What to Do if You’re Involved in a Hit and Run Car Accident

Hit and run car accidents can be especially stressful when you’re faced with injuries and the worry you may be left holding the bill. Let Brother Rutter of Rutter Mills help put your mind at ease as he takes you through the options that will help maximize your compensation after a hit and run.

Video Transcription

Hey, this is Brother Rutter from Rutter Mills. I want to talk to you today about hit-and-run accidents. By that I mean, what happens when somebody runs into you and your car and then flees the scene. Whose insurance is going to pay for that? Well, many times, believe it or not, the police are able to identify hit-and-run drivers. Sometimes there are witnesses or other evidence, or you’re able to give the police a little bit of identification that they can use to investigate and find the person.

When that happens, the hit-and-run defendant’s insurance policy is likely to be first, meaning it would pay for your damages. Now, your own insurance, or the insurance of the car you’re in, could also come into play. And that could happen in two different ways.

First, if they find the hit and run driver and that person does not have enough insurance, your own insurance or the insurance of the car you were in, in case you were a passenger, may be used to supplement the insurance of the defendant. That’s important to know because, even if you may not realize it, you’ve been paying – if you’ve been paying for auto insurance – for uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. That’s something required by Virginia law, and it’s just what it says: if the defendant is uninsured, has no insurance, or is underinsured, meaning they don’t have enough, you can use your own policy to supplement, to help pay for your damages. Now, nobody likes to use their own insurance. But you’re paying for that coverage, so talk to us about how to use that.

The second way your insurance or the car you were in would come into play is if the defendant can’t be found, so it’s just like their uninsured, or, if we do find them, but their own insurance company says they were using their car for a criminal act or an intentional act for which their own auto insurance may not apply. There are all kinds of exclusions in an insurance policy, and sometimes a hit-and-run means we can’t count on the defendant’s insurance. So, we’d have to use your insurance or the car you’re in.

This can get tricky, it can get complicated, but we deal with it every day. We love figuring out these insurance issues to make sure there’s as much money as possible for you and your family at the end of the day. So, if you’ve been a victim of a hit and run, call us. Let’s talk it through to make sure we maximize your insurance recovery. Thanks.