If someone hits you, their insurance generally does pay, as long as the other driver was at fault and carries liability coverage. In roughly 38 states, you file a claim directly against the at-fault driver’s liability policy, and that insurer covers your vehicle repairs, medical bills, and related losses. The size of your actual recovery depends on the evidence of fault, whether you share any blame, the limits on the other driver’s policy, and how carefully you handle the claims process.
How the At-Fault Driver’s Insurance Pays
Most states follow a fault-based (or tort) system. The driver who caused the crash is financially responsible, and their liability insurance pays for both vehicle damage and bodily injury. Fault is pieced together from the police report, scene photos, witness accounts, and sometimes traffic camera footage.
Twelve states use a no-fault system: Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Utah. In those states, your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage pays your medical bills and lost wages first, regardless of who caused the accident. PIP does not cover vehicle damage, though. Property damage still follows fault rules everywhere, so the driver who hit you is still responsible for your car repairs even in a no-fault state.
What If You Were Partly at Fault
Accidents are rarely one-sided. If the other driver ran a red light but you were speeding, both of you contributed. How that affects your payout depends on your state’s negligence rule.
Under pure comparative negligence, you can recover damages even if you were mostly at fault, with your compensation reduced by your percentage of blame. A driver found 30 percent at fault on a $50,000 claim would receive $35,000. About a third of states use this approach.1Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Comparative Negligence
Most states use modified comparative negligence, which cuts you off at a threshold. In some states you recover nothing if you’re 50 percent or more at fault; in others the cutoff is 51 percent. Below the cutoff, your award is reduced by your share of fault. Above it, you get nothing.1Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Comparative Negligence
This matters because the other driver’s adjuster will look for any reason to assign you some share of the blame. Even a 10 or 20 percent allocation shaves real money off your check. Strong evidence from the scene is how you push back.
Filing a Claim Against Their Insurance
A claim against the at-fault driver’s insurer is a third-party claim. To start one, collect the following at the scene if you can:
- The other driver’s full name, phone number, and the insurance company name and policy number from their card.
- Photos of damage to all vehicles, license plates, skid marks, road conditions, and nearby traffic signs or signals.
- Names and phone numbers of any witnesses.
- The report or case number from the responding officer.
Then contact the at-fault driver’s insurance company to report the crash. The insurer assigns an adjuster who reviews the police report, examines the evidence, and talks to everyone involved before deciding whether their driver was responsible and how much your losses are worth. For claims with significant injuries, the investigation runs longer because the potential payout is higher.
Protecting Yourself From the Other Driver’s Adjuster
The adjuster handling your claim works for the other driver’s insurer, not for you. They’re professional and polite, and their job is to close your claim for as little as possible. Two early requests deserve special caution.
Recorded Statements
The other driver’s insurer will almost always ask for a recorded statement. You are not legally required to give one. Anything you say becomes a permanent record the adjuster can use to challenge your version of events later, and even a small inconsistency between your statement and later testimony becomes ammunition to reduce your payout. If you do provide a statement, stick to basic facts and don’t speculate about your injuries or who caused the crash.
Medical Authorization Forms
Adjusters often send broad medical authorization forms. A blanket authorization lets the insurer dig through your entire medical history, not just records tied to the accident. They’re hunting for a pre-existing condition they can blame your current pain on. A back complaint from five years ago becomes their argument that the crash didn’t cause your current back injury. You’re generally better off providing only the specific records that relate to your accident injuries rather than signing an open-ended release.
What Their Insurance Actually Pays For
When the at-fault driver’s insurer accepts liability, several categories of loss are on the table. Knowing them keeps money from being left behind.
Vehicle Repair or Total Loss
Property damage liability pays to repair your car. If repair costs exceed the car’s pre-accident market value, the insurer calls it a total loss and pays you that market value instead. Total loss figures are a common source of disputes because insurers tend to come in low. If you disagree with the number, gather listings for comparable vehicles in your area with similar mileage and condition to support a higher figure.
Rental and Loss of Use
While your car is being repaired or replaced, the at-fault driver’s property damage coverage pays for a comparable rental vehicle for the time reasonably necessary to complete repairs. The word “reasonably” matters: if you delay getting the car into a shop or sit on a total loss check, the insurer won’t pay for rental days caused by that delay.
Diminished Value
Even after a quality repair, a car with accident history on its record is worth less than an identical car with a clean one. That gap is diminished value, and in every state except Michigan you can claim it from the at-fault driver’s insurer.2Insurance Information Institute. What Is Diminished Value? Insurers rarely volunteer this money. You have to ask for it specifically and back it up with an independent appraisal or market analysis.
