Tempe Uninsured Driver Accident Lawyer

Arizona Minimum Insurance Leaves a Wide Gap

Arizona requires only $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash in bodily injury coverage, plus $15,000 for property damage (A.R.S. § 28-4009). A short hospital stay can pass the per-person limit. A crash with several injured passengers splits $50,000 among everyone hurt.

Arizona is a fault state, so the driver who caused the crash owes for the harm. That rule means little when the driver bought no policy or a minimum one. Medical bills, lost wages, and vehicle damage stack up fast against those numbers. The gap between real damages and available coverage is the central problem in these cases.

Serious injuries widen the gap. A spinal cord injury or a traumatic brain injury generates lifetime costs that no minimum policy touches. The claim has to reach beyond the at-fault driver to be worth anything.

The exposure is statewide. ADOT recorded 121,107 crashes in Arizona in 2024 (Motor Vehicle Crash Facts), and some share of the drivers involved carried no coverage at all. You cannot control who hits you on Rural Road or the Loop 101; you can control what happens next.

UM and UIM Coverage: What Each One Does

Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance. It also covers phantom-driver crashes, which is why it matters in Tempe hit-and-run cases. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage pays when the driver has insurance but not enough to cover your damages.

Arizona insurers must offer both coverages on every auto policy under A.R.S. § 20-259.01, and you must reject them in writing. Many drivers carry UM or UIM without remembering the choice. Pull your declarations page before you assume you have nothing to work with. The page lists each coverage and its limits near the front of the policy packet.

The coverages follow you, not just your car. Depending on the policy, UM and UIM can apply when you ride as a passenger, walk as a pedestrian, or ride a bike. An attorney reads the policy language before ruling anything out.

A UM or UIM Claim Is Still an Adversarial Claim

A UM or UIM claim goes to your own insurer, but do not expect a friendly process. Your insurer stands in the position of the uninsured driver and can raise every defense that driver could have raised. The adjuster evaluates your claim; the adjuster does not advocate for you. Treat every conversation as one that can affect the payout.

Expect requests for recorded statements, medical authorizations, and independent medical exams. What you say early can shrink the payout later. Our guide to dealing with insurance after a Tempe crash covers what to share and what to hold back.

Deadlines hide in the policy language. Some policies require prompt notice of a UM claim or written consent before you settle with the at-fault driver. Missing a contract deadline can void coverage you paid years of premiums for, so involve a lawyer early.

Your insurer also owes you duties the uninsured driver never did. Arizona law requires good faith handling of first-party claims. An insurer that delays without reason or lowballs a documented claim can face a bad faith action. Attorneys use that duty as leverage in negotiation.

Stacking Coverage to Increase What Is Available

Stacking means combining UM or UIM limits from more than one vehicle or policy. A household with two insured cars may have two sets of limits to draw on, depending on how the policies are written. Whether an insurer can restrict stacking turns on specific policy language, so the wording matters.

Other sources can add to the recovery. MedPay coverage, the policy of a relative in your household, or an umbrella policy may apply on top of the primary limits. Umbrella policies sometimes include UM or UIM coverage the policyholder forgot buying. None of these pay automatically; each requires a claim presented under its own terms.

Finding every applicable policy is detective work. An attorney gathers the declarations pages, reads the forms, and presents claims in the right order so no coverage gets left behind. Order matters because a UIM claim is usually measured against what the at-fault policy already paid.

When Your Damages Exceed Every Policy Limit

Sometimes the damages outrun all available coverage. You can sue the at-fault driver personally, but a driver who bought no insurance rarely holds assets worth pursuing. A judgment can still make sense in select cases, and a lawyer can tell you whether the cost is justified. Bankruptcy by the driver can wipe out a judgment, which is one more reason the coverage work comes first.

Look hard at every possible defendant. A drunk driving crash may support a claim against the bar that over-served the driver. An employer may answer for a crash its driver caused on the job. More defendants can mean more coverage.

Valuing the claim correctly comes first. Our Tempe car accident settlement guide explains what belongs in a demand. Our overview of Arizona car accident laws covers the fault rules underneath it. You have two years to file suit under A.R.S. § 12-542, and UM and UIM contract deadlines can run shorter.

Documentation decides how far a claim reaches. Police reports, medical records, and wage records prove the damages that justify going past the first policy. Start collecting them the week of the crash, not the month a deadline arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions