Getting hit by a driver who takes off is its own kind of shock. On top of the crash, you're missing the one thing that normally makes a claim straightforward: the other driver's name and insurance. Florida treats leaving the scene as a serious crime, and the state also builds in a few ways for you to recover even when that driver is never found. Here is what the law actually says, and what to do.
What Florida requires you to do after a crash
Every driver in a Florida crash has to stop. Section 316.062 says you must give your name, address, and vehicle registration number to the other people involved, show your driver license if asked, and render reasonable assistance to anyone who is hurt, including arranging a ride to a hospital if treatment is obviously needed.1
If you hit a parked car or other unattended property, section 316.063 requires you to stop, find the owner and give them the same information, or leave a written note with your name, address, and registration in a visible place, and then notify the nearest police agency.2 A note on the windshield alone does not satisfy the statute; the report to law enforcement is a separate duty.
You also have to report the crash. Section 316.065 requires the driver to immediately notify local police, the sheriff, or the Florida Highway Patrol by the quickest available means whenever a crash causes injury, death, or at least $500 in apparent property damage.3 That $500 threshold is low enough that almost any real collision clears it.
What leaving the scene costs
Florida grades hit-and-run by how badly someone was hurt, and the penalties climb fast.
Leaving the scene of a crash that involves only property damage is a second-degree misdemeanor under section 316.061, punishable by up to 60 days in jail, plus a $5 surcharge that goes to the state Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund.45
Once a person is injured, it becomes a felony. Under section 316.027, leaving the scene of a crash involving injury is a third-degree felony, which carries up to 5 years in prison.65 If the crash caused serious bodily injury, meaning an injury that creates a substantial risk of death, serious disfigurement, or protracted loss of a body function, it is a second-degree felony with a 15-year maximum.65
Leaving the scene of a crash that kills someone is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years, and the statute sets a mandatory minimum of 4 years in prison that a judge cannot go below.65 That mandatory minimum was the whole point of the 2014 Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act. Before it, a drunk driver who stayed at the scene faced a 4-year minimum for DUI manslaughter, while one who fled and sobered up sometimes faced less, so the law closed the gap. Even if the driver was under the influence when the fatal crash happened, the 4-year minimum still applies.6
Two more consequences matter. A conviction under section 316.027 forces the court to revoke the driver's license for at least 3 years.6 And if the person killed or hurt was a "vulnerable road user," which the statute defines to include pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, the offense moves up one level of severity.6 Prosecutors do have to prove the driver acted willfully, but "I didn't realize I hit anyone" is a hard sell when there is real damage.
If you're the victim and the driver runs
Take care of the immediate things first. Call 911, get medical help, and if you can do it safely, write down whatever you caught about the other vehicle: a partial plate, the color, the make, the direction it fled. In a hit-and-run, that information and any nearby cameras or witnesses may be the only path to identifying the driver, so it carries more weight here than in an ordinary crash.
Report it to police right away. An official crash report gives you a record and starts any investigation. In Florida that report is sold through the FLHSMV Crash Report Purchasing portal for $10 plus a $2 processing fee.7 How to actually pull your report is covered on our Florida crash report page, so we won't repeat it here.
Getting paid when the driver is never found
This is where Florida law helps more than people expect, because it does not depend on catching the other driver.
Florida is a no-fault state, so your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays regardless of who caused the crash, which means it pays even when the other driver is gone. PIP covers 80% of reasonable and necessary medical bills.89 There is a catch that hits hit-and-run victims especially hard: you must receive initial medical treatment within 14 days of the crash, or you lose PIP eligibility.9 Shock and adrenaline are real, and that 14-day clock does not care.
For anything past the PIP minimum, uninsured motorist coverage is what matters. UM pays for your bodily injuries when the at-fault party has no bodily injury coverage or not enough of it, and a hit-and-run driver who is never identified has no reachable coverage at all, so UM steps in.9 Insurers must offer you UM equal to your bodily injury liability limits, but you're allowed to reject it or pick lower limits in writing.10 That is the trap. Florida doesn't require bodily injury coverage in the first place, so a driver carrying only the mandatory PIP and $10,000 in property damage liability often has no UM at all unless they bought it on purpose.11 Pull your declarations page and look. If the uninsured motorist line shows a dollar figure, you have a real avenue; if it says rejected, you don't.
Your car is a separate question. PIP and UM cover injuries, not vehicle damage, so a damaged or totaled car in a hit-and-run usually runs through your own collision coverage. Even after a clean repair, a vehicle with a wreck on its history is worth less, and Florida lets you pursue that lost value; our Florida diminished value guide covers how.
Deadlines that decide your claim
Florida's window to sue for a negligence-based injury claim is 2 years from the date of the crash, cut down from 4 years by the 2023 tort reform law for crashes on or after March 24, 2023.12 The same 2-year period applies to the property damage from an ordinary negligent crash. A UM claim runs through your own insurer, but the underlying facts and evidence age just as fast, so don't sit on it. If your injuries are serious or the insurer stalls, it's worth talking to a lawyer; you can start with our legal directory.
One more Florida rule shapes what you actually collect. The state uses modified comparative negligence, so if you're found more than 50% at fault for your own injuries, you recover nothing.13 In a hit-and-run that usually cuts in your favor, since the driver who fled is typically the one who caused the crash, but expect the insurer to test the question anyway.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For guidance on your specific situation, talk to a licensed Florida attorney.
Sources
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Fla. Stat. § 316.062 (duty to give information and render aid). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.062
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Fla. Stat. § 316.063 (duty upon damaging unattended vehicle or property). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.063
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Fla. Stat. § 316.065 (crashes; reports; penalties). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.065
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Fla. Stat. § 316.061 (leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to vehicle or property). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.061
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Fla. Stat. § 775.082 (maximum terms of imprisonment for felonies and misdemeanors). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/775.082
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Fla. Stat. § 316.027 (leaving the scene of a crash involving injury or death; Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.027
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FLHSMV, Crash Report Purchasing portal. https://services.flhsmv.gov/CrashReportPurchasing/
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Fla. Stat. § 627.736 (Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law; PIP benefits). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/627.736
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Florida Department of Financial Services, Personal Automobile Insurance Overview. https://www.myfloridacfo.com/division/consumers/understanding-insurance/personal-automobile-insurance-overview
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Fla. Stat. § 627.727 (uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/627.727
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FLHSMV, Florida Insurance Requirements (Fla. Stat. §§ 627.736, 324.022). https://www.flhsmv.gov/insurance/
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Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a) (limitations; negligence actions). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/95.11
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Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6) (comparative fault). https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/768.81