Being injured in a car accident is stressful enough. When the driver responsible for the crash speeds away without stopping, you may be left wondering who will pay your medical bills, repair your vehicle, or compensate you for your injuries.
Fortunately, a hit-and-run does not automatically leave you without insurance coverage or legal options in Michigan. However, identifying the available benefits and protecting your rights can be more complicated when the other driver is unknown.
Is Leaving the Scene of an Accident Illegal in Michigan?
Yes. Michigan law generally requires drivers involved in accidents to stop, provide identifying information, and fulfill certain duties depending on whether the crash caused injury, death, or property damage.
Leaving the scene can result in criminal charges, with more serious penalties when someone is seriously injured or killed.
However, criminal charges and civil compensation are separate issues. Even if police never identify the fleeing driver, an injured person may still have options for recovering certain accident-related losses.
What Should You Do Immediately After a Hit-and-Run?
Your first priority should be safety. Move out of immediate danger if possible, seek medical attention, and contact law enforcement.
Try to remember anything that could help identify the fleeing vehicle, including its color, make, model, license plate information, direction of travel, or distinctive damage.
If you are physically able, take photographs of the accident scene, vehicle damage, debris, skid marks, and surrounding road conditions.
Nearby businesses, traffic cameras, or witnesses may have information that helps establish what happened.
Reporting the crash promptly also creates documentation that may become important when making an insurance claim.
Does Michigan No-Fault Insurance Cover Hit-and-Run Injuries?
Michigan’s no-fault system generally provides personal injury protection (PIP) benefits for qualifying accident-related expenses without requiring proof that another driver caused the crash.
Depending on the applicable policy and coverage rules, PIP benefits may help pay for medical treatment, certain lost wages, and other eligible expenses.
The fact that the at-fault driver fled does not, by itself, eliminate access to PIP benefits.
However, Michigan’s insurance priority rules determine which insurer is responsible. The answer may depend on whether you were an occupant of a vehicle, a pedestrian, or a bicyclist, as well as your household’s insurance coverage.
What If You Don’t Have Your Own Auto Insurance
Not having a policy in your own name does not necessarily mean there is no available PIP coverage.
In some situations, coverage may be available through a spouse’s or resident relative’s policy or another insurer under Michigan’s statutory priority rules.
The Michigan Assigned Claims Plan may provide a potential source of benefits for certain eligible people when no applicable insurer can be identified.
Eligibility is fact-specific, and uninsured owners of vehicles that were required to be insured may face significant restrictions.
Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Apply to Hit-and-Run Accidents?
Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage is optional in Michigan, but it may provide compensation when an uninsured or unidentified driver causes an accident.
Whether a hit-and-run qualifies depends on the policy’s language.
Some policies impose specific requirements involving physical contact, prompt reporting, or evidence establishing that another vehicle caused the crash.
For example, a driver who swerves to avoid an unidentified vehicle and strikes a guardrail may face different coverage questions than someone whose car was directly struck by a fleeing driver.
Don’t assume UM coverage applies or doesn’t apply without reviewing the policy.
What About Damage to Your Vehicle?
PIP benefits generally do not pay to repair your vehicle.
Collision coverage may help pay for damage from a hit-and-run, depending on the policy terms and deductible.
Michigan’s limited property damage, sometimes called mini-tort, rules can apply in certain circumstances, but recovering directly from an unidentified driver presents obvious difficulties.
Your available vehicle-damage coverage should be evaluated separately from your injury benefits.
Why Legal Guidance Matters
Hit-and-run claims can involve difficult questions about insurance priority, policy exclusions, unidentified vehicles, and the evidence needed to establish fault.
Duff Law can help Michigan accident victims investigate hit-and-run crashes, review available insurance coverage, preserve evidence, and evaluate potential claims for PIP benefits or additional compensation.