Uninsured motorist coverage rules in Virginia
Getting hit by a driver who has no insurance, or nowhere near enough of it, happens more than most people expect. Virginia's answer is uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, known as UM/UIM. It's the part of your own auto policy that steps in when the at-fault driver can't cover what they did to you. The state's insurance regulator describes it plainly: UM/UIM protects you directly when an uninsured or underinsured driver injures you.1
What makes Virginia different from many states is how the rules are written. The coverage is mandatory, the floor can't be waived, and a 2023 change quietly made this coverage worth far more than it used to be. Here's what actually applies if you were hurt by an uninsured or underinsured driver in Virginia.
The coverage is mandatory and the minimum can't be waived
Every motor vehicle liability policy issued in Virginia has to include UM/UIM coverage. That's not optional. Section 38.2-2206 requires it in every policy, in limits "not less than the requirements of § 46.2-472," the statute that sets the state's minimum liability limits.23
Since January 1, 2025, those minimums are 50/100/25: $50,000 for bodily injury to one person, $100,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.3 The prior floor, in place through 2024, was 30/60/20.3 Your UM/UIM limits have to equal at least those numbers. The statute also guarantees at least $20,000 in UM property-damage coverage, with one narrow catch: if the at-fault driver flees and can't be identified, the insurer may apply a $200 deductible to the property-damage portion.2
You can buy UM/UIM all the way up to your full liability limits, and insurers must tell you that you're entitled to do so.4 You can also reduce it, but only down to the state minimum, never below, and only in writing.4 One Virginia wrinkle: if any single named insured signs off on a reduction, that election binds everyone on the policy.4
Virginia also closed its old escape hatch. Through mid-2024, a driver could skip insurance by paying the state a $500 uninsured motor vehicle fee instead. The General Assembly repealed that option effective July 1, 2024, so every registered vehicle now has to carry a real policy, UM/UIM included.5
What makes a driver uninsured or underinsured here
Under § 38.2-2206, a vehicle is uninsured when it carries no qualifying liability insurance, when the owner hasn't posted a bond or qualified as a self-insurer, or when the insurer that wrote the policy "denies coverage for any reason whatsoever."2 That last phrase does real work. If the other driver's carrier denies the claim, their car can be treated as uninsured and your UM coverage can respond.2
Hit-and-run is covered too. The statute deems a vehicle uninsured if its owner or operator is unknown, which is how UM coverage reaches you after a phantom driver runs you off the road and vanishes.2
A car is underinsured when the at-fault driver does have insurance, but the total coverage available to pay you is less than your damages.2 Picture a driver carrying the $50,000 minimum who causes $200,000 in harm. The policy is real, it's just not enough, and that gap is what UIM fills.
The 2023 change that made Virginia UIM stack on top
This is the rule most worth understanding, because it changed the math in your favor.
For decades Virginia ran an offset system. Your UIM limits were reduced, dollar for dollar, by the at-fault driver's liability coverage. Carry $100,000 in UIM against a driver with $50,000 in liability, and you could reach only the $50,000 difference. The liability payment ate into your own coverage.
For policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2023, that flipped. Section 38.2-2206 now says underinsured motorist coverage "shall be paid without any credit for the bodily injury and property damage coverage available for payment," unless a named insured signs a written election to keep the old reduction.2 In plain terms, your UIM now pays on top of the at-fault driver's liability instead of being swallowed by it. Same example, new rule: the other driver's $50,000 plus your full $100,000 in UIM, for $150,000 on the table.2
Watch the fine print. The no-offset rule is the default, but a named insured can still sign the benefit away and revert to the old reduction.2 If your policy predates July 2023 and hasn't renewed under the new terms, or if someone in your household signed a reduction, you may still be on the old offset system.
How you actually collect on a UM/UIM claim
A UM/UIM claim in Virginia is not a quick call to your adjuster. You still have to prove the other driver was at fault and prove your damages, the same as any injury case. What's different is the procedure.
When you sue an uninsured driver, or a "John Doe" for an unidentified hit-and-run vehicle, you have to serve a copy of the lawsuit on your own insurer, served "as though the insurer were a party defendant."2 Skip that step and your carrier may not be bound by the outcome. Virginia expressly allows suit against an unknown driver as "John Doe," with service made through the clerk of court.2
The deadline is Virginia's standard injury clock. You have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury claim under § 8.01-243(A), and that deadline governs the UM/UIM side too.6 Property damage claims get five years under § 8.01-243(B).6 If you need the official documentation to support the claim, the police crash report is available through the state.
For the vehicle side of the loss, keep in mind that a repaired car can be worth less on resale even after UM property-damage coverage pays. That's a separate diminished value claim.
Contributory negligence can erase the whole claim
Here's the hard part, and it's easy to miss. Virginia is one of the last pure contributory negligence states. If you are found even one percent at fault for the crash, you recover nothing, subject only to a narrow "last clear chance" exception.7 That rule doesn't soften because you're claiming against your own UM carrier. Your insurer stands in the shoes of the at-fault driver and can raise the same defense.7 The crash facts that would bar a claim against the other driver will bar your UM claim just the same.
Because fault gets fought hard in Virginia UM cases, it's usually worth talking to a lawyer before you give a recorded statement. You can start with the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.
Coverage that pairs with UM, and what Virginia doesn't require
Virginia has no personal injury protection (PIP) requirement, so there's no mandatory no-fault medical coverage here.8 Insurers do have to offer optional Medical Payments coverage of at least $2,000 per person per accident, which you can accept or reject in writing.8 Med Pay can cover early medical bills while a UM claim plays out, and it doesn't reduce what you recover under UM.
If a drunk driver caused the crash and carried no or too little insurance, your UM/UIM claim can still seek punitive damages for willful or wanton conduct, though Virginia caps punitive damages at $350,000 total per plaintiff.9
One habit protects most of this. Pull your declarations page and check two lines: that your UM/UIM limits are as high as your liability limits, and that no one on the policy signed an election to keep the old offset. Those two entries decide how much is really there the day an uninsured driver hits you.
This is general information about Virginia law, not legal advice. For guidance on your own situation, talk to a licensed Virginia attorney.
Sources
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Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Insurance, Virginia Auto Insurance Consumer's Guide. https://www.scc.virginia.gov/consumers/insurance/property-casualty-consumer/virginia-auto-insurance-guide/
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Virginia Code § 38.2-2206, Uninsured motorist insurance coverage. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title38.2/chapter22/section38.2-2206/
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Virginia Code § 46.2-472, Amounts of liability coverage required. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter4/section46.2-472/
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Virginia Code § 38.2-2202, Notice of availability of higher UM/UIM limits. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title38.2/chapter22/section38.2-2202/
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Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, New laws take effect July 1, 2024 (repeal of the uninsured motor vehicle fee). https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/news/new-laws-take-effect-today-july-1-2024
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Virginia Code § 8.01-243, Personal action for injury to person or property. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title8.01/chapter4/section8.01-243/
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Lawrence v. Wirth, 226 Va. 408, 309 S.E.2d 315 (1983). https://law.justia.com/cases/virginia/supreme-court/1983/810149-1.html
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Virginia Code § 38.2-2201, Medical payments coverage. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title38.2/chapter22/section38.2-2201/
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Virginia Code § 8.01-38.1, Limitation on recovery of punitive damages. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title8.01/chapter3/section8.01-38.1/