Getting hit by a driver who has no insurance, or nowhere near enough of it, is more common than most Tennessee drivers expect. Tennessee runs an at-fault system and does not use no-fault (PIP) coverage, so after a crash you look first to the at-fault driver's insurer.1 When that driver has no coverage, or too little, the coverage that actually pays your medical bills and lost wages is usually your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage.
This page stays on what's specific to Tennessee. The general idea of UM/UIM lives on the national hub. Here we stick to the exact statutes, the numbers, and the deadlines that decide whether you collect.
Your insurer has to offer it, but you can reject it in writing
Tennessee doesn't force you to carry UM/UIM coverage, but it does force your insurer to put it in front of you. Every auto liability policy issued or renewed in the state has to include UM coverage at limits equal to your bodily injury liability limits, unless you rejected it or chose lower limits in writing.2 A named insured can turn the coverage down completely or pick lower limits, though not below the state minimum.2
Here's the part that surprises people. Once you sign that rejection, it sticks. The statute says a signed rejection is conclusively presumed to be part of the policy, and it carries over automatically to every renewal, reinstatement, and replacement unless you later ask for the coverage back in writing.2 So if you waived UM coverage years ago and never revisited it, you probably still don't have it today. Pull your declarations page and look. If you never signed a waiver, Tennessee law means you almost certainly carry UM/UIM at your bodily injury limits.
How Tennessee decides a driver is "underinsured"
This is the rule that catches the most people. In Tennessee, the at-fault driver counts as "underinsured" only when the liability limits available to you are less than your own UM/UIM limits.3 The comparison is to your coverage. The size of your injuries doesn't enter into it.
An example makes it concrete. Say the driver who hit you carries the state minimum of $25,000 in bodily injury coverage, and you carry $100,000 in UM/UIM. Because his $25,000 is below your $100,000, he's underinsured, and your coverage can come into play. Now flip it. If you also carry only $25,000, his limits are not less than yours, so he isn't "underinsured" under the statute and your UIM pays nothing, no matter how badly you were hurt.3 Carrying more UM/UIM than the typical minimum-limits driver on the road is the whole point of the coverage.
Your carrier subtracts what the at-fault driver pays
Tennessee is a gap state. Your UIM does not stack on top of the at-fault driver's coverage. It fills the space between what you collect from him and your own limit. The statute lets the UM carrier take credit for the total amount you collect from every liable party, whether by settlement or judgment, and whether it's called compensatory or punitive.4 The offer statute says the same thing from the other direction: the insurer's limit is its policy amount reduced by what's collectible under the at-fault driver's coverage.2
So with $100,000 in UIM and a $25,000 recovery from the at-fault driver, your own carrier's exposure is the $75,000 difference, not a fresh $100,000.
One move protects this claim. Before you sign any settlement with the at-fault driver, tell your UM carrier. Tennessee gives the carrier a right to step in: within 30 days of getting notice of the settlement offer, it can pay you that full amount itself to keep its right to pursue the at-fault driver later.4 Signing a release without giving your carrier that window can wipe out your UIM claim.
The state minimums, and why minimum UM is thin
Tennessee's minimum liability limits are 25/50/25: $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. The property-damage floor rose from $15,000 to $25,000 for policies issued or renewed after December 31, 2022.5 Because UM coverage is offered to match your bodily injury limits, a minimum-limits policy gives you only $25,000 of UM protection. As the gap rule shows, that leaves nothing extra to collect from a minimum-limits driver, and for a serious injury it runs out fast.
Hit-and-run and phantom drivers
If you can't identify the driver who hit you, Tennessee still lets you use UM coverage, but it sets a proof bar. When the owner or operator is unknown, you can't recover unless there was actual physical contact between that vehicle and you or your car, or the existence of the unknown driver is established by clear and convincing evidence from a source other than the people riding in your own vehicle.2 A passenger's word alone won't clear that bar. An independent witness or physical evidence will.
Two more conditions apply. You, or someone acting for you, have to report the crash to law enforcement within a reasonable time, and you can't have been careless about getting the other driver's identity at the scene.2 That police report is doing real legal work in a phantom-vehicle claim, so if you're able to, get one filed. You can request your Tennessee crash report once it's available. To actually bring an unknown driver into a case, Tennessee has you file a "John Doe" warrant against the unidentified owner or operator.4
No stacking across policies
Tennessee blocks stacking. The statute says UM coverage from more than one policy can't be available as primary, and you can't be treated as an occupant of more than one vehicle at the same time.2 You don't get to pile several UM policies together into one large pool, which matters when more than one policy is floating around a household.
Deadlines and how the claim gets filed
The clock is short. A personal injury claim in Tennessee, including the injury part of a UM claim, generally has to be filed within one year of the crash.6 That's among the shortest deadlines in the country, and missing it usually ends the claim. Damage to your vehicle carries a longer three-year deadline.7
Because your UM carrier is standing in for the at-fault driver, the case is built around the underlying injury suit. Tennessee's procedure lets you serve your UM carrier as though it were a defendant, and if the at-fault driver can't be found, the case can proceed against your carrier as the only defendant.4 Your recovery still turns on the other driver's fault. Tennessee follows modified comparative fault with a 50% bar, so you can recover as long as you're less than 50% at fault, with your damages reduced by your share.8
None of this has to be sorted out alone, and the one-year window is a real reason not to wait. If you're weighing a UM/UIM claim, you can find a Tennessee attorney through the thatcarhitme.com legal directory. If your car itself lost market value in the wreck, that's a separate issue covered on the Tennessee diminished value page.
This is general information about Tennessee law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Tennessee Department of Revenue, Drive Insured Tennessee (Financial Responsibility Law; at-fault/tort system, no PIP mandate). https://www.tn.gov/revenue/title-and-registration/drive-insured-tennessee/why-you-should-have-insurance.html
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1201 (Uninsured motor vehicle coverage: requirements, written rejection, unknown-vehicle proof rules, anti-stacking). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-56/chapter-7/part-12/section-56-7-1201/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1202 ("Uninsured motor vehicle" defined). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-56/chapter-7/part-12/section-56-7-1202/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1206 (Service of process, carrier credit for amounts collected, John Doe warrants, subrogation). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-56/chapter-7/part-12/section-56-7-1206/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-102 (minimum liability limits; property-damage minimum raised to $25,000 by 2022 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 860). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-55/chapter-12/part-1/section-55-12-102/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104 (one-year limitation for personal injury actions). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-28/chapter-3/part-1/section-28-3-104/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105 (three-year limitation for injury to personal property). https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-28/chapter-3/part-1/section-28-3-105/
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McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d 52 (Tenn. 1992) (modified comparative fault with a 50% bar). https://law.justia.com/cases/tennessee/supreme-court/1992/833-s-w-2d-52-2.html