What if the driver who hit me in Houston has no insurance?
- Texas Attorney
- Yale B.A. · University of Houston Law Center J.D.
- Habla español
- Updated October 1, 2026
You may still recover through your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage or personal injury protection (PIP). Texas insurers must offer this coverage, and many Houston drivers have it without realizing. We review every policy for it.
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An uninsured driver is not the end of the claim
Texas has a serious uninsured-driver problem, and being hit by someone with no coverage — or nowhere near enough — is common. It does not mean there is no recovery. It means the recovery usually comes from a different policy, often your own.
Start with your own policy
Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage is the main one. It covers you when the at-fault driver has no insurance, not enough insurance, or fled the scene. Texas insurers are required to offer UM/UIM, and you can only decline it by rejecting it in writing. A great many Texas drivers therefore carry it without remembering they do. Never assume you do not have it — the declarations page decides, not your memory.
Personal injury protection (PIP) also has to be offered and also requires a written rejection to decline. PIP pays your medical bills and a portion of lost wages regardless of who caused the crash, and it pays quickly. On a typical Texas policy it is a few thousand dollars, but it arrives early, when the bills are landing.
Coverage can also come from places people do not think to check: a policy held by a relative in your household, the policy on a vehicle you were a passenger in, or a commercial policy if anyone involved was working at the time.
Why a UIM claim is slower than people expect
This is where clients get frustrated, and it is worth understanding. Under Brainard v. Trinity Universal Insurance Co. (Tex. 2006), your own insurer has no contractual obligation to pay UIM benefits until the other driver's liability and your damages have been legally established. Until that happens, the insurer can sit on the claim without technically breaching the policy — even though you are its own customer and have paid premiums for years.
In Allstate Insurance Co. v. Irwin (Tex. 2021), the Texas Supreme Court opened a faster route: those prerequisites can now be established through a declaratory judgment action, rather than only through a conventional suit. That matters practically, because attorney's fees are available under the Declaratory Judgment Act at the court's discretion — which gives the insurer a reason to engage rather than wait you out.
The short version: a UIM claim is a claim against your own insurance company, and it is adversarial whether or not it feels like it should be. Your insurer's adjuster is not on your side of this one.
Do not let your own insurer treat you like the other side
Because UIM is a first-party claim, the same tactics apply: recorded statements, requests for sweeping medical authorizations, delay, and low early offers made while you are still treating. Your duty to cooperate with your own policy is real, but it is not unlimited, and it does not require you to hand over your entire medical history or talk without a lawyer.
One hard rule: do not settle with the at-fault driver's insurer before notifying your UIM carrier. Releasing the at-fault driver without your UIM carrier's consent can destroy your UIM claim outright. That mistake is permanent and it is made often.
Authority: Brainard v. Trinity Universal Ins. Co., 216 S.W.3d 809 (Tex. 2006) · Allstate Ins. Co. v. Irwin, 627 S.W.3d 263 (Tex. 2021)
Your next steps, and ours
Call Jimmy
713-600-6233Your UM/UIM claim runs against your own insurer and carries its own notice requirements. Calling now lets us give that notice correctly.
Do not settle with the driver
Settling with the at-fault driver without your UIM carrier's consent can wipe out the UIM claim entirely. Sign nothing yet.
We check every policy for coverage
UM/UIM and PIP on your policy, a relative's in your household, the car you rode in, or a commercial policy if anyone was working.
We deal with your own insurer
A UIM claim is adversarial even with your own carrier. We handle the adjuster and use the routes Texas law allows to move it forward.
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