What Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Not Cover?

Uninsured motorist coverage has a statutory definition of "uninsured motor vehicle", and the definition has holes that match real accidents. Knowing them in advance changes what you do in the first week after a crash. All of what follows comes from Insurance Code section 11580.2; your own policy can be broader but not narrower.

A government vehicle is not "uninsured"

A car or truck owned by the United States, Canada, a state, a city, a county or any of their agencies is excluded from the definition. So is a vehicle that is self-insured under the financial responsibility law of the state where it is registered.

That matters because a city maintenance truck or a county vehicle may carry no conventional insurance policy at all. Your route is a claim against the agency itself, and California's Government Code requires a claim for injury to a person or to personal property to be presented no later than six months after the cause of action accrues.

Your own household's cars

A vehicle owned or operated by the named insured or any resident of the household is not an uninsured motor vehicle. If your partner's car, with no insurance on it, hits you in the driveway, your UM does not pay. Separately, you have no UM while occupying a car owned by an insured, or leased to one for six months or longer, unless that car is itself an insured vehicle.

Damage to your car

The UM coverage in section 11580.2 does not apply to property damage sustained by the insured. Repairs to your vehicle run through collision, through uninsured motorist property damage, or through a collision deductible waiver, which are separate options with their own rules.

Settling first

If you, or someone on your behalf, settle with or take to judgment anyone who may be legally liable without your insurer's written consent, the coverage does not apply to that injury. This is the single most avoidable way to lose a UM claim. Ask for consent in writing before signing any release.

The unidentified driver

When the owner or operator is unknown, three conditions must be met: physical contact between that vehicle and you or the vehicle you were in; a report within 24 hours to the city police, the sheriff or the CHP; and a sworn statement filed with your insurer within 30 days. A car that ran you off the road without touching you does not qualify under the statutory definition.

Two situations that do count

• The other driver's insurer denies coverage, or will only admit it conditionally or under a reservation. The statute treats that vehicle as uninsured.
• The other driver's insurer becomes insolvent within one year of the accident and cannot pay. That vehicle also counts as uninsured.

A worked example

You are stopped at a light and a city-owned pickup rear-ends you. You are hurt. Your UM, with a $50,000 per-person limit, does not respond, because a vehicle owned by a political subdivision is outside the definition. Your claim goes to the city, under the six-month presentation rule, and your own medical payments coverage, if you carry it, can still help with bills in the meantime. The limit on your policy was never the problem; the definition was.

If you want to see where your current policy's gaps are before anything happens, start a review with a quote request.