Uninsured Motorist Coverage — Texas
Uninsured Motorist Coverage pays your medical bills and vehicle damage when you're hit by a driver with no insurance or insufficient coverage to pay your claim.
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What Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Insurance?
Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM) activates when another driver causes an accident and either carries no insurance or holds limits too low to cover your damages. Your UM policy pays your medical expenses, lost wages, and in some states vehicle repair costs, up to the limits you purchased. Texas does not require UM coverage, but carriers must offer it when you buy a policy — you can decline in writing. The coverage operates independently of the at-fault driver's situation; your insurer pays your claim, then pursues recovery from the uninsured driver directly.
Who Needs Uninsured Motorist Coverage Insurance?
Retirees who drive frequently in metro areas with higher uninsured driver rates — Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and border regions near the Rio Grande Valley — gain the most value from UM coverage. If you dropped collision coverage on a paid-off older vehicle to reduce premium cost, adding UMPD as part of your UM endorsement restores vehicle damage protection at a fraction of collision premium cost. Retirees on Medicare should know that Medicare does not always cover accident-related injuries as primary insurance; UM bodily injury pays first, reducing out-of-pocket costs and preserving Medicare for non-accident care.
Compare the annual UM premium to the out-of-pocket cost you'd face if hit by an uninsured driver while not at fault. If you've dropped collision to save money, add UMPD; if you still carry collision, skip UMPD and keep UM bodily injury only.
How Much Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Insurance Cost?
- ZIP code uninsured driver rate — counties with higher percentages of uninsured motorists (Houston's Harris County, Dallas County, parts of the Rio Grande Valley) generate slightly higher UM premiums due to increased claim frequency.
- Whether you bundle UM with Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage — most Texas carriers sell UM and UIM as a combined endorsement; splitting them is uncommon and may not reduce cost.
- Claim history on UM coverage — filing a UM claim does not universally trigger a rate increase the way an at-fault collision claim does, but some carriers treat any bodily injury claim as a pricing factor at renewal.
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