Kentucky handles this coverage differently from most states, and the difference can decide whether you collect anything after a crash with a driver who has no insurance or not enough of it. Two things here surprise people. Your policy almost certainly already includes uninsured motorist (UM) coverage even if you never asked for it, and the coverage that fills the gap when the at-fault driver is merely underinsured (UIM) is not automatic at all. Getting both right, and following one specific notice step, is what protects the claim.
UM coverage is in your policy unless you signed it away
Under KRS 304.20-020, no auto liability policy can be issued for a vehicle registered or garaged in Kentucky unless it includes uninsured motorist coverage, in limits that match the policy's bodily injury liability limits, for people legally entitled to recover from an uninsured driver.1 The only way to not have it is for a named insured to reject it in writing. That written rejection then binds every insured on the policy, and once it's on file the insurer doesn't have to keep offering UM on renewals or replacement policies.1 The practical result: if no signed rejection exists, Kentucky treats UM coverage as part of the policy regardless of what the declarations page shows.
The statute also defines "uninsured motor vehicle" more broadly than a car carrying no insurance at all. It reaches a vehicle whose insurer became insolvent, as long as that insolvency happens within one year of the accident, a vehicle whose liability limits fall below the state minimums in KRS 304.39-110, and a vehicle whose own insurer denied liability coverage for the crash.1 So a driver who technically had a policy can still leave you filing a UM claim.
One boundary matters up front. Kentucky UM coverage under KRS 304.20-020 responds to bodily injury and death, not to your vehicle.1 Damage to the car itself, including a diminished value loss, goes through collision coverage or a claim against the at-fault driver rather than UM. Kentucky's rules on diminished value cover that side separately.
When a driver counts as underinsured
KRS 304.39-320 defines an underinsured motorist as a driver whose liability limits are less than the amount you're actually owed.2 Kentucky's minimum liability limits are 25/50/25: $25,000 for bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.3 Those figures haven't moved in decades. A single hospital stay can pass $25,000, so a driver carrying only the state minimum is functionally underinsured for a lot of serious wrecks. UIM covers the difference between the at-fault driver's limit and your full damages, up to your UIM limit.
Here's the catch that trips people up. UIM is not built into your policy the way UM is. KRS 304.39-320 says every insurer "shall make available, upon request" underinsured motorist coverage.2 If you never asked for it and never bought it, you don't have it. Worth checking your declarations page now rather than after a crash.
The Coots step: notify your UIM carrier before you sign a release
This is the Kentucky-specific rule that quietly wrecks otherwise good claims. If you're about to settle with the at-fault driver's liability insurer, and that settlement won't fully cover your injuries, you can't just sign the release and then turn to your own UIM carrier. You first have to give your UIM insurer written notice of the proposed settlement.
The requirement comes from the Kentucky Supreme Court's decision in Coots v. Allstate Insurance Co., 853 S.W.2d 895 (Ky. 1993), and it now lives in the statute.42 Under KRS 304.39-320, once you send that notice by certified or registered mail, your UIM carrier has 30 days to decide.2 It can consent to the settlement, or it can preserve its right to pursue the at-fault driver by paying you, within those 30 days, an amount equal to the liability insurer's settlement offer.2 If your UIM carrier consents or simply doesn't respond inside the 30 days, you're free to sign a full release and finalize the settlement without giving up your UIM claim.2
Kentucky amended this statute effective April 2, 2024, writing the notice requirement, the 30-day clock, and the advance-payment substitution directly into the text for policies issued or renewed on or after that date.2 Skip the notice step and you hand your insurer an argument that you destroyed its subrogation rights and forfeited the UIM claim. This is a common point where someone who started a claim alone brings in a lawyer, and you can find one through the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.
You still have to clear Kentucky's injury threshold
A UM or UIM claim stands in the shoes of the claim you'd have against the at-fault driver, so Kentucky's no-fault threshold applies to it too. Kentucky is a choice no-fault state, and KRS 304.39-060 bars a claim for pain and suffering unless your medical expenses exceed $1,000 or you suffered a broken bone, permanent injury, permanent disfigurement, or death.5 Separately, your own basic reparation benefits, Kentucky's version of PIP at a mandatory minimum of $10,000, pay early medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault before any UM or UIM money is in play.6 UM/UIM is the layer that reaches what those benefits and the at-fault driver's limits leave uncovered.
Deadlines your policy can quietly shorten
For the injury claim against the at-fault driver, Kentucky gives you two years from the crash or from the last basic reparation benefit payment, whichever is later, under KRS 304.39-230.7 UM and UIM claims work differently, because they're contract claims against your own insurer, and the policy language can set the deadline.
The Kentucky Supreme Court confirmed this in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Riggs, 484 S.W.3d 724 (Ky. 2016). The Court upheld a policy clause giving the insured two years from the accident, or the last BRB payment, to bring a UIM claim, finding a two-year contractual limit reasonable because it tracks Kentucky's general two-year injury period.8 Riggs had waited about three years and lost his coverage. If your policy carries that kind of clause, it controls, and it can run much shorter than you'd expect for a contract dispute. Read the limitation language in your own policy and treat two years as the safe outer limit unless a lawyer tells you otherwise.
Stacking more than one policy
If you or your household carry UM/UIM on more than one vehicle, Kentucky may let you "stack" those limits for a single crash. In Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. v. Stanfield, 581 S.W.2d 555 (Ky. 1979), the Court let a named insured and resident family members, its "first class" insureds, stack coverage across separate policies, while permissive users outside the household, the "second class," generally could not.9 Many insurers now write single-premium anti-stacking language to limit this, so whether you can stack turns on your specific policies.
A last practical note. UM/UIM reaches only your bodily injury, so keep your own Kentucky crash report and your medical records, and handle the vehicle damage on its own track. When an uninsured or underinsured driver is involved, the notice deadline and the Coots step are usually where the claim is won or lost.
This is general information about Kentucky law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS 304.20-020, Uninsured vehicle coverage. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=45815
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Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS 304.39-320, Underinsured motorist coverage; Effect of settlement of claims (amended effective April 2, 2024). https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/Statutes/statute.aspx?id=54466
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Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS 304.39-110, Required minimum tort liability insurance. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=46758
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Coots v. Allstate Insurance Co., 853 S.W.2d 895 (Ky. 1993). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2450555/coots-v-allstate-insurance-co/
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Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS 304.39-060, Abolition of tort liability; injury threshold. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=30030
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Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS 304.39-020, Definitions (Basic Reparation Benefits). https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=48634
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Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS 304.39-230, Limitations of actions. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=45816
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State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Riggs, 484 S.W.3d 724 (Ky. 2016). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5446512/state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-co-v-riggs/
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Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. v. Stanfield, 581 S.W.2d 555 (Ky. 1979). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2463362/ohio-casualty-insurance-co-v-stanfield/