You did everything right. You carry insurance, you drive carefully, and you’re stopped at a red light when someone runs into you. Then comes the part no one wants to hear: the other driver has no insurance.
It feels like a dead end. It often isn’t.
An estimated 12.9 percent of Virginia drivers are uninsured, which means this scenario plays out on Hampton Roads roads more often than most people realize. The good news is that Virginia law, and potentially your own insurance policy, may still provide meaningful paths to compensation. The options depend on your specific coverage, the circumstances of the crash, and who else may share responsibility for what happened.
You may have more options than you think. In this article, we’ll take an honest look at each one.
If you’ve been hit by an uninsured driver in Hampton Roads, Decker Law can review your situation and help you identify every source of recovery available. Call us at 757-622-3317 for a free consultation.
Option 1: Your Own Uninsured Motorist Coverage
For most accident victims in Virginia, this is the most reliable and fastest path to compensation after a crash involving an uninsured driver.
Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage is a component of your own auto insurance policy that steps in when the at-fault driver either has no coverage or cannot be identified, as in a hit-and-run. Virginia law underwent a significant shift as of July 1, 2024, by repealing the uninsured motor vehicle fee and effectively requiring all drivers to maintain liability insurance. Alongside that change, Virginia requires UM/UIM coverage matching your liability limits unless you specifically reject the higher amount in writing, and UM coverage cannot fall below the state minimum of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident.
In practice, this means your own policy may cover your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, up to your UM limits, even when the at-fault driver brought nothing to the table. You file a claim with your own insurer, document your damages the same way you would in any injury claim, and your insurer steps into the shoes of the uninsured driver for purposes of paying you.
One thing worth knowing: your insurance company is still an insurance company. Even UM claims can involve initial offers that don’t fully reflect what your case is worth. Having an experienced attorney from Decker Law to review any settlement offer before you accept it is strongly advisable.
A police report filed promptly after the accident is important for UM claims. For hit-and-run cases in particular, Virginia generally requires that the accident be reported to law enforcement, typically within 24 hours, as a condition of pursuing a UM claim based on an unidentified driver.
Option 2: Suing the Uninsured Driver Personally
If someone caused your accident through their negligence, you have the legal right to sue them regardless of whether they carry insurance. Winning a judgment against an uninsured driver is a genuine legal option, but it comes with a significant practical limitation that is worth understanding clearly before pursuing this path as your primary strategy.
Most uninsured drivers are uninsured because they lack the financial resources to pay for coverage in the first place. A court judgment in your favor does not automatically result in payment. If the defendant has no meaningful assets, no property to lien, and limited income, collecting on a judgment may be difficult or, in some cases, effectively impossible in the near term.
That said, a judgment doesn’t expire immediately in Virginia, and collection tools including wage garnishment, bank levies, liens on real property, and installment payment orders can sometimes allow recovery over time, particularly if the defendant’s financial situation improves. In cases where the at-fault driver does have assets or a steady income, a personal lawsuit may be the most effective avenue.
The strategic question your attorney can help you answer is whether pursuing the driver personally, in addition to or instead of a UM claim, makes sense given what is actually known about their circumstances.
Option 3: Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) When the Insurance Is Insufficient
This option is slightly different from pure UM coverage and applies when the at-fault driver has some insurance, but not nearly enough to cover what your injuries are actually worth.
Virginia law changed meaningfully in this area in July 2023. Virginia law now requires auto insurance companies to provide UIM coverage stacking by default. Under the new law, if an at-fault driver has $50,000 in liability coverage and you have $100,000 in UIM coverage, stacking allows for a total of $150,000 in available coverage
What this means practically: if you were seriously injured and the at-fault driver’s policy is exhausted before your damages are fully covered, your own UIM coverage can now stack on top of their payout rather than being reduced by it. The process generally involves resolving the claim against the at-fault driver’s policy first, then pursuing the UIM portion of your own coverage for the remaining damages, up to your policy limits.
Drivers who have not renewed their policies since July 1, 2023 may want to confirm with their insurer that their coverage reflects the updated stacking rules.
