Personal Injury Advocate
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Were you hurt in a hit-and-run crash?

We are sorry this happened to you. You are not alone, and you do not have to figure this out by yourself.

Are you in an emergency right now?

  • Check yourself and others for injuries, breathing, and bleeding.
  • Call 911 if anyone is hurt or the road is not safe.
  • Move away from traffic if you can do it safely.
  • Get medical care even if you feel fine. Some injuries hide for days.
  • This page is for after you are safe.

This page covers hit-and-run claim deadlines and what to do right now. We are the injured person's advocate. We connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves. Always free. Talk to an advocate. We usually reply within minutes, at most one business day.

Hit-and-run crashes are common enough to be tracked nationally. In 2023, 2,872 people were killed in hit-and-run crashes across the United States (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)).

Why hit-and-run claims get tricky

In a normal crash, you file a claim against the other driver's insurance. In a hit-and-run, there often is no "other driver" to file against, because they left the scene and were never identified.

This is where your own policy usually becomes the practical path forward. Most auto insurance policies include uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, which is designed to step in when the at-fault driver cannot be identified or has no insurance at all. In many states, a hit-and-run driver is treated the same as an uninsured driver for this purpose, since there is no insurer to pursue.

The catch is that uninsured motorist claims usually require proof that the crash actually happened the way you describe, since there is no other driver's statement to confirm it. Some states also require you to report a hit-and-run to police within a short window, sometimes as little as 24 hours, or your insurer can deny the uninsured motorist claim entirely. Rules and time limits vary by state.

This overlaps with general car crash documentation. See our car crash guide for the basics that apply to any crash.

What real hit-and-run and uninsured motorist claims have involved

Because a hit-and-run driver is rarely identified in these cases, injury claims mostly proceed as uninsured motorist claims against the victim's own insurer rather than as public lawsuits against a named driver, so there is not a public settlement database to draw from the way there is for other crash types. What is publicly documented is that insurers can and do deny uninsured motorist claims, sometimes for reasons as simple as a late police report or a dispute over whether contact actually occurred. We are not a law firm, and no one can promise or predict what any case is worth. Check our state pages for what applies where you live.

When it goes wrong: why timing and paperwork matter so much

More than one in seven drivers nationwide, an estimated 15.4% in 2023, carry no auto insurance at all (Insurance Research Council). In a hit-and-run, you often cannot even find out whether the driver who hit you was one of them, because they are gone. That leaves your own uninsured motorist coverage to do the work, and that coverage runs on strict paperwork and short deadlines that many people have never heard of until they need them.

This is not about the injured person doing something wrong. It reflects how heavily uninsured motorist claims depend on a fast police report, careful documentation, and knowing your own policy, all of which can be hard to manage while you are also recovering from an injury. Talk to an advocate right away to get help with the process.

Talk to an advocate. You do not have to sort out uninsured motorist paperwork alone.

Protect your case

  1. Talk to an advocate at WeHelpInjured. It is free.
  2. Call the police immediately and file a report. In some states, you have as little as 24 hours to report a hit-and-run for your uninsured motorist claim to remain valid.
  3. Write down everything you can remember about the other vehicle: color, make, model, and any part of the license plate.
  4. Look for nearby security cameras, doorbell cameras, or traffic cameras that may have captured the crash.
  5. Get names and contact information for any witnesses.
  6. Report the crash to your own insurance company and ask specifically about your uninsured motorist coverage.
  7. Warning: don't wait! The reporting window is a trap. Some states allow as little as 24 hours to report a hit-and-run for your uninsured motorist claim to count, so people wait, and waiting kills cases. The longer you wait, the fuzzier memories get and camera footage gets deleted. Talk to an advocate immediately. Find your state on our state pages.

Never do these

What we can help with

All of it is free to you. We never take money from injured people.

Talk to an advocate. A hit-and-run does not have to be a dead end.

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