.101 of the Texas Insurance Code describes uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage as the part of an automobile liability policy that protects insureds who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured or underinsured motor vehicles for bodily injury, sickness, disease or death, or property damage. An insurer may not issue an auto liability policy in Texas without providing this coverage, unless an insured named in the policy rejects it in writing. When the named insured rejected it for that policy or for an earlier one from the same or an affiliated insurer, the insurer is not required to include it in a renewal or reinstated policy unless the named insured asks for it in writing.
That last point is worth checking. If someone named as an insured on your policy signed a rejection form years ago, your current policy may not include UM/UIM coverage. Your declarations page should show whether it does.
In plain terms, an uninsured vehicle is one without liability insurance, but the policy's own definition controls, and Section 1952.102 allows policy forms to exclude certain vehicles whose operators are in fact uninsured. The same section adds that, subject to the terms of the coverage, the term includes an insured vehicle whose liability insurer is unable to pay because of insolvency.
Section 1952.103 defines an underinsured motor vehicle as an insured vehicle whose liability limits were originally lower than, or have been reduced by payment of other claims from the same accident to less than, the limit of liability stated in the underinsured coverage of the injured person's own policy.
Under Section 1952.106, underinsured coverage pays the insured all amounts he or she is legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or operator of the underinsured vehicle, up to the limit in the policy and reduced by the amount recovered or recoverable from that vehicle's insurer. In effect, the coverage is built to pick up where the at-fault driver's coverage stops, within your own limits.
UM coverage can apply when the at-fault driver is never identified, but there is a condition. Section 1952.104 requires the coverage to provide that, when the owner or operator of the vehicle that caused the injury is unknown, actual physical contact must have occurred between that vehicle and the insured or the insured's property. A driver who swerves to avoid a car that runs a light, and never touches it, may run into that limit.
Under Section 1952.105, UM/UIM limits for bodily injury must be offered in the amounts the insured wants, but not greater than the bodily injury liability limits of the insured's own policy, and never less than the Chapter 601 minimums. Property damage coverage under the same section is subject to a $250 deductible.
Because the coverage pays what the insured is legally entitled to recover from the other driver, questions about fault and the value of the injuries still matter, even though the claim is made to your own insurer. And under Section 1952.108, an insurer that pays under this coverage is entitled, to the extent of its payment, to the proceeds of any settlement or judgment against the person legally responsible.
Personal injury protection is a separate coverage. Section 1952.152 makes it part of every Texas auto liability policy unless it is rejected in writing by an insured named in the policy, and under Section 1952.155 those benefits do not depend on whether the named insured or recipient was at fault. Unlike UM/UIM, PIP does not depend on what the other driver owes you. Section 1952.153 does not require an insurer to provide PIP coverage above $2,500 per person in the aggregate, so check the amount your own policy lists.
Report the crash to law enforcement as Section 550.026 of the Texas Transportation Code requires when there is injury, death or a vehicle that cannot be normally and safely driven. Get whatever information the other driver can provide, notify your own insurer promptly, and keep copies of everything you send and receive. Felix Gonzalez Accident and Injury Law Firm offers free consultations for people trying to sort out which coverage applies after a crash, and car accidents are among the practice areas the San Antonio firm lists.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts; for advice about your situation, speak with a licensed Texas attorney.