Option 4: Third-Party Liability
Sometimes, the uninsured driver is not the only party with legal exposure. Depending on the circumstances of your accident, other parties may share responsibility, and those parties may have insurance or resources that make recovery far more realistic.
Employer liability. If the driver who hit you was operating a vehicle in the course of their employment at the time of the accident, whether making a delivery, running a work errand, or driving a company vehicle, their employer may bear legal responsibility under the doctrine of vicarious liability. Commercial employers routinely carry substantially higher insurance coverage than individual drivers, which can make this avenue particularly significant when it applies.
Vehicle owner liability. If the uninsured driver was operating a vehicle owned by someone else, the owner may face liability under negligent entrustment theories if they knowingly allowed an unfit or unlicensed driver to use their vehicle.
Road design and government liability. In cases where dangerous road conditions, malfunctioning traffic signals, or defective road design contributed to the accident, there may be a claim against the government entity responsible for that infrastructure. Claims against government entities in Virginia involve specific notice requirements and procedural rules, which is another reason early legal consultation matters.
One avenue that often comes up in drunk driving cases deserves a direct answer: Virginia does not recognize dram shop liability. Virginia is one of a handful of states that recognizes neither dram shop nor social host liability for alcohol-related injuries. This means that, unlike in many other states, bars, restaurants, and social hosts generally cannot be held legally responsible for injuries caused by someone they served alcohol to. If the uninsured driver who hit you was intoxicated, your claim focuses on the driver themselves and any other applicable third parties, not on whoever sold or served them alcohol.
Understanding Where Virginia Law Stands Now
A few updates to Virginia’s insurance framework are worth knowing as context for all of the above.
As of July 1, 2024, Virginia eliminated the option to pay an uninsured motorist fee, making insurance mandatory for all registered vehicles. Before that date, Virginia drivers could legally operate without insurance by paying a $500 annual fee to the DMV. That option no longer exists, but it doesn’t mean uninsured drivers have disappeared. Many are driving illegally without coverage, and the consequences of that fall squarely on whoever they hit.
Starting January 1, 2025, the minimum liability coverage requirements in Virginia increased to $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage. UM and UIM coverage must match those minimums.
A Note on Hit-and-Run Accidents
If the driver who hit you fled the scene and was never identified, your UM coverage is typically the primary mechanism for recovery. Virginia treats hit-and-run cases as uninsured motorist situations, and the same coverage that applies when a driver has no insurance generally applies when the driver is simply unknown.
The conditions for pursuing a hit-and-run UM claim typically include making a timely police report and, in most cases, establishing that there was actual physical contact between vehicles. Our attorneys can walk you through the specific requirements of your policy and Virginia law as they apply to your situation.
Check Your Policy Now
If you are reading this after an accident, you need to know what coverage you have as quickly as possible. If you are reading this before an accident, the single most useful thing you can do is review your current auto policy and confirm your UM and UIM limits.
Many people carry only the minimum required coverage. Given that serious injuries can easily produce medical bills, lost wages, and long-term costs well in excess of minimum policy limits, higher UM and UIM limits are worth the typically modest premium difference. A quick call to your insurance agent can clarify exactly where you stand.
If you’ve already been hit by an uninsured driver and you’re trying to figure out what comes next, Decker Law represents accident victims throughout Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, and Newport News. We can identify every potential source of recovery in your case and handle the claim from start to finish. Call us at 757-622-3317 or contact us at peterdecker.com. There is no fee unless we recover on your behalf.
Decker Law • Norfolk, Virginia • 757-622-3317
Experienced personal injury attorneys throughout Hampton Roads, including Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, and Newport News.
This post reflects the state of the law as of its original publication date. Laws, regulations, and their interpretation change over time, and the information here may have been superseded, amended, or overturned since this article was published. Older posts are retained for reference and historical context and should not be relied upon as a current statement of the law.
Nothing in this post is legal advice, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship. For guidance on your specific situation, please contact Decker Law directly.