Few moments are more disorienting than watching the car that just hit you drive away. Along with everything a normal crash involves, there's now a missing responsible party — and the assumption many people make in that moment is that their claim left with them. Often, it didn't.
First Things: Report and Medical Care
Two things tend to matter most in the immediate aftermath. Calling nine-one-one creates the official record of the crash — and with hit-and-runs, prompt reporting matters more than usual, both for any effort to identify the driver and because insurers commonly expect timely reporting on hit-and-run claims. Medical evaluation soon after protects your health and documents the connection between the crash and your injuries — the foundation of any claim that follows. The rest of the checklist is the same as what to do after a car accident.
Anything observed about the vehicle — color, type, partial plate, direction — can help, as can nearby cameras: businesses, intersections, doorbell cameras along the street. Witnesses sometimes catch what the person hit couldn't.
The Key to Compensation: Your Own UM Coverage
Here's the part too few people know. Arizona law requires insurers to offer uninsured motorist coverage with every auto policy — and a hit-and-run driver who can't be identified is treated, for practical purposes, like an uninsured driver. If your policy includes UM coverage, your claim proceeds through your own insurer: your injuries, your medical bills, your lost work, evaluated much like a claim against the fleeing driver would have been.
Two things worth understanding about that: first, UM coverage is what you've been paying premiums for — using it is not a favor from the insurer. Second, a UM claim is still a claim that gets evaluated and negotiated; your insurer's interests and yours don't automatically align just because it's your own company. Documentation matters exactly as much as it would in any other claim.
If the Driver Is Found
Hit-and-run drivers are sometimes identified — through cameras, plates, or the criminal investigation. When that happens, a claim against their insurance becomes possible alongside or instead of the UM path. The criminal case for leaving the scene is separate from your civil claim; one addresses the offense, the other your compensation.
The Deadlines
Most Arizona injury claims must be brought within two years — but UM claims can also involve policy-specific notice requirements, and camera footage is often kept only days or weeks. In hit-and-run cases especially, the practical clock runs faster than the legal one. If the crash happened in the metro area, our Phoenix car accident lawyer page covers how these cases are handled locally.
Hit by a driver who fled? Your options are worth understanding before you talk to any insurer. Saguaro Injury Law offers free consultations 24/7, in English or Spanish — no fee unless you recover. Call (602) 217-0000 any hour.