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If an uninsured driver hit you in Roseville, you may still be able to recover compensation through the uninsured motorist coverage in your own auto policy. The same goes for a driver who carries insurance but not enough of it: underinsured motorist coverage can make up part of the difference between their policy and what your injuries actually cost. The catch is who pays. The claim goes to your own insurance company, and your own insurer reviews it the way it reviews any claim it has to pay out, with questions about fault and about what your recovery is worth.
The Sevey Law Firm has spent more than 25 years representing injured people in Roseville, and crashes where the at-fault driver had no insurance, or too little of it, are part of that work. We identify every coverage that applies to your crash and deal with your own insurer so the claim gets valued for what the crash took from you. You pay us nothing unless we win your case. Contact us for a free consultation.
An uninsured motorist claim may cover the same losses you could have pursued from the at-fault driver directly: medical care, lost income, reduced ability to earn in the future, and pain and suffering.
When an injury calls for surgery, rehabilitation, or long-term treatment, those future costs belong in the claim too. What the coverage does not pay for is damage to your vehicle; that runs through collision coverage or a separate property damage claim.
Two things shape the final number. Your recovery cannot exceed the uninsured motorist limits in your own policy, and California's pure comparative negligence rule reduces it by your share of fault if you contributed to the crash. Partial fault does not bar the claim.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage in California
California drivers must carry at least $30,000 in liability coverage for injury to one person, $60,000 for injuries in one accident, and $15,000 for property damage. Vehicle Code section 16056 sets those floors.
A single serious injury can move past the per-person minimum quickly, and that gap is what underinsured motorist coverage exists for. The size of your own policy often matters more than the size of the other driver's.
A vehicle can qualify as uninsured even when its driver bought a policy. Under Insurance Code section 11580.2, the definition covers:
Your own uninsured motorist coverage stands in for the insurance the other driver should have had.
Underinsured motorist coverage pays the difference between the at-fault driver's policy and your own coverage limit, not the difference between their policy and what your losses total.
The order of payment is fixed. The at-fault driver's insurer pays its full limit first, and your coverage does not apply until that policy has been exhausted through a settlement or judgment, with proof of payment sent to your carrier.
Your insurer then owes, at most, your underinsured limit minus what the other side already paid. Limits from more than one policy cannot be stacked to raise that ceiling.
The claim starts with notice to your own insurer that the driver who hit you was uninsured or underinsured. From there it moves much like a liability claim: you prove the other driver's fault, document your injuries and losses, and present a demand.
The statute also gives your insurer rights in the exchange. It can require wage loss records, medical record releases, and a medical examination, and missing its response windows can stall the claim for weeks at a time.
Settling with the at-fault driver without your insurer's written consent can wipe out your uninsured motorist coverage. California's uninsured motorist statute excludes coverage when an insured settles with the liable party or takes a case to judgment without the insurer agreeing in writing first. The trap sits mostly in underinsured cases, where accepting the other insurer's policy limits feels like progress. Get the written consent before signing a release, not after.
When you and your insurer disagree about fault or about what the claim is worth, the dispute goes to arbitration rather than to a jury. A single neutral arbitrator decides whether you are legally entitled to recover from the uninsured driver, and how much.
Discovery still happens; depositions and medical evidence both have a place before the hearing. The arbitrator's award settles the coverage dispute between you and your carrier, though it does not bind the uninsured driver in a separate lawsuit.
Two years from the date of the accident, one of three formal steps must already be done: a lawsuit filed against the uninsured driver, a written agreement reached with your insurer, or arbitration formally demanded by written notice sent to the insurer by certified mail. The statute counts nothing else. An open claim file, friendly calls with an adjuster, ongoing treatment: none of it stops the clock.
The same two-year period governs a personal injury lawsuit under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, so the two deadlines run side by side. When a claim is pending, and no attorney is involved, the insurer must warn you in writing before the deadline runs, but a warning is not a plan.
California bars an uninsured driver from recovering pain and suffering after a crash, even one caused entirely by someone else.
Under Civil Code section 3333.4, a person who owned an uninsured vehicle involved in the accident, or who was driving and cannot show the financial responsibility the law requires, may not recover non-economic damages. Economic losses survive: medical expenses and lost income remain recoverable.
One exception matters. When an uninsured owner is hurt by a driver convicted of driving under the influence for that crash, the bar lifts, and pain and suffering damages come back into play.
An uninsured motorist claim puts you across the table from your own insurance company, and only formal action stops the clock.
The Sevey Law Firm has handled more than 6,000 injury cases, and holding insurers to fair payment, including the one you send premiums to, is the center of that work. Contact us for a free consultation.
Yes. California treats a hit-and-run driver as uninsured, so your UM coverage applies even if the driver is never found. Most policies require physical contact between the two vehicles, which means a driver who forces you off the road without touching your car may fall outside the coverage. You also generally need to file a police report within 24 hours and notify your insurer soon after, so make those two calls quickly.
Not if the accident wasn't your fault. California bars insurers from raising auto insurance rates over insurance claims for accidents you didn't principally cause, and that protection extends to claims under your own UM coverage. Plenty of people hesitate to use it because it feels like turning against their own insurer. That instinct costs them money they already paid premiums to protect.
Only if your policy includes uninsured motorist property damage coverage, and that benefit is capped at $3,500 and pays only when the uninsured driver is identified. Collision coverage usually does more for real vehicle damage because it pays up to your car's value no matter who caused the crash. If you carry both, your insurer typically applies collision first.
UM and UIM disputes typically go to arbitration instead of a courtroom fight against your insurer. A neutral arbitrator reviews the evidence, from medical bills to lost wages, and decides what the claim is worth. Insurance adjusters know most people accept the first number rather than push back, and the arbitration right is exactly the pushback the policy gives you.
Injury coverage pays per person and per accident, and the per-accident cap is what controls when more than one person is injured. California law requires drivers to carry at least $30,000 in coverage for a single injured person and $60,000 for the entire crash, so three injured passengers may be splitting a total that wouldn't fully cover one of them. Your own bodily injury coverage under a UM or UIM policy divides the same way, which is why every available policy gets checked after a multi-passenger crash.