I was hit on the Boulder Turnpike and the other driver took off. What happens if they are never found?
Your own uninsured motorist coverage is what protects you when the driver is never identified. In Colorado, UM coverage applies to hit-and-run crashes, and it is built into every auto policy unless you rejected it in writing under C.R.S. 10-4-609. That means you can still recover medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering through your own carrier even if the car is never located.
Report it immediately. Crashes on US 36 are typically handled by Colorado State Patrol rather than Boulder Police, and a prompt report is often a condition of UM coverage. Notify your own insurer right away as well, because your policy has its own notice requirements that run separately from the three-year filing deadline.
Then work the evidence while it exists. A partial plate, vehicle color, body style, and the side and height of the damage all narrow the field. Businesses and residences along the corridor may have cameras, and CDOT operates traffic cameras on the turnpike. Footage is usually overwritten within days, so preservation requests need to go out fast.
The driver who hit me had minimum coverage and my bills are already higher than that. What happens now?
Your own underinsured motorist coverage is designed for exactly this gap. Colorado’s minimum liability limits are 25/50/15, meaning a driver carrying the state minimum has $25,000 available for one person’s injuries. When your damages exceed that, UIM on your own policy pays the difference up to your limits.
Check your declarations page, because this coverage is often there when people assume it is not. Colorado insurers must offer UM and UIM at limits matching your bodily injury liability coverage, and it can only be rejected in writing under C.R.S. 10-4-609. Your policy also likely includes at least $5,000 in medical payments coverage, which is required to be included unless you rejected it in writing under C.R.S. 10-4-635, and MedPay pays regardless of fault.
Sequence matters here. Do not settle with the at-fault driver’s carrier before notifying your own UIM carrier, because UIM policies commonly require notice and consent before you release the at-fault driver. Settling first can forfeit the coverage you are counting on.
I do not have health insurance. Who pays my medical bills while my case is open?
Several sources can cover treatment while a claim is pending, and the at-fault driver’s insurer is not one of them. That carrier does not pay as you go. It pays once, at the end, in a lump sum.
Start with medical payments coverage on your own auto policy. Colorado requires insurers to include at least $5,000 in MedPay unless you rejected it in writing under C.R.S. 10-4-635, and it pays your treatment regardless of who caused the crash. Many people have it without realizing it. Beyond that, some providers will treat on a lien or a letter of protection, agreeing to wait for payment out of the eventual settlement, though access to that depends heavily on the provider and on how the case looks.
What you should not do is stop treating. Gaps in treatment are the single most common reason a legitimate claim gets devalued, because an insurer reads a two-month gap as evidence you recovered. If cost is the reason you are considering stopping, that is a problem to solve, not a reason to disappear from the medical record.
Workers comp is covering me, but I was hit by another driver while on the clock. Can I pursue both?
Yes. Workers compensation and a third-party claim against the at-fault driver run in parallel, and pursuing both is standard practice rather than double dipping.
They cover different things. Workers comp pays medical treatment and a portion of wages regardless of who caused the crash, but it does not pay for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment, or the full value of your lost income. A claim against the driver who hit you covers that broader range of damages. That is why the comp benefits alone usually leave a real gap.
The coordination point is the lien. Your employer’s comp carrier will assert a right to be reimbursed out of any recovery you obtain from the at-fault driver, and how that lien is negotiated materially affects what actually reaches you. Also check whether the vehicle you were in carried uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, since commercial and employer-owned policies frequently do and that coverage matters if the at-fault driver carried minimum limits.
My Lyft driver was between rides when he hit me. Does Lyft still cover it?
Usually yes, but at much lower limits. Colorado ties rideshare coverage to what the app was doing at the moment of impact. When a driver is logged in but has not accepted a ride, C.R.S. 40-10.1-604 requires $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident, and $30,000 for property damage. Once a ride is accepted or a passenger is aboard, the requirement jumps to at least $1 million.
That difference makes the app status the central fact of your case, and it is a fact the carrier controls. Trip logs and app data establish whether the driver had accepted a request in the seconds before the crash. A written preservation request to the rideshare company early is the practical step, because this data is not something you can reconstruct later.
Watch for a coverage denial built on the driver’s personal policy. Most personal auto policies exclude use while logged into a rideshare platform, so the driver’s own insurer may deny while the company’s carrier argues the driver was offline. That gap is where these claims stall, and if the available limits do not cover your damages, your own underinsured motorist coverage is the next layer. Notify that carrier before settling with anyone.
I drive for Uber and got hit while I was logged in waiting for a ride request. What coverage applies to me?
The lower tier. When you are logged in and waiting for a request, Colorado requires $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident, and $30,000 in property damage under C.R.S. 40-10.1-604, rather than the $1 million that applies once a ride is accepted.
Your personal policy is the gap most drivers discover at the worst moment. Standard personal auto policies exclude use while logged into a rideshare platform, so unless you carry a rideshare endorsement or a commercial policy, your own insurer may deny coverage for the same period the company treats as the minimum tier.
Your recovery does not stop at those limits, though. If another driver caused the crash, their liability coverage is your primary source and the rideshare tier matters far less. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can also apply, subject to the same rideshare exclusion question, which is worth checking on your declarations page rather than assuming. There is also a workers compensation question depending on how your work is classified, which is worth asking rather than assuming rideshare drivers are categorically excluded.