A crash is hard enough when the driver who caused it has insurance. When that driver has none, or not nearly enough, the question becomes who is going to pay for any of this.
It happens more often than most people expect, and it does not leave you with nothing. Maine builds a backstop into your own policy, and the rules for using it differ from those in an ordinary auto accident claim. It requires you to understand your options early, before you say or sign something that narrows them.
How often does this happen in Maine?
The Insurance Research Council estimated that 6.2 percent of Maine motorists were uninsured in 2022. That is one of the lowest rates in the country. It is still roughly one driver in sixteen.
That figure also leaves out a larger group: drivers who carry insurance, but not enough of it. A driver at the state minimum is insured on paper and still cannot cover a serious injury.
What Maine’s required UM and UIM coverage means for you
Maine generally requires motor vehicle liability policies issued for vehicles registered or principally garaged here to include uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. You very likely have it, whether or not you remember buying it.
The two coverages work differently.
Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the driver who caused the crash has no liability insurance at all. Instead of pursuing a policy that does not exist, you make the claim under a policy that covers you.
Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has insurance, but not enough to cover your losses. Maine treats UIM as gap coverage: what the at-fault driver’s insurer pays generally reduces what remains available under your own UM/UIM limits. It does not stack on top.
Maine’s required minimum UM/UIM coverage is $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident. If you bought higher bodily injury liability limits, your UM/UIM limits generally must match them unless a named insured rejected the higher UM/UIM limits in writing. Pull out your declarations page and look. You may have more protection than you think.
Your own insurer will still evaluate — and can still dispute — your claim
A UM or UIM claim is made under your policy, against your own carrier, and it is still a claim. Your insurer will evaluate fault, whether the collision caused your injuries, what your losses come to, and whether the policy covers the situation at all. It can request records, question whether a course of treatment was related to the crash, and make an early offer that does not reflect the full claim.
That is not misconduct, and it is not particular to your company; it is how claims are adjusted. But it means a UM/UIM claim can become adversarial even though you paid the premiums, and being the customer does not carry the weight people expect it to.
Can you sue the uninsured driver directly?
Yes. Maine law does not prevent you from filing a personal injury lawsuit against an uninsured driver. Obtaining a judgment and collecting one are different problems.
A driver with no insurance often has no assets either, and a judgment against someone who cannot pay it is worth very little. That is the practical question to answer before spending a year on it. Sometimes both paths run at once: a liability action against the driver alongside a UM claim under your own policy. Which combination makes sense depends on the facts and on what the policy says.
What if the driver left the scene?
Maine’s uninsured vehicle statute includes hit-and-run vehicles, so UM coverage is the usual route when the driver cannot be identified. Whether a particular loss qualifies depends on the facts and the policy terms.
What you do in the first day or two matters more here than in almost any other kind of claim. Report the collision to the police promptly. Notify your insurer. Keep your photographs. Write down anything you or a witness can recall about the vehicle: color, make, a partial plate, damage, which way it went. Details that seem useless at the time are sometimes what identifies a car.
What can you recover?
UM and UIM coverage applies to bodily injury damages. Depending on the facts and the policy, those may include:
- Medical expenses, past and future
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Your vehicle is a separate question. Damage to the car may support a property damage claim against the responsible driver, and your own collision coverage may apply if you bought it. Maine’s mandatory UM/UIM coverage does not itself cover property damage.
The limit on your declarations page matters, but it is not always the end of the analysis. Another policy or another responsible party may be available: a household policy, an employer’s policy, an umbrella policy, a second at-fault driver. This is one reason Maine injury attorneys so often recommend carrying more than the state minimum. A serious injury can easily exceed $50,000.
What to do now
If you were hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver in Maine, this is what matters most in the first days after the crash:
- Get medical attention. Even if you feel all right. Brain injuries and soft tissue injuries often do not announce themselves on the first day.
- Report the crash to the police. Especially if the other driver left. The report creates an early record of what happened, who saw it, and what was done to identify the driver.
- Notify your own insurer. Your policy almost certainly requires prompt notice and cooperation. Give accurate basic facts. Do not speculate about fault, your injuries, or anything you do not yet know.
- Understand a recorded statement request before you answer it. Your obligations to your own insurer differ from your obligations to the other driver’s. Ask what the policy requires, and consider getting advice before giving a detailed recorded statement. Don’t ignore the request; failing to cooperate with your insurer can affect coverage.
- Speak with a Maine personal injury attorney. UM and UIM claims carry their own procedural requirements and deadlines, and they are easier to get right at the start than to repair later.
Frequently asked questions
Will filing a UM claim raise my rates?
It depends on the circumstances, the insurer’s approved rating rules, and your claims history. A UM/UIM claim does not mean you caused the collision, but no article can promise that filing one will have no effect on future pricing. Ask your insurer directly how they will classify the claim.
What if my UM limits are lower than my damages?
Look first for other coverage: additional liable parties, a household or umbrella policy, an employer’s policy. If no other source exists, your recovery under your own policy is capped at that limit. This is the clearest argument for carrying more than the minimum.
How long do I have to bring a UM claim in Maine?
Be careful with this one. A UM/UIM claim arises under an insurance contract, so the deadline cannot safely be worked out from Maine’s general six-year personal injury deadline alone. Your policy likely requires prompt notice and cooperation, and the deadline for suing the insurer can turn on when it denies benefits. Notify the carrier promptly and confirm the deadline rather than assuming every part of the claim has six years from the crash.
What if I was partly at fault?
It does not end the claim. Under Maine law you can recover unless a jury finds you equally at fault, and if you can recover, the jury decides what reduction is fair. We explain how Maine’s comparative fault rule actually works in our guide to what people get wrong about Maine injury law.
The short version
- Maine generally requires UM and UIM coverage on auto policies issued here. You probably have it.
- UM covers a driver with no insurance. UIM covers one without enough. UIM is gap coverage: what the other insurer pays reduces what remains under yours.
- If you bought higher liability limits, your UM/UIM limits generally match them unless someone rejected that in writing. Check your declarations page.
- A UM/UIM claim is still a claim. Your own insurer will evaluate it and can dispute it.
- Hit-and-run crashes generally fall under UM. Report promptly and preserve everything you have.
- The deadline is not simply six years. Your policy imposes its own notice requirements.
If you were hit by an uninsured driver in Maine, Hardy, Wolf & Downing can help you identify the coverage that may be available and decide how to pursue it. Offices in Portland and Lewiston. Free consultations. No fee unless we recover for you.
