Do You Need Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

1. Introduction

Quick Answer: Uninsured motorist coverage is the one line on your policy that pays when the other driver cannot. This guide shows the share of uninsured drivers in your state, which states force you to buy the coverage, and how to size the limit so it actually holds when you need it.

Every other coverage on your car policy assumes somebody is good for the bill. Liability assumes you are. Collision assumes you paid a deductible. Uninsured motorist coverage exists because that assumption breaks about one time in seven.

The odd part is how many drivers decline it. It usually costs a small fraction of a full policy, and it is the only coverage that steps in when an at-fault driver has nothing to take. Most people skip it because the quote screen offers no context for the number.

In the usual DollarVisor style, every figure below comes from the Insurance Research Council, the NAIC, or state law: broken out by state wherever the data allows. Here is a short explainer before we get into the numbers.

2. What Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Actually Pay For?

Quick Answer: Uninsured motorist coverage pays for injuries to you, your passengers and your household when an at-fault driver has no liability insurance. It steps into the shoes of the policy that driver should have carried. It is not the same thing as full coverage car insurance, and it does not pay the other driver.

Think of it as a substitute policy. When the at-fault driver has liability insurance, their carrier pays your medical bills and lost wages. When they do not, your own insurer pays those same bills instead: up to the uninsured motorist limit you chose.

It splits into two parts, and states treat them differently:

• Uninsured motorist bodily injury (UMBI). Medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering for you, your passengers and relatives in your household. This is the part that matters most, and it is what “uninsured motorist coverage” usually means.
• Uninsured motorist property damage (UMPD). Repairs to your car. Only some states offer it, and it often carries a small deductible.

It also covers one situation nothing else does cleanly: the driver who leaves. Per the Insurance Information Institute, uninsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault motorist is a hit-and-run driver as well as when they simply have no policy.

Every other coverage answers “who pays for the damage?” Uninsured motorist coverage answers “what if nobody can?”

3. How Many Uninsured Drivers Are in Your State?

Quick Answer: Between 5.9% and 25.2% of drivers, depending on where you live. The national figure hides a four-fold spread, which is why a coverage decision made from a national average is a coin flip. Our insurance hub breaks the same state logic across every policy type.

The Insurance Research Council estimates the uninsured rate from claims data: the ratio of uninsured motorist claims to bodily injury claims. Here is how DollarVisor’s ten launch states compare against the 14.0% national figure for 2022.

Nationally the 2022 spread ran from Wyoming at 5.9% to the District of Columbia at 25.2%. By 2023 the picture had shifted again: the IRC put Mississippi highest at 28.2% and Maine lowest at 5.7%.

4. Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Required in Your State?

Quick Answer: Nineteen jurisdictions require uninsured motorist coverage, and 14 of those also require underinsured motorist coverage, per the Triple-I compulsory auto chart. In the remaining 32 states, insurers must usually offer it but you can decline in writing. Our guide to how car insurance works covers the rest of the mandatory lines.

Requirement status is the single fastest way to read your own risk. States that mandate the coverage are, broadly, states that concluded the uninsured problem was too big to leave optional.

Notice the mismatch. Michigan, Georgia, Ohio, California, Illinois and Florida all sit above the national uninsured rate, and not one of them requires the coverage. Six of DollarVisor’s ten launch states carry above-average exposure and zero mandate.

You will also see other counts published: 20, 21, 22. The number moves depending on whether a state is counted for requiring drivers to carry the coverage or only requiring insurers to offer it. The 19 above counts the first, stricter definition.

5. What Is the Difference Between UM and UIM Coverage?

Quick Answer: UM applies when the at-fault driver has no liability insurance at all. UIM applies when they have a policy but its limit runs out before your bills do. They are usually sold together as one line, and both sit on the same side of your policy as collision and comprehensive: coverages that protect you, not the other party.

The distinction sounds academic until you see the claim math. UM is a binary: no policy, so your coverage pays from the first dollar. UIM is arithmetic: their limit pays first, and yours tops up the remainder.

A worked example. Say your medical bills after a crash come to $85,000.

• At-fault driver has no insurance. UM pays the full $85,000, capped at your UM limit.
• At-fault driver carries a $25,000 per-person limit. Their carrier pays $25,000. UIM covers the $60,000 gap, capped at your UIM limit.
• You declined both. Your health insurance handles what it covers, you absorb deductibles and co-insurance, and you sue a driver who by definition had nothing to insure with.

That third line is the real cost of declining. A judgment against an uninsured driver is a piece of paper, not a payment.

6. Is the Uninsured Driver Problem Getting Worse?

Quick Answer: Yes. The national uninsured rate fell steadily through 2019, jumped in 2020 and has climbed since, reaching 15.4% in 2023. That reverses a decade of slow improvement and changes the value of the coverage relative to what you pay, much like the shift we track in liability vs full coverage.

