Hit-and-run accidents in Massachusetts: how insurance and PIP respond when the other driver flees.

What actually pays when the other driver flees

Two separate coverages respond to a hit-and-run in Massachusetts, and they answer different questions. Personal Injury Protection pays for your accident-related medical treatment and a portion of lost wages regardless of fault, because Massachusetts runs a no-fault system; PIP responds “no matter who causes the accident,” which is exactly why it pays out even when the at-fault driver is never identified. PIP covers all reasonable expenses incurred within two years after the crash for necessary medical treatment, and the statutory limit is $8,000 per person per accident, a figure that includes up to 75% of lost wages and replacement services within that same cap.

The second coverage, Bodily Injury Caused by Uninsured Auto, is the one that specifically contemplates a driver who can’t be found. Mass.gov describes it plainly: this coverage “pays for your injuries caused by an uninsured or unidentified (‘hit and run’) driver.” You’re required to carry at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident of this coverage, and it’s the piece you’d turn to once your injury costs exceed what PIP pays. Between the two, most hit-and-run injury claims in Massachusetts get resolved without ever needing to identify the driver who caused them.

The five-day reporting requirement you can’t skip

M.G.L. c.90 §26 requires the operator of any vehicle involved in a crash that injures or kills someone, or causes more than $1,000 in damage to a vehicle or other property, to file a written report with the Registrar within five days, with a copy sent to the police department where the crash happened. That’s the general rule. The statute carves out hit-and-runs specifically: a local police department is required to accept a crash report from an owner or operator whose vehicle was damaged by someone who unlawfully left the scene, even when the damage is under $1,000. Mass.gov confirms the same exception in its own guidance.

The form is the Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report, and it’s free to file. Once completed, it goes to three recipients: the local police department or state police covering the crash location, your own insurance company, and the RMV’s Crash Records unit. If you’re physically incapable of filing within the window, the requirement is suspended until you can; if the owner isn’t the operator and the operator is incapacitated, the owner has to file within five days based on whatever they know. The Registrar can require a supplemented report and has authority to suspend or revoke the license of anyone who doesn’t comply. This isn’t a step to defer.

Filing the claim: PIP first, then uninsured motorist

Once the report is filed, the claims sequence is straightforward. Notify your insurer promptly; the RMV report you send them starts that conversation. PIP is typically the first coverage to engage, since it pays medical and wage-loss benefits without any determination of fault. Keep in mind that under G.L. c.90 §34M, PIP benefits are granted “in lieu of damages otherwise recoverable” in tort, meaning PIP substitutes for part of what you might otherwise sue for rather than simply adding to it.

If your injury costs run past the $8,000 PIP ceiling, or if you’re pursuing damages PIP doesn’t reach, the uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage is the next claim to open, since the driver who caused your injuries is, by definition, unidentified and treated as uninsured for this purpose. Your insurer can require you to sit for an examination under oath if the request is reasonable; that right isn’t unlimited in time, but it is a real part of how insurers verify hit-and-run claims where there’s no other driver to corroborate the story.

Coordinating uninsured motorist benefits across household policies

Household coverage rules matter more than most drivers realize. If you’re injured in a hit-and-run and your own auto policy doesn’t name you as an insured, G.L. c.175 §113L lets you recover uninsured motorist benefits only from a resident relative’s policy, specifically the one with the highest applicable limit. If two or more household policies happen to carry the same limit, they contribute pro rata rather than one paying in full.

The same statute contains a trap worth knowing. If you’re hurt while occupying your own vehicle that’s registered for highway use but doesn’t carry the coverage required under §34A, you’re barred from recovering uninsured motorist benefits under that section entirely. Letting your own required coverage lapse doesn’t just risk fines; it can cost you the exact benefit designed to help you in a hit-and-run. For a fuller walkthrough of how these limits interact, see /guides/massachusetts-uninsured-underinsured-motorist/.

What happens to your car: collision, comprehensive, and the property damage gap

Damage to your vehicle is where a hit-and-run creates a real coverage gap. Property damage liability, the mandatory “Damage to Someone Else’s Property” coverage, is what pays for repairs to your car when another driver is at fault, but that coverage lives on the other driver’s policy and only becomes available once that driver is identified and confirmed to carry it. Until then, it isn’t reachable.

What actually pays for your car in the meantime is whatever optional collision or comprehensive coverage you purchased yourself. Mass.gov describes these as coverages that pay when you’re at fault, or when something like an animal or falling branch damages your car; because they’re optional, the insurer has no obligation to pay for damage to your own vehicle without them. Any deductible you selected, glass or otherwise, will be on your declarations page, and the standard optional comprehensive offer under the Consumer Bill of Rights carries a $500 deductible unless you’ve chosen something different. If your car ends up a total loss from a hit-and-run impact, the valuation process works the same as any other total loss claim; see /guides/massachusetts-total-loss-car-insurance/ for how insurers calculate that number.

The July 2025 minimum-coverage change and why PIP didn’t move

Chapter 275 of the Acts of 2024 amended the financial-responsibility requirements in G.L. c.90 §34A, raising several compulsory minimums for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025. Bodily Injury to Others rose to $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, Bodily Injury Caused by Uninsured Auto rose to the same 25/50 structure, and Damage to Someone Else’s Property rose to $30,000 per accident. Mass.gov’s own summary of state auto insurance law confirms these are now the operative minimums for anything written or renewed after that date, making older, lower minimums obsolete going forward.

Personal Injury Protection was left untouched by that same act and remains at $8,000 per person. That matters because the injury benefit that responds automatically and fastest to a hit-and-run hasn’t kept pace with the liability-side increases; readers relying on PIP alone for a serious injury should check whether their uninsured motorist limits, now higher by law, sit above the new floor. A renewal is the natural point to check this; see /guides/massachusetts-auto-insurance-requirements-and-laws/ for the full rundown of what’s compulsory today.

Will a hit-and-run claim raise your rates, and can the insurer recover later

A common worry is that filing a hit-and-run claim will surcharge your policy the way an at-fault accident would. It generally doesn’t work that way. Insurers only have to report to the Merit Rating Board accidents where they pay more than $1,000 in claims on an at-fault basis against you. A PIP or uninsured motorist payout made to you as the person who was hit isn’t an at-fault claim against you, so it shouldn’t trigger the same surcharge exposure that a chargeable accident would. For more on how that distinction plays out on your record, see /guides/massachusetts-merit-rating-explained/.

There’s a second wrinkle. If your insurer pays your uninsured motorist claim and the fleeing driver is later identified and found liable, G.L. c.175 §113L gives your insurer the right to recoup its payout from any settlement or judgment you later obtain against that driver, up to the amount it paid you. That’s a standard subrogation mechanism, not a penalty, but it means an identified hit-and-run driver doesn’t get you a second, separate recovery on top of what your insurer already covered.