Minnesota hit-and-run laws and what to do

Getting hit by a driver who then speeds off leaves you with two problems at once: the injury or damage in front of you, and the question of who pays when the person responsible is gone. The reassuring part for Minnesota drivers is that state law was built to answer that second question even when the other car never stops. Your own no-fault coverage pays your medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash, and Minnesota requires coverage that follows a hit-and-run driver specifically. The general mechanics of a hit-and-run are covered on the national hub this page sits under. Here we spend the words on what is actually true in Minnesota: the duties, the numbers, and the exceptions.

What Minnesota law requires after any collision

Minnesota's duty-to-stop rules live in Minn. Stat. § 169.09.¹ The core command in subdivision 1 is blunt: any driver involved in a collision must immediately stop at the scene, or as close to it as possible, and reasonably investigate what was struck.¹ Leaving before you meet the law's requirements is what turns an ordinary crash into a hit-and-run.

Once you stop, you owe specific information to the other people involved. On request, you have to give your name, date of birth, mailing address or email address, and your registration plate number, and you must show your driver's license.¹ You also have to render reasonable assistance to anyone who is hurt, which can mean arranging for them to get medical care. And within 72 hours after the crash, if asked, you must provide the name and address of the insurer carrying your liability coverage along with your local agent.¹ The 2024 Legislature rewrote much of this section, which is why the current statute uses the word "collision" throughout and spells out the email and date-of-birth details.¹

The duty doesn't disappear just because no other person is standing there. If you hit a parked or unattended vehicle, you have to locate and notify the owner or leave a written note with your information and report it to police.¹ The same goes for damage to fixtures along the road, a mailbox, fence, utility pole, or guardrail: you must find the owner and report the details to a peace officer.¹ Walking away from a dented car in a parking lot is a hit-and-run under Minnesota law.

The one time leaving is allowed

There is a narrow exception. It is an affirmative defense to a leaving-the-scene charge that you left to take someone with a demonstrable injury for emergency medical care, as long as you give notice to a law enforcement agency as soon as reasonably feasible after that care is underway.¹ This protects the driver who rushes an injured passenger to the hospital, but only if you contact police promptly afterward. It is not a general excuse to leave.

What leaving the scene costs

Minnesota grades the crime by how badly someone was hurt, under subdivision 14 of the same statute.¹ The injury definitions it uses come from Minn. Stat. § 609.02.²

If the collision resulted in the death of another person, leaving is a felony punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.¹ If it resulted in great bodily harm, an injury creating a high probability of death, permanent disfigurement, or lasting loss of a body function, it is a felony carrying up to two years and a $4,000 fine.¹² Where the crash caused substantial bodily harm, meaning a temporary but substantial disfigurement or a fracture, the driver faces up to 364 days and a $3,000 fine.¹² Any other collision resulting in bodily harm carries that same 364-day, $3,000 ceiling.¹ Fleeing a crash that only damaged another vehicle, attended or unattended, is a misdemeanor.¹

Those criminal penalties sit on top of whatever you owe the victim in a civil claim, and a conviction for fleeing can be strong evidence of fault in that separate lawsuit.

How you still get paid when you're the victim

Here is the part that matters most if you were the one hit. Minnesota is a no-fault state, so your own policy pays first, and it pays regardless of who caused the crash or whether that driver is ever found.³

Every Minnesota auto policy carries personal injury protection, called basic economic loss benefits. It provides at least $40,000 per person: $20,000 for medical expenses and a separate $20,000 for wage loss, replacement services, and funeral costs, under Minn. Stat. § 65B.44.³ Your insurer must pay within 30 days of receiving reasonable proof of the loss.⁴ A fleeing driver does nothing to interrupt those benefits, because you file the claim with your own company.

For damages beyond that PIP floor, Minnesota requires uninsured motorist coverage on every registered vehicle, and the No-Fault Act defines that coverage to include injuries caused by hit-and-run motor vehicles.⁵⁶ Minimum uninsured motorist limits are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident.⁶ This is the coverage that stands in for the insurance the fleeing driver should have carried. Reporting the crash to police quickly matters here, because your insurer needs a record that a phantom vehicle was involved before it will pay an uninsured motorist claim.

If the driver is later identified and you want to sue for pain and suffering, Minnesota's no-fault law sets a tort threshold. You can bring that claim only if your injuries cross one of these lines: more than $4,000 in reasonable medical expenses, at least 60 days of disability, permanent injury, permanent disfigurement, or death, under Minn. Stat. § 65B.51.⁷ Minnesota also follows modified comparative fault, so you can recover as long as you are not more than 50 percent responsible, and your award drops by your share of the blame.⁸

Watch the clock. You have six years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, and six years for vehicle or property damage, under Minn. Stat. § 541.05.⁹ Those are outer limits, not targets. Evidence and witnesses fade long before then.

What to do in the first hours

Call 911 and get police to the scene. A police report is the single most useful document you can have, both for a criminal case against the driver and for your own uninsured motorist claim. Write down or photograph anything you noticed about the other car: its plate, make, color, direction of travel, and any damage. Ask nearby drivers or businesses whether a camera caught it. Get checked by a doctor even if you feel fine, because the PIP medical and wage benefits and the tort threshold all turn on documented injuries.

You can order the official crash report once it's filed. The how-to lives on our Minnesota crash reports page. If your car lost resale value even after a proper repair, that's a separate claim explained on our Minnesota diminished value page. And if the injuries are serious or an insurer is fighting you, you can find a Minnesota attorney who handles these cases.

Minnesota recorded 418 traffic deaths in 2023, with impaired and distracted driving among the leading factors.¹⁰ A driver who flees is often trying to hide one of those. The structure of the law means you are not left to absorb the loss on your own. Report it and document it, and let your own coverage do the work it was required to carry.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Minnesota Statutes § 169.09, Accidents; duty to stop, provide information, render aid. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/169.09
Minnesota Statutes § 609.02, definitions including bodily harm, substantial bodily harm, and great bodily harm. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.02
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.44, basic economic loss benefits. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.44
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.54, payment of benefits. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.54
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.43, subd. 18, uninsured motorist coverage (includes hit-and-run motor vehicles). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.43
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.49, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage requirements. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.49
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.51, tort threshold. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.51
Minnesota Statutes § 604.01, comparative fault. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/604.01
Minnesota Statutes § 541.05, limitation of time (six-year period). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/541.05
Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety, Crash Facts reports. https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/reports-statistics-and-data/crash-facts-reports

Hit-and-run laws and what to do in Minnesota