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Uninsured motorist coverage can protect you when an at-fault driver has no liability insurance or cannot be identified after a qualifying hit-and-run. Underinsured motorist coverage is separate and may apply when the at-fault driver has insurance, but the available liability limits are not enough to cover the insured’s damages.
At Conboy Law, our Chicago personal injury attorneys handle uninsured motorist claims against our clients' own insurance companies. We see how quickly a carrier that took your premiums for years starts treating you like the other side.
If an uninsured or underinsured driver injured you anywhere in Illinois, call us at 312-726-9000 for a free case evaluation.
What Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Illinois?
Uninsured motorist coverage, usually shortened to UM, is first-party coverage. You buy it from your own insurer, and you claim against your own insurer when someone without adequate insurance injures you.
It exists because Illinois liability law only helps you when the responsible driver can actually pay. When that driver has no policy, UM coverage steps into the gap and your insurer takes the place of the driver who caused the crash.
Who Counts as an Uninsured Motorist Under Illinois Law
The label covers more situations than most drivers expect:
- A driver who carried no liability insurance at the time of the crash
- A driver whose policy had lapsed, been canceled, or been denied for the loss
- A hit-and-run driver who left the scene and was never identified
- A driver whose insurance company became insolvent before paying
Why Illinois Requires This Coverage on Every Policy
The Illinois Insurance Code does not leave UM coverage to individual choice. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a, no auto policy may be issued, delivered, or renewed in Illinois without uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage at the state minimum limits.
The Illinois Department of Insurance confirms those limits at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash. Those are floors, and you may buy considerably more.
What Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Cover?
UM coverage pays what the uninsured driver would have owed you, up to your policy limits. That includes medical treatment, lost income, and the human losses that follow a serious injury.
Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury Coverage
This is the mandatory piece, and it is the part that matters most in an injury claim. It responds to emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, prescriptions, wages you lost while healing, reduced earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
It also protects people other than the named insured. Passengers in your vehicle, resident family members, and household members are typically covered under the same policy language.
Coverage extends beyond the car itself. If an uninsured driver strikes you while you are walking or cycling, your own UM bodily injury coverage is usually the policy that responds.
Uninsured Motorist Property Damage Coverage
Damage to the vehicle sits under a separate, optional coverage called uninsured motorist property damage, or UMPD. The Illinois Department of Insurance auto insurance shopping guide explains that carriers must offer it with a deductible no higher than $250.
UMPD carries a limitation that surprises people. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a, there is no liability under this coverage when the owner or operator of the at-fault vehicle cannot be identified. A phantom driver who flees the scene leaves you without UMPD protection for the car.
That is why the two coverages behave differently after a hit-and-run. Your bodily injury coverage responds. Your property damage coverage does not, and repairs usually run through collision coverage instead.
What Uninsured Motorist Coverage Does Not Cover
A UM claim is narrower than many drivers assume. It generally does not reach:
- Damage you cause to someone else, which is what liability coverage handles
- Injuries from a crash where the at-fault driver was adequately insured
- Vehicle repairs after an unidentified hit-and-run driver flees
- Losses above your policy limits, no matter how severe the injuries
- Attorney fees, which are not a covered loss under the policy itself
Uninsured vs. Underinsured Motorist Coverage
The two are often written together on a declarations page as UM/UIM, which hides an important difference. Uninsured motorist coverage answers when the other driver had nothing. Underinsured motorist coverage answers when the other driver had something, just not enough.
When Underinsured Motorist Coverage Attaches
Underinsured motorist coverage is not automatic at the minimum level. The Illinois Department of Insurance explains that Illinois law requires UIM coverage once you buy uninsured motorist bodily injury limits higher than the statutory minimum.
If you carry the bare 25/50, there is nothing above the minimum for UIM to sit on. Drivers who raise their UM limits get UIM protection along with it.
How the Setoff Reduces What Your Insurer Pays
UIM pays the difference between the at-fault driver's liability limits and your own UIM limits. It does not stack a second full payment on top of the first.
Say your injuries are valued at $180,000. The driver who hit you carried the $25,000 minimum, and you carry $100,000 in UIM coverage. Your UIM claim is worth up to $75,000, the gap between the two limits, and you are left responsible for the rest.
That math is the single strongest argument for buying more coverage than the state demands. Illinois law also blocks a common workaround, because 215 ILCS 5/143a does not allow limits on multiple vehicles under a policy to be aggregated for one crash.
Illinois Laws That Govern Uninsured Motorist Claims
Most pages on this subject describe UM coverage in general terms. The statutes below are what actually control how these claims are valued, disputed, and resolved in Illinois.
215 ILCS 5/143a: Uninsured and Hit-and-Run Motor Vehicle Coverage
This is the core UM statute. It mandates the coverage, extends it to hit-and-run drivers, sets out the property damage rules described above, and bars the aggregation of limits across vehicles.
It also creates a useful evidentiary tool. When the other driver fails to file the required forms with the state within 120 days of the crash, the statute creates a rebuttable presumption that the driver was uninsured.
215 ILCS 5/143a-2: Additional Coverage and the Written Rejection Rule
Section 143a-2 requires that your UM limits match your bodily injury liability limits unless you signed a written rejection. Many drivers carry high liability limits and low UM limits without ever realizing they signed that form.
The rejection binds every person insured under the policy, not only the person who signed it. Pulling the underwriting file to see whether a valid written rejection exists is one of the first things worth checking in a serious claim.