The underinsured number moved further. IRC president Dale Porfilio said the rise in UIM rates since 2020 has been more dramatic than the gradual rise in UM rates, with deteriorating insurance affordability more than offsetting economic improvement. Combined, one in three drivers was uninsured or underinsured in 2023.

7. Why State Minimum Limits Make UIM the Bigger Gap

Quick Answer: Most legally insured drivers carry the state minimum, and in several large states that minimum is $10,000 to $15,000 per injured person. A single ambulance ride and one night in hospital can exhaust it, which is why umbrella insurance and generous UIM limits do overlapping work.

The table below shows the legal floor in DollarVisor’s launch states. The first number is the cap on what an at-fault driver’s policy will pay for any one injured person.

Florida is the sharpest case. Bodily injury liability is not compulsory there at all, so a legally registered Florida driver can hit you carrying no injury coverage whatsoever. In California and Pennsylvania, the floor is $15,000 per person.

8. Can You Stack Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

Quick Answer: In 28 states some form of stacking is allowed, which multiplies your uninsured motorist limit by the number of insured vehicles. About half of states prohibit it. Stacking is the least-known way to raise this coverage, and it matters most for multi-car households and anyone weighing non-owner car insurance.

Stacking works exactly as it sounds. Triple-I gives the arithmetic: in a three-car family with $20,000 uninsured motorist limits, in a state that permits stacking, the amount available for a claim becomes $60,000.

Three practical points:

• It raises your premium. Stacking is priced in, which is exactly why roughly half of states banned it: it pushed up the cost of auto insurance.
• Some policies opt out. Even in states that allow stacking, insurers may include anti-stacking provisions if they are clearly stated.
• Rules are state-specific. Missouri and Pennsylvania are among the states that have upheld stacking provisions.

9. How Much Uninsured Motorist Coverage Should You Buy?

Quick Answer: Match it to your bodily injury liability limit, but watch which way the constraint runs. Insurers generally will not sell you more uninsured motorist coverage than liability. So if the matched number still looks thin, raise liability first: the same order we use for gap insurance decisions.

Work through it in this order.

1. Find your bodily injury liability limit. It is the first pair of numbers on your declarations page, for example 100/300.
2. Set uninsured motorist to match it. If your liability is 100/300, ask for 100/300 uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. If liability is 25/50, raise that first: the uninsured limit usually cannot climb past it.
3. Check your state’s rules. Nineteen jurisdictions require the coverage; the rest usually require a written rejection if you decline.
4. Ask about stacking. If you insure more than one vehicle in a stacking state, confirm whether your limits stack.
5. Price the increase, not the coverage. Compare the quote for matched limits against minimum limits. The step up is usually far smaller than the step up in protection.

One correction worth making: health insurance is not a substitute. It pays medical bills, not lost wages, and not the deductibles and co-insurance you will owe. Uninsured motorist coverage pays all three.

10. Conclusion

Quick Answer: Buy it, and match it to your liability limit. One driver in seven has no insurance, one in three has none or not enough, and the trend is moving the wrong way. Compare it against the rest of your policy on our insurance hub before your next renewal.

The case for uninsured motorist coverage is not a sales pitch, it is arithmetic. The odds of a crash with someone who cannot pay have risen since 2019. The states with the worst exposure are often the ones that leave the coverage optional. And the legal minimum an insured driver carries can be as little as $10,000.

Pull your declarations page and check two numbers: your bodily injury liability limit and your uninsured motorist limit. If the second is smaller than the first, that is the gap. It is usually cheap to close.

This article is information, not financial or insurance advice. Coverage rules vary by state and change over time: confirm details with your state department of insurance or a licensed agent. See our full disclaimer.

11. Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do you need uninsured motorist coverage?

In 19 US jurisdictions you must carry it by law. Everywhere else it is optional but still worth buying, because 15.4% of drivers were uninsured in 2023 and a third were uninsured or underinsured. The coverage pays your medical bills and lost wages when the at-fault driver cannot, and it is the only line that responds to a hit-and-run.

2. What is the difference between uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage?

Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has no liability insurance at all. Underinsured motorist coverage applies when they have a policy but its limit is too small to cover your bills, and it pays the remainder above their limit. They are usually sold together as a single UM/UIM line on your policy.

3. How much uninsured motorist coverage should I have?

Match it to your bodily injury liability limit. If you carry 100/300 liability, ask for 100/300 uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Insurers generally will not sell an uninsured motorist limit higher than your liability limit, so if the matched number looks thin, raise liability first. Buying less means you have insured strangers more generously than yourself.

4. Does uninsured motorist coverage have a deductible?

Uninsured motorist bodily injury usually has no deductible. Uninsured motorist property damage, which pays to repair your car, often carries a small deductible where a state offers it. Rules vary by state and insurer, so check the coverage section of your declarations page rather than assuming either way.

5. Can I reject uninsured motorist coverage?

Only in states where it is not compulsory, and usually only in writing. In most of the 32 states that do not require the coverage, insurers must offer it and you must sign a rejection to decline. In the 19 jurisdictions that require uninsured motorist coverage, you cannot reject it at all.