Medical Bills and Lost Wages
Bodily injury liability pays for your medical treatment, from emergency care through surgery, physical therapy, and ongoing rehabilitation. Lost wages are also recoverable if your injuries kept you from working. Keep every medical bill, get a letter from your employer confirming your missed time and lost pay, and hold onto receipts for prescription copays and medical equipment.
Pain and Suffering
Beyond concrete financial losses, you can also seek compensation for physical pain and emotional distress. These non-economic damages don’t come with a receipt, which makes them harder to quantify but no less real. Adjusters evaluate them based on the severity of your injuries, how long you took to recover, and how much the accident disrupted your daily life. A brief daily journal of your symptoms and limitations during recovery creates a surprisingly persuasive record in negotiations.
When Their Insurance Isn’t Enough, or Doesn’t Exist
If the driver who hit you has no insurance at all, a third-party claim is a dead end. If they have insurance but their policy limits are too low to cover your losses, their coverage only pays part of what you’re owed. This is where coverage on your own policy matters.
Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage pays your medical bills, and depending on the policy your vehicle damage, when the at-fault driver carries no insurance. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage kicks in when the at-fault driver’s limits are inadequate. Roughly half of states require at least one of these coverages; others require insurers to offer them but let you decline.
You also don’t have to wait on the other driver’s insurer. If you carry collision coverage, you can file through your own policy instead. Your insurer pays for your repairs (minus your deductible) and then pursues the at-fault driver’s insurer for reimbursement through subrogation. If subrogation succeeds, you get your deductible back too. This route is often faster and less adversarial, since your own insurer has a contractual obligation to you that the other driver’s insurer does not. It also helps when the other side is dragging its feet on accepting liability.
The First Offer Will Be Low
The opening offer from an insurance company is almost always low. Adjusters are trained to start with the cheapest plausible interpretation of your claim, and accepting that first number is the most common mistake people make.
Before you respond, add up every dollar you’ve spent or lost because of the accident: repairs, medical bills, lost wages, rental costs, and any future treatment your doctor has recommended. Compare that total to what the insurer offered. If there’s a gap, send a demand letter that lays out your losses with supporting documentation and states what you believe is fair. The adjuster will counter, you’ll counter back, and the number usually lands somewhere in between. Patience is leverage. Adjusters count on people being eager to close the file.
Read the Release Before You Sign
When you reach a settlement, the insurance company sends a release of all claims form. Signing it permanently ends your right to seek anything more from the accident. If your injuries turn out to be worse than expected, if you need surgery six months later, or if new symptoms develop, the signed release closes the door.
Insurers sometimes use separate releases for property damage and bodily injury. If your car repairs are settled but you’re still treating for injuries, you can sign the property damage release without giving up your injury claim. Check that the document specifies exactly which claims you’re releasing; language covering “all claims arising from the accident” ends everything.
Your health insurer may also have a stake. If it paid for accident-related treatment, it likely has a subrogation right to be reimbursed from your settlement. Ignoring that lien can leave you personally on the hook after the settlement money is gone, so find out whether your health insurer has asserted a claim before you finalize anything.
If the Claim Is Denied
A denial isn’t the end of the road. Get it in writing and read the stated reason. Common ones include a dispute over fault, a lapse in the other driver’s policy, or the insurer’s conclusion that your injuries aren’t supported by the medical evidence.
Respond with evidence that addresses the specific reason. A supplemental police report, a witness statement the adjuster didn’t have, or updated medical records that tie the injury more clearly to the crash can change the outcome. Insurers do reverse denials when new evidence makes their position harder to defend.
Every state has a department of insurance that accepts complaints. Filing one triggers a review, and insurers take regulatory complaints seriously because the department tracks patterns of unfair conduct. Behavior like denying a claim without a legitimate reason, unreasonably delaying the investigation, or misrepresenting what the policy covers can cross into bad faith, which is a separate legal claim that may produce damages beyond the original policy amount.
Don’t Miss the Filing Deadline
Every state imposes a statute of limitations on personal injury and property damage claims from car accidents. The deadline to file a lawsuit ranges from one to six years depending on the state, with two years being the most common. Miss it and you lose the right to sue, which also destroys your leverage in settlement talks.
The clock usually starts on the date of the accident. Some states pause it in limited circumstances, such as when the injured person is a minor or when an injury wasn’t immediately discoverable. Claims against government vehicles or employees often carry a much shorter notice deadline, sometimes as little as 30 to 90 days. Filing an insurance claim itself has no formal legal deadline the way a lawsuit does, but waiting too long to report the accident gives the insurer grounds to question or deny it for late notice. Report the accident to both insurers as soon as you reasonably can.