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Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Claims in Texas: Which Process Applies to You, and What Deadlines and Limits Actually Govern the Claim

By Accident Atlas Editorial Team · Reviewed by Phil Ayres · Updated July 12, 2026 · 10 min read

Before You File: Decide Which Claim Path Applies to You

Before you call any insurance company, there's one fact you need to nail down: do you carry collision coverage on your own auto policy? That single detail determines which of two very different claim paths you'll follow, who fronts the money for your vehicle repairs, and who you'll be negotiating with in the weeks ahead.

If you do not have collision coverage, you have to deal directly with the other driver's insurance company. Your own insurer may offer some assistance, but it will not pay for your vehicle damage. You become the negotiator, and the burden of proving fault and damages falls largely on you.

If you do have collision coverage, you can let your own insurance company handle the negotiation. Your insurer pays the cost of your repairs up front and then tries to collect from the at-fault driver's insurance company through subrogation. You'll likely pay a deductible when the vehicle is repaired, but it may be recovered and refunded once your insurer successfully collects from the other side.

Identify your coverage type before you contact any insurer. It changes everything downstream — who you negotiate with, whether you'll be out-of-pocket for a deductible in the meantime, and how much documentation work falls on you personally.

Scene and Documentation Checklist That Determines Whether Your Claim Succeeds

Regardless of which claim path applies to you, the strength of your claim is decided largely at the scene of the crash, before any insurer gets involved. At minimum, collect the other driver's name, address, phone number, and license plate number.

Record the exact name of the other driver's insurance company, its phone number, and the policy number. Taking a photo of the other driver's insurance card is one of the simplest ways to save time later and avoid errors from copying down a policy number by hand.

If the other driver refuses to identify their insurer, call the police immediately rather than trying to resolve the dispute yourself at the roadside. You should also give the other driver the same identifying information about you and your insurance — this exchange is a two-way obligation, not a one-sided interrogation.

When you don't have collision coverage and must negotiate directly with the other driver's insurer, your evidence package effectively replaces the support your own company would otherwise provide. That means gathering photos of the scene and vehicle damage, contact information for any witnesses, a copy of the police report, a damage estimate, and repair shop contacts. Independent witnesses in particular can be decisive if the other driver later denies fault.

Claim Path: You Have Collision Coverage

When collision coverage is on your policy, your insurer manages the negotiation with the other driver's insurance company on your behalf. This is the core advantage of the path: you're not the one making demands or fielding pushback from an adjuster who represents the other side.

Expect to pay a deductible at the time of repair. That amount can potentially be recovered and refunded once your insurer collects from the at-fault driver's insurer, but the refund isn't instantaneous — it depends on your insurer successfully completing subrogation.

Because your insurer is fronting the repair costs and pursuing reimbursement on your behalf, your role shifts from negotiator to documentation-provider. Keep your repair estimates, invoices, and any correspondence with the shop or adjuster organized — your insurer will lean on that material to support its subrogation claim against the other insurer.

Claim Path: You Lack Collision Coverage

Without collision coverage, you are the primary negotiator with the other driver's insurance company. Your own insurer will not pay for your vehicle damage in this scenario, so there's no financial cushion while the claim is pending.

Your insurer may still offer some assistance, but it does not act as your claims advocate the way it would if you carried collision coverage. Practically, that means you should not assume your company will push back on a lowball offer or chase down missing paperwork for you.

Building your own evidence file becomes essential in this path, since no insurer is doing that groundwork for you. Photos, witness contact information, the police report, a damage estimate, and repair shop contacts together form the record you'll need to substantiate your claim and counter any dispute over fault or damages.

Special Case: When the At-Fault Party Is a Government Vehicle or Employee

If the vehicle or employee that caused your crash belonged to a governmental unit — a city, county, school district, or similar entity — the standard third-party claim process described above doesn't fully apply. Recovery against that entity is instead governed by the Texas Tort Claims Act, and that changes what your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage may need to cover.

The Act caps liability. For the state government, liability is capped at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death, and $100,000 per occurrence for property damage. For most local government units, the cap is lower — $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death. Municipalities, however, are capped at the same higher level as the state: $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death. Emergency service organizations are capped at $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence. Property damage in all these cases is capped at $100,000 per occurrence. Any injury value above these caps is a gap your own UM/UIM policy may need to fill, since the governmental defendant cannot be forced to pay beyond the statutory ceiling.

The Act also does not authorize exemplary, or punitive, damages against governmental units. That further limits what you can recover from the government defendant alone, no matter how egregious the conduct.

Another wrinkle: neither the existence nor the amount of a governmental unit's insurance is admissible at trial or subject to discovery. In practice, this means you generally cannot use the discovery process to find out whether the government defendant is effectively "underinsured" before deciding whether to pursue your own UM/UIM policy — you have to plan around the statutory caps themselves rather than the entity's actual insurance program.

Settlement timing also differs. If the governmental unit has purchased insurance under the Act, no governing-body approval is required to settle. If it has not, settlement requires approval from the governor if the defendant is the state, or from the governing body if the defendant is another governmental unit. That approval requirement can slow down resolution of the claim against the government, which matters for deciding when to activate your own UM/UIM claim in parallel rather than waiting on the government claim to conclude.

Suit-Filing Mechanics and Deadlines When the Defendant Is a Governmental Unit

Suit under the Tort Claims Act must be brought in state court in the county where the cause of action, or part of it, arose. The pleadings must name the specific governmental unit against which liability is being established — .

Service of citation also follows special rules. In a suit against the state, citation must be served on the secretary of state. In suits against other governmental units, ordinary civil service-of-citation rules apply unless another method is specified by law, in which case the administrative head of the unit may be served if no other method is available.

Municipalities are liable under the Act for damages arising from governmental functions — a broad category that includes police and fire protection, health and sanitation services, and street construction and design, among many others listed in the statute. Confirming which specific function was involved in your incident can affect whether the Tort Claims Act even applies.

One notable exception involves public health districts: a governmental unit that is a member of a public health district is not liable under the Act for that district's personnel conduct or property. This matters when more than one public entity is arguably connected to the same incident, since it can determine which entity, if any, bears responsibility under the Act.

Action Checklist: What to Do Next

Confirm your own collision coverage status first. It dictates whether you negotiate directly with the other driver's insurer or let your own company lead the claim and front the repair costs.

Assemble the full evidence package — photos, witness contacts, the police report, a damage estimate, and repair shop contacts — regardless of which path applies. This documentation strengthens both a direct negotiation with the other insurer and your own insurer's subrogation effort.

If the at-fault party may be a government vehicle or employee, verify the exact identity of the governmental unit before filing suit, and calculate whether the Tort Claims Act's liability caps leave a shortfall that your UM/UIM policy should cover, depending on whether the entity is the state, a municipality, another local government unit, or an emergency service organization.

Do not rely on discovering the government defendant's insurance details to size your UM/UIM claim. That information is statutorily inadmissible and non-discoverable, so plan your UM/UIM claim around the applicable statutory caps instead of waiting to learn what insurance, if any, the government entity actually carries.