If someone hit you and drove off, pull to safety, call 911, and start capturing everything you can about the other vehicle before the trail cools. Your own insurance, not the fleeing driver’s, is almost certainly what will pay for the damage and your medical bills, so the quality of the evidence you gather in the next hour shapes what you recover in the next year.
In the First Few Minutes
If your car still drives, move it out of traffic onto a shoulder, parking lot, or side street and turn on your hazards. Check yourself and any passengers. Call 911 even if nothing looks serious. Adrenaline hides pain, and injuries like whiplash or internal bruising can take hours or days to show up. Telling dispatch that the other driver fled gets law enforcement moving while the trail is fresh.
Don’t chase the other vehicle. Pursuing a fleeing driver puts you at risk of a second crash, and your insurer can argue you contributed to additional damage. Instead, write down or voice-record every detail you remember while it’s vivid: color, make, model, body damage, direction of travel, and any part of the plate you caught. Even three or four plate characters can narrow an investigation sharply when matched against the vehicle description.
Evidence That Disappears Within Hours
A crash scene empties fast. Other cars scatter debris, rain washes away fluid, and witnesses leave. Start collecting before anything moves.
- Photograph your vehicle’s damage from multiple angles, plus skid marks, broken glass or debris left by the other car, nearby traffic signs, and the broader scene showing where you are.
- Get the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the crash, and ask what they saw. Encourage them to stay for police.
- Look for cameras. Nearby businesses, traffic signals, doorbell cameras on neighboring homes, and parking garages may have caught the crash. Ask quickly: many surveillance systems overwrite footage within 24 to 72 hours.
- If you have a dashcam or built-in vehicle recording, save the file to your phone or a computer before it gets overwritten. Even blurry footage of a color or partial plate is worth keeping.
Keep copies of everything you hand to police. Your insurer will need its own set.
File the Police Report
The police report is the backbone of a hit-and-run claim. It gives you a case number your insurance company will ask for, and it starts the investigation that might identify the other driver. Give officers the time and location of the crash, your description of the fleeing vehicle, witness contact information, and any photos or footage you have.
File as soon as possible. Most policies require a police report before they’ll process a hit-and-run claim, and delays weaken both your credibility and the odds of catching the other driver. If no officer was dispatched to the scene, go to the nearest station and file in person. Ask for a copy or the case number before you leave.
See a Doctor Within 24 Hours
Get checked within a day of the crash even if you feel fine. Concussions, soft-tissue injuries, and internal bleeding can take days to produce symptoms, and an insurance adjuster will scrutinize any gap between the crash and your first medical visit. A same-day or next-day exam creates a documented link between the accident and your injuries that’s hard to dispute later.
Keep every piece of paperwork: emergency room records, imaging, specialist referrals, prescriptions, and receipts for copays and medications. If a doctor recommends follow-up care or physical therapy, follow through. Treatment gaps give insurers an opening to argue your injuries weren’t serious or weren’t caused by the crash.
Which of Your Own Policies Will Pay
A hit-and-run creates an awkward insurance situation. The at-fault driver is unknown, so there is no other policy to claim against. Your own coverage has to fill the gap, and several types may apply.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage is the single most important policy for hit-and-run victims. It pays for medical bills, lost wages, and other injury-related costs when the at-fault driver can’t be identified or has no insurance. UM also applies if you’re hit as a pedestrian or cyclist.1Insurance Information Institute. Protect Yourself Against Uninsured Motorists Roughly 20 states and the District of Columbia require drivers to carry UM, and even where it’s optional it’s commonly offered. Check your declarations page.
One important catch: some states and policies require physical contact between your vehicle and the fleeing vehicle for a UM claim to apply. If the other driver swerved into your lane, caused you to crash, and never touched your car, your insurer may deny the claim unless you have independent corroboration like a witness statement or surveillance footage. Call your agent to find out whether this applies to your policy.
