What Happens if I am Injured in a Car Accident in Indiana and the Other Driver Doesn’t Have Insurance?

Drivers in Indiana are required to carry valid proof of insurance when operating their vehicles on public roadways and there are legal penalties for driving without insurance in Indiana. Still, many accidents occur involving uninsured drivers.

Victims of car accidents caused by uninsured drivers will typically file claims under their own insurance policies to recover compensation. You may sue uninsured drivers, but they often do not have the resources to pay for the damages they caused. An Indiana car accident lawyer can handle the process of recovering from your own insurer.

If you were injured in a car accident in Indiana and the other driver doesn’t have insurance, get help recovering the compensation you deserve. Contact our experienced Indiana car accident lawyers by calling Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 for a free case review.

Filing an Uninsured Motorist Claim in Indiana

Uninsured motorist coverage serves to compensate victims after being injured by drivers that don’t have insurance. It is designed to compensate policyholders for medical bills, lost income, property damage, physical pain, and emotional anguish caused by an uninsured driver’s negligence. Furthermore, uninsured motorist policies may also pay for damages incurred by passengers in your vehicle after accidents involving uninsured drivers.

Indiana is an at-fault car insurance state. Therefore, you must prove that an uninsured or unidentified driver caused or contributed to your injuries in order to recover compensation in an uninsured motorist claim. Specifically, you must establish the following:

The other driver caused your accident.
Neither the other motorist nor their vehicle had auto insurance, or you could not identify the at-fault driver.
You suffered damages because of the accident.

These elements may seem simple, but insurance companies often look for ways to avoid paying your claim. Our experienced Indianapolis car accident lawyers can help gather the evidence required to establish fault on behalf of an uninsured driver.

Proving Fault in Indiana Uninsured Motorist Claims

Numerous types of evidence can be used to prove that an uninsured driver was at fault for your injuries. However, certain categories of evidence are used more frequently than others. The following are common types of evidence our Indiana car accident lawyers use to establish fault:

Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness statements can be highly valuable when proving fault for a car accident involving an uninsured or unidentified driver. Eyewitnesses can help explain the events that occurred before, during, and after a crash. Accordingly, after an accident, you should attempt to retrieve contact information from any potential witnesses. Their testimony may help support your case when filing an uninsured motorist claim.

Police Officers’ Accident Reports

Police officers’ accident reports may also be beneficial when proving fault for a crash. You should always call the police after suffering a car accident. After calling 911, a police officer may visit the scene of the crash to draft their accident report.

Accident reports may include statements from drivers regarding the cause of a crash. Furthermore, these reports may include observations from police officers indicating the cause of an accident. Our experienced Hammond car accident lawyers can help determine if a police officer’s accident report will be valuable when filing your uninsured motorist claim.

Surveillance Footage

Surveillance footage can also be used to establish fault in uninsured motorist claims. Traffic camera footage and footage from nearby security cameras may show the events leading up to a crash. However, obtaining such evidence can be difficult. Victims can contact our Indiana car accident lawyers for help recovering surveillance footage to support their uninsured motorist claims.

Physical Evidence from the Scene of an Accident

Physical evidence from the scene of an accident is another common type of evidence used to prove fault in uninsured motorist claims. For example, glass shards from a crash scene can be matched with an uninsured motorist’s broken headlight to prove they were involved in an accident. Further, an open beer can may be used to show that an uninsured driver was intoxicated at the time of a crash. There are many types of physical evidence that can be used to support your claim.

Photo Evidence from the Scene of an Accident

Photo documentation from the scene of an accident can also help determine fault. For instance, photos of a badly damaged car may be used to show that an uninsured driver was traveling at excessive speeds when a crash occurred. Accordingly, after an accident, victims should attempt to take photos and videos of the scene if possible.

Expert Witness Testimony

Lastly, expert witness testimony may also be valuable when proving fault in an Indiana uninsured motorist claim. Crash reconstruction experts can be used to establish that another driver caused a crash. Our South Bend car accident lawyers can help determine if expert witness testimony will be useful in your uninsured motorist claim.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage Requirements in Indiana

By default, every insurer in Indiana must include uninsured motorist insurance in their newly written policies. The following are the minimum coverage requirements for uninsured motorist policies:

$25,000 in personal injury coverage for a single person
$50,000 in personal injury coverage for multiple people
$10,000 in coverage for property damage

Policyholders can elect to purchase higher amounts of coverage. They may also decline uninsured motorist coverage altogether, but they must do so in writing and an insurance company must be able to produce evidence of that written rejection of coverage to avoid providing it.

Drivers who decline uninsured motorist coverage risk being unable to pay for their injuries after being involved in accidents caused by uninsured or unidentified drivers, and we recommend that everyone obtain coverage beyond the minimums.

Penalties for Driving Without Insurance in Indiana

There are legal penalties for driving without car insurance in Indiana. Uninsured drivers will face varying fines and punishments, depending on the number of times they have committed the offense.

For their first offense, uninsured drivers can have their license suspended for at least 90 days and face a $250 reinstatement fee. Second-time offenders may have their license suspended for one year and be required to pay $500 reinstatement fees. Lastly, for third and subsequent offenses, drivers’ licenses may be suspended for one year with reinstatement fees cost $1,000.

Despite this, many drivers in Indiana fail to obtain insurance to protect other drivers from the financial consequences of their own negligence. Obtaining your own insurance coverage to protect yourself in these cases is important as it may be the only way to recover following an auto accident.

If You Were Injured in a Car Accident Caused by an Uninsured Driver, Our Lawyers Can Help

If you were injured in a car accident in Indiana and the other driver doesn’t have insurance, seek assistance from our experienced Fort Wayne car accident lawyers by calling Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 for a free case review.

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Meet Don

Best Indianapolis Personal Injury Attorneys

Don Wruck

Founding Partner

Top-Rated Litigator.

Helping injury victims move forward.

Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.

More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.

Meet Jason

Jason Paupore

Founding Partner

Understanding the Insurance Company:

Getting Results.

In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.

Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.

Best Personal Injury Lawyers Indianapolis

Meet Keith

Keith Medved

Of Counsel

More than 40 Years of Experience.

Still Fighting for Justice.

For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.

Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.

Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.