Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Texas: Do You Really Need It?

About 14.5% of Texas drivers — roughly 1 in 7 — carry no auto insurance, according to Insurance Research Council estimates published by the Insurance Information Institute (Texas ranked 19th in 2023) — and that number climbs higher in certain ZIP codes across Dallas, Fort Worth, and the broader DFW metro. Learn more about Texas minimum insurance requirements.

What does this mean for you? Every time you get on I-35, I-20, or Loop 820, there is a real statistical chance you're sharing the road with drivers who have zero financial ability to compensate you if they cause an accident. Texas law requires minimum liability insurance ($30,000/$60,000/$25,000), but enforcement is inconsistent, and many drivers either let their policies lapse or simply never obtain coverage. Review your current Texas auto insurance policy to check whether UM/UIM is already included.

Under Texas Insurance Code §1952.101, every Texas auto insurer is required to offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to every policyholder. You are not required to buy it — but you must reject it in writing if you don't want it. This means that if you've never explicitly signed a rejection form, your insurer may have added it automatically. Check your declarations page today to confirm your current coverage.

UM/UIM coverage is one of the most affordable additions to any Texas auto insurance policy. Here's a breakdown of typical annual costs:

For most Texas drivers, adding $100,000/$300,000 in UMBI and $100,000/$300,000 in UIMBI costs roughly $140–$280 per year in total — or about the same as a single emergency room copay. Given that a single injury claim can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars, the math clearly favors purchasing this coverage.

If an uninsured driver hits you in Texas, you have a few options — but without UM coverage, all of them are difficult and uncertain:

Hit-and-run accidents are a significant concern in Texas, which reported over 22,000 hit-and-run crashes in a recent year. The coverage situation for hit-and-run depends on your policy:

In some states you can "stack" UM limits, multiplying them by the number of cars on your policy. Texas personal auto policies don't work that way. The UM/UIM limit on your declarations page is the most the policy pays for one accident, no matter how many vehicles or premiums are listed. The Texas Supreme Court upheld this in Upshaw v. Trinity Companies (1992).

How to get more UM/UIM protection: Raise the limit itself — for example, from $30,000/$60,000 to $100,000/$300,000 or $250,000/$500,000. Higher UM/UIM limits usually cost only modestly more (see the cost section above). If several family members drive regularly in high-traffic DFW corridors, also ask your A-LA agent about multi-vehicle auto insurance discounts.

More than one policy: If you are covered by more than one separate policy (for example, your own and a household member's), more than one may apply, subject to each policy's terms. Ask an A-LA agent to compare UM/UIM limit options across our 35+ carriers so you can weigh the cost difference against the added protection.

Adding UM/UIM coverage to an existing Texas policy is straightforward, and A-LA's agents can typically process a mid-term endorsement the same day. You can also start fresh with a new Texas auto insurance quote if your current carrier isn't offering competitive UM/UIM pricing. Here's the process: