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UM/UIM Claims in Texas: The Coverage Decision, the Government-Vehicle Trap, and the Deadlines That Can Kill Your Claim

By Accident Atlas Editorial Team · Reviewed by Phil Ayres · Updated July 13, 2026 · 8 min read

First, Identify Which Claim Path You're Actually On

Before you call an insurer, file a claim, or start gathering paperwork, answer two questions: Do you carry collision coverage on your own auto policy? And was the at-fault vehicle privately owned or government-owned? These two answers reshape your entire strategy and, critically, your timeline. Skipping this step is how people miss deadlines they never knew existed.

If you lack collision coverage and the other driver has insurance, you're dealing directly with that driver's insurer. Per guidance from the Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC), your own carrier won't pay for your vehicle damage in this scenario; it may assist, but it has no obligation to cover your repairs.

If you do have collision coverage, your own insurer can front the repair costs, pursue subrogation against the at-fault driver, and typically refund your deductible later once that recovery succeeds, per OPIC. That changes whether you need to escalate immediately to a UM/UIM claim for property damage — though bodily injury is a separate question.

Knowing which bucket you're in tells you whether your next move is a UM/UIM demand, a subrogation wait, or — if a government vehicle is involved — a race against a notice deadline that most drivers never see coming.

Path A: No Collision Coverage, Uninsured At-Fault Driver

Per OPIC, when you have no collision coverage and the other driver has insurance, no one is obligated to build your case for you. You have to gather the evidence yourself: photos of the vehicles and scene, witness contact information, the police report, a damage estimate, and repair shop contacts.

That same evidence package is exactly what supports a UM (uninsured motorist) claim on your own policy, since the at-fault driver has no insurance for you to pursue. There's no separate 'insurance evidence' file and 'UM claim' file — they're the same documents.

Without collision coverage and without a solvent at-fault insurer, your own UM coverage becomes the only realistic path to recovery. Document from day one as though you already know you'll be filing that claim, because you likely will be.

Path B: You Have Collision Coverage

With collision coverage, your insurer can pay your vehicle damages up front and then attempt to collect from the other driver's insurance company through subrogation, per OPIC guidance.

Expect to pay your deductible upfront. It may be recovered and refunded later once your insurer successfully collects from the at-fault driver's carrier, per OPIC — but that refund isn't instant, so budget for the deductible in the meantime.

This path resolves property damage, but it says nothing about bodily injury. If the at-fault driver's liability limits turn out to be inadequate for your medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering, evaluating a UIM (underinsured motorist) claim against your own policy still matters — collision coverage and UIM coverage answer two different questions.

The Overlooked Scenario: When the Other Vehicle Is Government-Owned

If a city, county, or state vehicle caused your crash, ordinary negligence law doesn't govern the government's liability — the Texas Tort Claims Act does. That statute caps recovery at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death against the state, and generally $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence for units of local government (with municipalities capped like the state, at $250,000/$500,000), per Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.023.

No exemplary (punitive) damages are recoverable against a governmental unit under this chapter, per § 101.024 — .

Municipalities are liable only for specified 'governmental functions,' per § 101.0215 — a list that includes police and fire protection, health and sanitation services, street construction and design, traffic regulation, and dozens of other enumerated categories. Not every act by a city employee behind the wheel automatically qualifies.

School districts and junior college districts are excluded from Tort Claims Act liability entirely, except for motor vehicle claims, per § 101.051. That carve-out means a school bus crash is one of the few situations where these entities can be sued under this chapter at all.

Similarly, per § 101.063, a governmental unit that is merely a member of a public health district is not liable for that district's personnel conduct or property conditions — a narrow but important exclusion if your incident involves a health district vehicle or facility.

Because these caps and exclusions can leave you under-recovered even when the government entity is clearly at fault, this is exactly the situation where your own UM/UIM coverage may need to supplement what the Tort Claims Act allows. Fortunately, § 101.003 states that remedies under the Tort Claims Act are 'in addition to' any other legal remedies — pursuing a government claim does not, by itself, foreclose a parallel UM/UIM claim against your own carrier.

Claims Process Quirks Unique to Government Defendants

Per § 101.104, neither the existence nor the amount of a governmental unit's insurance is admissible at trial or subject to discovery. You cannot find out ahead of time how much coverage backs the government vehicle to gauge whether pursuing that claim alone will make you whole — another reason to independently evaluate your UM/UIM coverage rather than wait and see what the government's insurance turns out to be.

Settling a claim against the state requires the governor's determination that settlement is in the state's best interest; other governmental units need approval from their own governing body, per § 101.105. That approval requirement doesn't apply if the governmental unit has acquired insurance under the chapter.

This approval layer can slow government-claim settlements considerably compared to negotiating with a private insurer. That's a practical reason to keep a UM/UIM claim against your own carrier moving on its own track rather than depending entirely on the government process resolving on a predictable schedule.

Deadlines You Cannot Afford to Miss

Texas runs several deadlines simultaneously after a crash, and they don't all expire at the same time. Missing the shorter one can bar your claim even if you're well within the longer one.

If a governmental unit is involved, formal written notice is due within 6 months of the crash, per § 101.101 — far shorter than the 2-year suit deadline.

Because the 6-month notice clock and the 2-year suit clock run at the same time but expire on wildly different schedules, treat any accident involving a government vehicle as a 6-month case from the outset — not a 2-year case.

Decision Checklist: What to Do Next

Confirm immediately whether the at-fault vehicle is privately owned or government-owned — this determines whether a 6-month notice deadline applies on top of the standard 2-year suit deadline.

If you have no collision coverage and the at-fault driver is uninsured, start building your evidence file now: photos, witness contact information, the police report, a damage estimate, and repair shop contacts, so you're ready to support a UM claim on your own policy.

If you have collision coverage, let your insurer front the repair costs, but track separately whether bodily injury damages will still require a UIM claim once the at-fault driver's liability limits are known.

If a government vehicle is involved, send written notice within 6 months even if you're still investigating fault or the full extent of your damages — the notice deadline is far shorter than the general suit deadline and doesn't wait for your investigation to finish.

Recognize that government damage caps and the bar on punitive damages may leave a shortfall even after a fully successful claim. Evaluate your own UM/UIM policy limits as a supplemental recovery source — Tort Claims Act remedies are additional to, not a substitute for, other legal remedies, per § 101.003.