625 ILCS 5/7-203 and 7-601: Minimum Limits and Mandatory Insurance
Section 7-601 of the Illinois Vehicle Code makes liability insurance mandatory for registered vehicles. Section 7-203 sets the minimum amounts, currently $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for injuries, plus $20,000 for property damage.
Driving without that coverage exposes a motorist to fines and registration suspension under 625 ILCS 5/3-707. Those penalties do nothing to compensate you, which is the practical reason UM coverage exists.
735 ILCS 5/2-1116: How Shared Fault Reduces Recovery
Illinois follows modified comparative fault. Your damages are reduced by your own percentage of responsibility, and recovery is barred entirely once you are more than 50 percent at fault.
This rule applies inside a UM claim. Your own insurer can argue your share of fault to reduce what it owes, exactly as a liability carrier would.
735 ILCS 5/13-202 and Your Policy's Own Deadlines
Personal injury lawsuits in Illinois generally must be filed within two years under 735 ILCS 5/13-202, and wrongful death actions run on a similar track under the Wrongful Death Act at 740 ILCS 180/2.
A UM claim is a contract claim against your insurer, so a second set of deadlines applies. Policies commonly require prompt written notice and impose their own window for demanding arbitration. Read the declarations page and the policy conditions rather than assuming the two-year rule protects you.
215 ILCS 5/155: When an Insurer Delays Without a Reasonable Basis
Illinois gives policyholders a remedy when an insurer acts vexatiously and unreasonably. Under 215 ILCS 5/155, a court may award reasonable attorney fees plus an additional statutory amount on top of the benefits owed.
Section 155 does not apply to every disagreement over value. It matters when a carrier stalls, ignores proof, or denies a claim without a reasonable basis for doing so.
How to File an Uninsured Motorist Claim in Illinois
The sequence below reflects how these claims move from the crash scene to resolution.
- Call the police and make sure a report is generated. In a hit-and-run, that report is often the proof that the other vehicle existed.
- Get medical attention the same day when possible. Gaps in treatment become the insurer's main argument against the claim.
- Notify your own insurer in writing and promptly. Late notice is one of the most common reasons a UM claim gets contested.
- Confirm the other driver's coverage status through the police report, the state filing requirement, and the insurer's own investigation.
- Preserve everything, including photographs, dashcam footage, witness contacts, repair estimates, medical bills, and wage records.
- Pull your declarations page and identify your UM and UIM limits, your deductible, and every notice or arbitration deadline in the policy.
- Get the claim evaluated before you accept anything. A first offer is rarely built on a complete picture of future treatment or lost earning capacity.
How Uninsured Motorist Disputes Get Resolved
UM disputes rarely look like an ordinary injury lawsuit, because the fight is with your own carrier under a contract you both signed.
Binding Arbitration Under Illinois Law
Most Illinois policies send UM disputes to arbitration rather than to a jury. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a, an arbitration decision is binding for damages up to $75,000 for one person and $150,000 for two or more people in a single crash, or the policy limits, whichever is less.
Above those figures, either side may reject the award and proceed further. Knowing where your claim falls relative to those numbers shapes how it should be presented.
When Your Insurer Can Require You to Sue the Uninsured Driver First
Section 143a allows a carrier, on good cause, to require the insured to file suit against the uninsured driver before it negotiates in good faith. The same provision requires the carrier to pay the court costs, jury fees, and sheriff's fees for that action in advance.
How Conboy Law Handles Uninsured Motorist Claims
We treat a UM claim as an adversarial claim from the first notice letter, because that is how carriers treat it. Our attorneys request the policy and any written rejection, document the full scope of the injuries, and build the file for arbitration rather than for a quick settlement conference.
We also watch the deadlines that catch people out, including the notice provisions and arbitration windows buried in the policy conditions. We work on a contingency fee basis, so there is no upfront cost to have your claim reviewed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Illinois
Yes. Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage is mandatory on every auto policy issued in Illinois at minimum limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash. Uninsured motorist property damage coverage is optional and separate.
Yes for injuries. A driver who cannot be identified is treated as uninsured for bodily injury purposes. Property damage is different, because 215 ILCS 5/143a removes UMPD liability when the at-fault driver cannot be identified.
Illinois does not permit an insurer to surcharge you for a loss you did not cause. Rates are set by many factors, so ask your agent about your specific policy rather than skipping a claim you paid for.
Your policy limit is the ceiling on what your carrier owes. Other sources may still exist, including a resident relative's policy, a separate underinsured claim, or a claim against a third party who contributed to the crash.
Usually yes. Passengers in your vehicle, resident relatives, and household members are typically insured persons under the same UM coverage, subject to the policy language and limits.
The two-year personal injury deadline is only part of the answer. Your policy imposes its own notice and arbitration deadlines that can be shorter, so the policy should be reviewed immediately rather than near the anniversary of the crash.
Talk With Our Chicago Car Accident Lawyer About Your Uninsured Motorist Coverage
An uninsured driver should not decide what your recovery looks like. Uninsured motorist coverage exists so that it does not, and using it well means reading the policy closely and pushing back when your insurer undervalues what happened to you.
Conboy Law represents injured people in Chicago and throughout Illinois in uninsured and underinsured motorist claims. Founding attorney Joseph M. Conboy and our team will review your policy, explain what your coverage actually reaches, and handle the claim from notice through arbitration.
Call 312-726-9000 for a free case evaluation.
Joseph M. Conboy is the founding attorney of Conboy Law and represents victims and families in serious personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death cases throughout Illinois. He has obtained numerous multi-million-dollar results and has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star. As the firm’s primary litigator, he works closely with clients to build strategies tailored to the facts of each case.
