If the driver who hit you had no insurance, carried too little, or drove off before you got a plate number, Washington law lets you turn to your own policy to recover. That coverage is uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, usually written as UM/UIM. What catches people off guard is how Washington structures it, along with a handful of deadlines and rules that do not match the general national picture.
Start with the single most useful fact. In Washington, one statute, RCW 48.22.030, governs all of it: uninsured drivers, underinsured drivers, hit-and-run drivers, and even "phantom" vehicles that cause a crash without ever touching your car.1
Washington folds "uninsured" into "underinsured"
Most states sell uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage as two separate products. Washington does not. The statute defines an "underinsured motor vehicle" to include a vehicle for which "no bodily injury or property damage liability bond or insurance policy applies at the time of an accident," and also one whose liability limits are less than the damages the injured person "is legally entitled to recover."1 A car with zero insurance is, under Washington law, just the far end of underinsured. That is why Washington insurers often label the whole thing UIM. It is the same protection the rest of the country splits into two coverages.
The statute states its own purpose plainly: to protect innocent victims of underinsured motor vehicles.1
You do not have to buy it, but your insurer has to offer it
Washington does not require drivers to carry UM/UIM. It requires insurers to include it. Every new or renewed auto policy has to provide the coverage unless you, the named insured, or your spouse rejects it in writing.1 No signed written rejection, no valid waiver. If you never turned it down on paper, there is a real chance you carry it even if you do not remember picking it.
The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner describes UM/UIM as coverage that "reimburses you if you, a family member or your designated driver is hit by an uninsured driver, a hit-and-run driver or an unidentified vehicle that forces you to have an accident."2
How much coverage you get, and the rules for rejecting part of it
For bodily injury, your UM/UIM limits are set "in the same amount as the insured's third party liability coverage" unless you reject all or part of it in writing.1 Carry Washington's minimum liability limits of 25/50, meaning $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, and your UM/UIM bodily injury limits default to that same 25/50.3 Those figures are the statutory floor for any Washington policy, enforced through the state's mandatory insurance law.34
You can also carry UM/UIM property damage, which pays for damage to your vehicle when an uninsured or underinsured driver is at fault. Washington caps the deductible your insurer may attach: no more than $300 when the damage comes from a hit-and-run driver or a phantom vehicle, and no more than $100 in other underinsured property damage cases.1 Repair cost is a separate question from lost resale value; Washington's approach to vehicle diminished value is covered on our Washington diminished value page.
Hit-and-run and phantom vehicles come with a 72-hour rule
This is where claims quietly fall apart. If a car forces you off the road or into something else and never makes contact, Washington calls it a "phantom vehicle." You can still recover under UM/UIM, but only if two conditions are met. The facts of the accident must be "corroborated by competent evidence other than the testimony of the insured," and the accident must be "reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency within seventy-two hours."1
Miss that 72-hour window and a phantom-vehicle claim can be denied outright. If a driver runs you off the road and keeps going, report it quickly and get a police record started. Our Washington crash reports page explains how to obtain the official collision report. For a hit-and-run where the other car actually struck you, the same statute governs, and a prompt police report is still the most useful document you can produce.
Two clocks run at once, and they are not the same length
This one trips up even careful people. Your claim against the at-fault driver is a personal injury claim, and Washington gives you three years from the date of the crash to file it.5
Your UM/UIM claim runs on a different clock. You are not suing the other driver there; you are making a claim against your own insurer under your contract. The Washington Supreme Court held in Safeco Insurance Co. v. Barcom that a UIM claim falls under the six-year statute of limitations for written contracts, and that the clock starts when the insurer breaches the policy, not on the day of the crash.6
Do not treat the longer contract deadline as spare time. Your UM/UIM claim rests on showing you were "legally entitled to recover" from the other driver in the first place,1 so protecting the three-year window against that driver protects the foundation of your own claim. Treat three years from the crash as the deadline that matters. The six-year contract rule is a backstop you should not plan around.
If your own insurer denies a valid claim
A UM/UIM claim is a first-party claim, you against your own company, and Washington hands first-party claimants a sharp tool for that fight. Under the Insurance Fair Conduct Act, RCW 48.30.015, any first-party claimant "who is unreasonably denied a claim for coverage or payment of benefits" may sue in superior court.7 If the insured prevails, the court "shall" award reasonable attorney fees and litigation costs, including expert witness fees, and it "may" increase the total award to as much as three times the actual damages.7 That treble-damages exposure is a large part of why Washington insurers take UM/UIM disputes seriously.
Worth knowing too: if the at-fault driver did carry liability insurance but the company became insolvent, Washington treats that vehicle as underinsured, so your own coverage can step in.8
What to do next
Pull your own declarations page first. Look for UM/UIM, and check whether it lists both bodily injury and property damage. If it is there, that is the coverage that pays when the other driver cannot. For a serious injury, a disputed limit, or an insurer that keeps stalling, a Washington attorney who handles first-party coverage can push the claim forward and, where the facts support it, invoke the Insurance Fair Conduct Act. You can find one through our legal directory.
This is general information about Washington law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Revised Code of Washington, RCW 48.22.030 (underinsured, hit-and-run, and phantom vehicle coverage). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.030
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Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, How auto insurance works. https://www.insurance.wa.gov/insurance-resources/auto-insurance/how-auto-insurance-works/learn-how-auto-insurance-works
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Revised Code of Washington, RCW 46.29.090 (financial responsibility amounts, 25/50/10). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.29.090
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Revised Code of Washington, RCW 46.30.020 (mandatory motor vehicle insurance). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.30.020
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Revised Code of Washington, RCW 4.16.080(2) (three-year limit for personal injury). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.16.080
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Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Barcom, 112 Wn.2d 575 (1989). http://courts.mrsc.org/supreme/112wn2d/112wn2d0575.htm
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Revised Code of Washington, RCW 48.30.015 (Insurance Fair Conduct Act). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.30.015
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Revised Code of Washington, RCW 48.22.040 (coverage where liability insurer is insolvent). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.040