Collision Coverage
Collision coverage pays to repair or replace your vehicle regardless of fault, which makes it a reliable fallback here. The tradeoff is your deductible, which you’ll pay out of pocket before the insurer covers the rest. In some states, uninsured motorist property damage (UMPD) coverage can do a similar job with a lower or no deductible, but UMPD doesn’t cover hit-and-runs in every state. If you carry both, ask your insurer which applies and which deductible is lower.
PIP and MedPay
Personal injury protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage (MedPay) both pay medical expenses regardless of fault. PIP, required in about 18 states, also covers lost wages and certain other costs. MedPay is simpler and typically covers only medical bills. Either can fill gaps while a larger UM or collision claim processes, and both cover your passengers as well.
Will Filing Raise Your Rates?
It depends on your state and your insurer. Some states prohibit rate increases after not-at-fault claims; many don’t. A UM or collision claim for a hit-and-run can appear on your claims history, and some insurers adjust premiums at renewal. The increase is typically smaller than what follows an at-fault crash, and it grows if you’ve filed other claims recently or have violations on your record. Skipping the claim to protect your premium usually costs far more in unrecovered repair and medical bills than any rate bump.
The Separate DMV Report You Probably Owe
Beyond the police report, most states require a separate accident report filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent) when property damage exceeds a set threshold or when anyone is injured. Thresholds vary but often fall between $1,000 and $2,500, and the deadline is typically around 10 days from the crash. Missing it can trigger a license suspension in some states, even though you were the victim.
This filing is in addition to the police report, not a substitute for it. Check your state DMV’s website for the form, filing method, and deadline. Many states accept electronic submissions.
If the Driver Is Identified
Every state requires drivers in a crash to stop, exchange information, and render aid if anyone is hurt. Leaving the scene violates that duty. When the crash caused only property damage, it’s typically charged as a misdemeanor carrying fines, probation, and up to a year of possible jail. When it caused serious injury or death, it’s usually a felony, and some states impose mandatory minimum prison terms for fatal hit-and-runs. License suspension or revocation stacks on top, often for six months to a year or longer. If the driver was also intoxicated, DUI charges compound the penalties.
If the driver is convicted, you may receive court-ordered restitution for out-of-pocket costs like medical bills and repairs, though the amounts ordered often fall short of total losses. Restitution doesn’t bar you from also filing a civil suit.
A civil lawsuit lets you pursue what insurance didn’t cover: remaining medical expenses, lost income, vehicle costs, and pain and suffering. The evidence you gathered at the scene becomes the core of your case. Every state sets a statute of limitations on personal injury claims, ranging from as short as one year in a few states to as long as six in others, with most falling in the two-to-three-year range. The clock starts on the date of the crash. Property damage claims sometimes have a different (and occasionally shorter) deadline, so check both. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, so you pay only if they recover money for you.
If the Driver Is Never Found
Many hit-and-run drivers are never identified. When that happens, your recovery narrows to your own insurance and any applicable victim compensation program. UM coverage pays for injury-related costs. Collision handles the vehicle. PIP or MedPay fills short-term medical gaps. If you carry none of these, your health insurance may still cover treatment, subject to deductibles and copays.
Every state also runs a crime victim compensation program that can reimburse costs other sources didn’t cover, including medical treatment, mental health counseling, lost wages, and funeral expenses.2Office for Victims of Crime. Victim Compensation Eligibility requirements vary, but you’ll generally need to have filed a police report and cooperated with law enforcement. Application deadlines typically run from one to five years after the crime, and many programs cover up to $25,000 or more in qualified expenses. These are payers of last resort: they fill in where insurance, restitution, and other sources didn’t reach. Contact the program in the state where the crash occurred to check eligibility.
The strongest defense against the vanishing-driver scenario is having UM and collision coverage before you need it. Adding both is usually inexpensive compared with the protection they provide, especially in areas with high rates of uninsured or unlicensed drivers.