Do I Need Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

KRS 304.20-020 requires automobile liability policies issued on Kentucky-registered or principally garaged vehicles to include uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, in the limits set by KRS 304.39-110, unless a named insured rejects that coverage in writing. The coverage pays people insured under the policy who are legally entitled to recover from an uninsured owner or operator for bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage Requirements

Kentucky uninsured motorist coverage follows the state’s minimum bodily injury limits. KRS 304.39-110 sets split limits of $25,000 for one person and $50,000 for all persons injured in one accident, plus $25,000 for property damage. Uninsured motorist coverage under KRS 304.20-020 tracks the bodily injury figures, not the property damage figure. A single-limit policy of $60,000 is the other statutory way to meet minimum security. The history of those limits is covered in Kentucky’s minimum insurance limits.

The same statute treats some insured vehicles as uninsured. If the other driver’s liability insurer is insolvent, denies coverage, or carries bodily injury limits below KRS 304.39-110, that vehicle can fall inside the uninsured motorist definition. Protection against an insurer’s insolvency applies only when the at-fault driver’s insurer becomes insolvent within one year after an accident that happened while the uninsured motorist coverage was in effect.

Written Rejection Requirement

A named insured can remove uninsured motorist coverage only by rejecting it in writing. KRS 304.20-020 states that “any named insured shall have the right to reject in writing such coverage,” and the rejection is valid for every insured on the policy. An oral request, an agent’s note, or silence on the declarations page does not meet the statutory writing requirement.

Once a named insured has rejected the coverage in writing, the same insurer and its affiliates need not add it to a renewal, reinstatement, substitute, replacement, or amended policy unless a named insured requests it in writing. Restoring uninsured motorist coverage takes a written request. The next renewal does not put it back automatically.

Uninsured Drivers in Kentucky

An estimated 14.1% of Kentucky motorists were uninsured in 2023, ranking Kentucky 20th among the states. The Insurance Information Institute publishes those Insurance Research Council estimates, along with a countrywide rate of 15.4% for the same year. The estimate is a ratio of uninsured motorist claims to bodily injury claim frequencies, not a count of registered vehicles without coverage.

Those figures explain why the General Assembly made uninsured motorist coverage the default. They do not set the price of a particular policy, and the premium varies by carrier, limits, and household.

Coverage After Rejection

A written rejection removes first-party bodily injury coverage for crashes with an uninsured driver. Without it, an injured occupant has no uninsured motorist coverage to claim when the other driver has no liability insurance, or when the other insurer denies coverage or becomes insolvent inside the statutory window. Basic PIP still pays economic loss up to $10,000 under KRS 304.39-020, but it does not pay pain and suffering and is not a substitute for uninsured motorist coverage.

After an uninsured motorist insurer pays a claim, KRS 304.20-020 entitles it to the proceeds of any settlement or judgment the insured later obtains against the person who caused the injury, up to the amount it paid.

Uninsured Versus Underinsured Coverage

Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the other driver has no liability coverage, or coverage that is denied, insolvent, or below the state minimum. Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the other driver carries liability insurance that is still too small to pay the judgment. Under KRS 304.39-320, every insurer must make underinsured motorist coverage available to its insureds on request. It is a separate coverage, and a rejection of uninsured motorist coverage says nothing about underinsured coverage. Underinsured motorist claims in Kentucky covers how those claims proceed.

The claims-handling statute that governs how an insurer investigates an uninsured motorist claim is explained in unfair claims and settlement practices.