Auto · Updated October 2026
Uninsured motorist coverage pays for your injuries when someone else causes an accident and has no insurance. It steps into the gap the at-fault driver should have filled.
The practical version: a driver runs a red light, puts you in hospital for a week, and has no policy. Without uninsured motorist coverage you are suing someone who has nothing, and collecting from someone with nothing is mostly theoretical. With it, your own carrier pays your medical bills and lost wages up to your limit.
It generally also responds to a hit-and-run, where the at-fault driver is never identified. Requirements for reporting and documenting a hit-and-run vary, so report it to the police promptly.
Uninsured motorist (UM) applies when the at-fault driver has no coverage at all.
Underinsured motorist (UIM) applies when they have coverage, but not enough. This is the more common scenario by a wide margin, and the one people understand least.
Consider the arithmetic. The at-fault driver carries Missouri's minimum, $25,000 per person. Your injuries come to $90,000. Their policy pays $25,000 and is exhausted. The remaining $65,000 has to come from somewhere — and underinsured motorist coverage is the only thing most households have that reaches it.
Given that the state minimum is $25,000 and a single serious injury passes that quickly, a great many insured drivers are effectively underinsured from your point of view.
Missouri requires uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident on every auto policy. Underinsured motorist coverage is generally available but not mandated, and it is the one people decline without quite realising.
Kansas requires uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and as a no-fault state also requires personal injury protection.
Oklahoma requires that uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage be offered, and it can be rejected in writing. Plenty of Oklahoma drivers have rejected it at some point and do not remember doing so. If you hold an Oklahoma policy, that is worth checking on your declarations page specifically.
Requirements change, so confirm current limits with your state's insurance department or ask us.
Here is the part most drivers get backwards. People buy 100/300 liability to protect other people, then leave uninsured motorist coverage at the $25,000 state minimum — protecting everyone except themselves.
Think about what each one does. Your liability limit protects your assets from a claim you cause. Your uninsured motorist limit protects your family from a claim someone else causes and cannot pay for. If anything, the second is the one more likely to be used, because you cannot control how much insurance other drivers buy.
The sensible default is to carry uninsured and underinsured motorist limits matching your liability limits. Carry 100/300 liability, carry 100/300 UM and UIM.
It is also one of the cheapest coverages on the policy. Raising it from state minimum to 100/300 usually costs a fraction of what the same increase costs on the liability side.
Uninsured motorist property damage — covering your vehicle when an uninsured driver hits it — is a separate coverage from bodily injury, and availability and terms vary.
If you carry collision coverage, your own collision generally repairs the vehicle regardless of who was at fault, subject to your deductible. If you carry liability only, an uninsured at-fault driver can leave you with no repair money at all, which is one more argument for keeping comprehensive and collision on a vehicle you could not replace.
Missouri's uninsured rate has historically run above the national average. Rural two-lane roads produce more severe accidents than city driving, and the area around Joplin sits within twenty minutes of two state lines, which means a share of the drivers around you are operating under different rules and different minimums.
None of that is a reason for alarm. It is a reason to look at one line on your declarations page.
Find your declarations page and look for uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist. Note both limits. If UM sits at 25/50 while your liability sits higher, that gap is worth pricing.
If you cannot find underinsured motorist at all, you may not have it. Send us the page and we will tell you exactly what you carry and what raising it would cost — usually less than people expect.
Questions about your own situation? Call 417.623.8300 or send us your current policy. We are licensed in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Tell us what you need covered and we will shop it across dozens of carriers.