Delaware Uninsured Motorist Laws: Limits, Claims, and Arbitration

Delaware uninsured motorist laws require every auto insurance policy sold in the state to include uninsured motorist (UM) coverage at the state’s minimum liability limits, and you can only drop that coverage by signing a written rejection on a form your insurer provides.¹ With roughly 18 percent of Delaware drivers carrying no insurance at all, the coverage pays for your injuries and vehicle damage when the person who hits you has no policy, or not enough coverage to make you whole.

What Delaware Requires in Every Policy

No insurer in Delaware can issue a motor vehicle liability policy without UM coverage attached. The only exit is a written rejection signed by the named insured on a specific form the insurer supplies.² That rejection then carries forward through renewals, reinstatements, and transfers with the same insurer. You don’t re-sign it every year, but if you want the coverage added back, you have to ask in writing.

If an insurer never obtained a proper written rejection, UM coverage is treated as part of the policy by operation of law. Disputes over whether the rejection form was adequate are a recurring source of insurance litigation in Delaware, so the paperwork matters.

Minimum Limits and the Option to Buy More

UM coverage must match at least Delaware’s minimum liability amounts: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $10,000 for property damage.³ Property damage under UM carries a default $250 deductible per accident, though you and your insurer can agree in writing to a different amount.²

Those minimums are a floor. A serious accident can run through $25,000 in medical bills before you leave the hospital. Your insurer must offer the option to raise UM bodily injury limits as high as $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, with one restriction: your UM limits can’t exceed your own liability limits.² If you carry $100,000/$300,000 in liability, you can match that on the UM side.

When Underinsured Motorist Coverage Kicks In

Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is folded into the additional coverage your insurer must offer. When you accept higher UM limits, the policy extends to accidents where the at-fault driver has some insurance but not enough to cover your actual damages.² A vehicle counts as “underinsured” when the total bodily injury limits on all policies covering it are less than the damages you actually suffered.

One detail trips people up: your UIM insurer owes nothing until the at-fault driver’s insurance has been fully exhausted through settlement or judgment.² If the other driver carries $25,000 and your damages come to $80,000, you have to collect that $25,000 first. Only then does your UIM coverage pay. Settling with the at-fault insurer for less than the full policy limit without consulting your own carrier can jeopardize the UIM claim, so coordinate before you sign anything.

Hit-and-Run and Phantom Vehicle Claims

UM coverage reaches hit-and-run accidents, but the rules narrow when the other vehicle can’t be identified. If a hit-and-run driver physically contacts you or your vehicle and then flees, a UM claim is available even though the driver is unknown. The law also covers “noncontact” accidents, where a phantom vehicle forces you to swerve or crash without touching your car, but only if the identity of both the driver and the vehicle owner are unknown.²

Whether or not contact occurred, you must report the accident to the police and notify your insurer within 30 days, or as soon as reasonably possible after that.² Skipping the police report or sitting on the notice gives the company grounds to deny the claim.

You Can’t Stack UM Limits Across Vehicles

If you insure more than one vehicle, you might assume the UM limits combine. Delaware law prevents it. When two or more household vehicles are insured by the same company or affiliated insurers, the UM limits apply separately to each vehicle on the declarations page, but your total recovery from a single accident cannot exceed the highest limit on any one vehicle.²

So if you carry $50,000 per accident on each of three vehicles, your ceiling for any one accident is $50,000, not $150,000. The practical takeaway: buy the highest UM limits you can afford on at least one policy rather than spreading minimum coverage across several cars.

Filing a Claim Against Your Own Insurer

When an uninsured or underinsured driver causes the crash, the claim goes to your own insurance company. That creates an awkward dynamic. The company you pay premiums to is the same entity that will pay less the more it can shrink your claim. Approach it as a negotiation from day one.

Report the accident promptly, inside the 30-day window the statute references for hit-and-run claims if that applies. Delaware courts have scrutinized delays even outside that specific window. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Johnson, the Delaware Supreme Court found that a 34-week delay in reporting was not reasonable, even though the insured believed the accident might not be covered.⁴ The court rejected several excuses, including informal legal advice and reassurances from the other party’s family. A follow-up ruling added an important limit: before an insurer can deny a claim for late notice, it must show the delay actually prejudiced it. Late notice alone is not automatically fatal.⁵

Build the file from the beginning. Get the police report, photograph the scene and the damage, keep every medical bill and treatment record, and document lost wages. Thorough records leave the insurer less room to undervalue the claim.

Arbitration and the 30-Day Appeal

If your insurer denies the claim or offers a settlement you believe is too low, Delaware law allows the dispute to proceed to arbitration. Either side can then appeal the arbitration decision to Superior Court, not the Court of Chancery, which handles equity rather than insurance matters.

The appeal window is short and unforgiving. In Simpson v. State Farm Insurance Company, the Delaware Superior Court dismissed a policyholder’s complaint because she waited more than three months to challenge an unfavorable arbitration ruling. The court held the 30-day statutory deadline for filing an appeal is fixed, and missing it costs you jurisdiction entirely.⁶ If you receive an arbitration decision you plan to challenge, calendar that 30-day deadline the day you get it.

Contingency fee arrangements with Delaware insurance attorneys are common in these cases, typically running from one-third to 40 percent of the recovery, which means no legal fees upfront.

Deadlines to Watch in One Place

Several timing requirements overlap in a Delaware UM claim, and missing any one of them can end the claim:

Police report: file immediately after any hit-and-run or accident involving an uninsured driver. The statute requires it for hit-and-run UM claims, and the absence of a report weakens any claim.
Insurer notification: notify your insurance company within 30 days of the accident, or as soon as practicable. Courts will examine the reasonableness of any delay.⁴
Statute of limitations: Delaware’s general statute of limitations for personal injury claims is two years from the date of injury. Your UM policy may impose its own contractual deadline that is shorter, so read the policy language carefully.
Arbitration appeal: 30 days from the arbitration decision to file in Superior Court.⁶

How UM Coverage Interacts With PIP

Delaware also requires all registered vehicles to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) with minimums of $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident.³ PIP is no-fault, so it pays your medical expenses and lost earnings regardless of who caused the accident, and it moves faster than a UM claim because fault doesn’t have to be established first.

When an uninsured driver hits you, PIP usually covers the initial medical bills while the UM claim unfolds. The two serve different purposes. PIP handles immediate medical costs and lost wages up to its limits. UM coverage compensates you for the full range of damages you’re legally entitled to recover from the at-fault driver, including pain and suffering. They work in sequence, not as substitutes.

1
Justia. Delaware Code 18-3902 – Uninsured and Underinsured Vehicle Coverage; Insolvency of Insurer
2
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 18 – Casualty Insurance Contracts – Section: 3902. Uninsured and Underinsured Vehicle Coverage; Insolvency of Insurer
3
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Vehicle Services Registration – Section: Insurance Requirements
4
Justia. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Johnson
5
Justia. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Johnson – Supplemental Opinion
6
Justia. Simpson v. State Farm Insurance Company