I only have liability insurance. Can I still make a claim If the other driver has no insurance?

I only have liability insurance on my car. Can I still make a claim if the other driver does not have insurance? Hi, this is Paul Hernandez, attorney at Kalfus & Ackman, litigating cases in Virginia and North Carolina. This is a very important question. I have seen many people not make a claim with their own insurance when they're hit by an uninsured driver because they think they cannot make a claim if they only have liability insurance. The best part is yes, you can make an uninsured motorist claim on your own policy if you only have liability insurance. So you fully understand why this is possible, let's discuss the different types of insurance you can buy for your car. The most popular policy provision is liability insurance. Liability covers you if you cause an accident and there is either personal injury or property damage to the other vehicle. In Virginia, you are required to certify that you have liability insurance with the minimum limits prescribed by statute. Remember, liability insurance protects you from the claims of the other driver. The next insurance provision is collision coverage. Collision coverage covers you for property damage to your car if you cause the accident. Many lenders require that you have collision coverage on your car sufficient enough to pay for the car if the car is totaled in a wreck. Collision coverage is optional coverage. Next, you have a provision called comprehensive coverage. Comprehensive coverage covers the property damage to your car if it is damaged as a result of a fire, flood, wind, hail, theft, vandalism, or even hitting an animal like a deer. Comprehensive coverage is also an optional coverage. There is car rental coverage, which covers the cost of a rental car if your car is in the shop as a result of a covered loss. Again, rental coverage is one of those optional coverages. Next, you have medical payments coverage, which will pay for incurred medical expenses if you are injured in an automobile accident, whether it's your fault or not. Again, medical payments coverage is one of those optional coverage. I have saved the best for last. And the next coverage I'm going to talk about is the extremely important and is automatically included with your policy when you buy the required liability coverage. This coverage is called uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage covers you when your car is damaged or you receive personal injuries from an uninsured motorist. This includes if you are hit by a hit-and-run driver. Obviously, you will not know the insurance of the hit-and-run driver because he left the scene and is unknown. Remember, this coverage is automatic. It comes with liability insurance coverage. So we go back to the question that started this discussion. Can you recover for personal injuries if you are hit by an uninsured motorist when you only have purchased liability coverage? And the answer is yes. A related question is, will your rates go up if you make an uninsured motorist claim on your own policy? You may be surprised by the answer. I have a video on this topic as well. please look for it on our website. If you have any questions about making an insurance claim following an accident, call me, Paul Hernandez, at 888-487-8546. I answer questions like this every day. And by the way, if you enjoyed this video, click the subscribe button below. That way you'll be notified every time we post a new informative video. I'm Paul Hernandez, litigation attorney in Virginia and North Carolina, and thanks for watching.