New Hampshire is the only state that doesn't require you to carry car insurance. That single fact shapes everything about uninsured motorist coverage here, because the driver who hit you may have been perfectly legal with no policy at all.1 If you were counting on the other person's liability insurance to pay your medical bills, there might be nothing behind them. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on your own policy is what fills that hole.
The state that never made drivers buy insurance
Under New Hampshire's financial responsibility law, you don't have to prove you can pay for a crash until after one happens. RSA 264:3 lets the state suspend the license and registration of an at-fault driver who can't cover the damage, and it demands proof of future responsibility going forward, but nothing forces a driver to buy a policy before getting on the road.2 A resident who owns their car outright and skips insurance is breaking no law until the moment they cause a wreck they can't pay for. Instead of a policy, a driver can post a bond or deposit money or securities with the state to show financial responsibility, though almost nobody does.2
That's not a hypothetical risk. The Insurance Research Council estimated that 15.4% of U.S. drivers were uninsured in 2023, roughly one in seven, and New Hampshire remains the one state without a compulsory insurance mandate.13 When the person who hit you is in that group, or drives off without stopping, your own UM coverage becomes the claim.
What your policy has to include
Here's the part that protects you. If you do buy a New Hampshire auto policy, the insurer can't quietly leave UM out. RSA 264:15 says no policy may be issued for a vehicle registered or garaged in the state unless it covers people "legally entitled to recover damages from owners or drivers of uninsured motor vehicles, and hit-and-run vehicles."4 Hit-and-run drivers are named in the statute, so the unidentified car that clipped you and vanished still triggers your UM benefits.4
The limits aren't token amounts either. UM has to match your liability limits. New Hampshire's minimum liability is 25/50/25, meaning $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage under RSA 264:20.5 If you raised your liability limits above that floor, RSA 264:15 automatically raises your UM to the same number, so you can't end up carrying $250,000 in liability and only $25,000 in UM.4
One property detail is worth knowing. UM in New Hampshire is bodily-injury coverage; it does not repair your car after an ordinary uninsured hit. The exception is insolvency. If the at-fault driver's insurer goes broke, RSA 264:15 requires your UM to provide at least $25,000 for property damage in that one situation.4
Underinsured coverage is folded into "uninsured"
New Hampshire doesn't sell underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage as a separate line the way some states do. It builds UIM into the definition of "uninsured." RSA 259:117 says a car counts as an uninsured motor vehicle "if and to the extent that" its liability limits are lower than your own UM limits, or its available liability has been reduced by payments to others hurt in the same crash to an amount below your UM limits.6 The New Hampshire Insurance Department's consumer guide puts it plainly for drivers: your uninsured motorist coverage also protects you against insured drivers whose limits are lower than yours.3
Read the statute closely, because the phrase "to the extent that" is doing real work. It's a difference-in-limits system. Say you carry $100,000 in UM and the driver who hit you had only the $25,000 state-minimum liability. Their car is treated as underinsured, and your coverage reaches the gap between the two figures, up to $75,000 more after their $25,000 is paid.6 If several people were injured and the at-fault driver's limits got split among them, the reduction clause can pull that driver into "uninsured" status for you even though they technically had a policy.6
You can turn it down, but only on paper
A named insured is allowed to reject UM coverage, and this is where people get burned. The rejection has to be in writing. Under RSA 264:15, a written rejection counts as a rejection by every insured on the policy, applies to every vehicle then or later covered, and stays in effect through amendments and renewals until the named insured asks for the coverage back in writing.4 There is no casual, verbal, or one-time waiver. If you signed away UM years ago to shave a few dollars off the premium, that signature is probably still controlling today, and it binds your spouse and your kids on the same policy.
The coverage that pays no matter who was at fault
New Hampshire is not a no-fault state, so there's no PIP and no 14-day filing deadline like Florida's. But every private passenger policy issued or renewed here has to include at least $1,000 per person in medical payments coverage under RSA 264:16.7 Med pay covers reasonable medical costs from the crash regardless of who caused it, and it applies to costs incurred within three years of the injury.7 It's a small amount, and it starts paying early, before fault is sorted out. It also can't be clawed back: RSA 264:17 bars the insurer from subrogating against your recovery for medical costs it already paid, so med pay is money you keep on top of a UM settlement.8
Deadlines matter more than most people expect. A UM claim is still a claim for bodily injury, and New Hampshire's statute of limitations for personal injury is three years from the crash under RSA 508:4, I.9 The clock can run instead from when you reasonably should have discovered the injury and its cause, but the safe assumption is three years from the date of the wreck.9 Property damage claims sit under the same three-year statute.9 Miss it and even an airtight UM claim can be barred.
Your car, the report, and getting help
Because UM here is about bodily injury, damage to your vehicle usually runs through your own collision coverage or a claim against whoever is responsible, and the hidden resale loss on a repaired car is a separate issue handled on the diminished value in New Hampshire page. If you're building any of these claims, the police crash report is a core document, and how to get one is explained on the New Hampshire crash reports page.
UM and UIM disputes turn on policy language and the difference-in-limits math, and insurers litigate them hard. If the numbers are significant or the carrier is stalling, it's worth talking to a New Hampshire attorney; you can start in the legal directory.
This is general information about New Hampshire law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Insurance Research Council, "One in Three U.S. Drivers Are Either Uninsured or Underinsured" (2025, using 2023 data). https://insurance-research.org/news/one-three-drivers-are-either-uninsured-or-underinsured-us-exposing-themselves-and-other
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New Hampshire General Court, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 264:3 (financial responsibility following an accident). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-3.htm
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New Hampshire Insurance Department, Automobile Insurance Consumer Guide. https://mm.nh.gov/files/uploads/nhid/documents/nh-auto-guide.pdf
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New Hampshire General Court, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 264:15 (Uninsured or Hit-and-Run Motor Vehicle Coverage). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-15.htm
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New Hampshire General Court, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 264:20 (Financial Responsibility limits). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-20.htm
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New Hampshire General Court, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 259:117 (Uninsured Motor Vehicle). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/259/259-117.htm
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New Hampshire General Court, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 264:16 (Medical Payments Coverage). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-16.htm
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New Hampshire General Court, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 264:17 (medical payments; no subrogation). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-17.htm
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New Hampshire General Court, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 508:4, I (Personal Actions). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LII/508/508-4.htm