The vast majority of states mandate that every single driver have car insurance, and this usually precedes your being able to register your vehicle. There are still a few states, however, where auto insurance is not required. Or perhaps you have let your policy lapse in a state that does require insurance. If you are in either situation, what happens if you get into a car accident? Keep reading to find out.

If you live in a "fault" state, your case will be a straightforward one if the other driver is responsible for the crash. This will be the same process as if you were insured, because you would not need to collect compensation from your own insurance anyway. You would be contacting the other driver's insurance, and you would file any damage or injury claims with that other person's insurer.

What if you live in a "no-fault" state and the other driver is the one to blame for the accident? Under a no-fault insurance policy, your own company would pay a portion of your medical expenses if you were in a collision, and it would not matter if you were at fault. Of course, this is if you are insured. Now, if you were rear-ended, or the other driver violated a traffic law, then you might still be able to file a claim so that you can collect compensation for your damages. You would file this claim against the other driver. Still, if you are uninsured, you will not be able to collect from the other person's insurance; your own policy is supposed to cover you in no-fault states after all. The kind of claim you could file against the other person would be a personal injury lawsuit, which has absolutely nothing to do with who has insurance or not.

Now what if you are at fault for the accident? If you do not have insurance, then regardless of any state laws, you are in a tight spot. You have to answer when the other driver asks for insurance information, else you could just aggravate the issue. You will have to admit that you are not covered by any insurer. In that case, the other driver would file a claim with their own insurer, an uninsured motorist claim, to get the compensation they need after an accident.

Then their insurer might sue you for the amount it gave in compensation to the other driver. This type of lawsuit is a subrogation case. Chances are, you will not have to pay the full amount being asked of you; the insurer likely knows that you cannot. But they want something from you. You will end up paying. Even if you avoid trial, you will have to pay off some of this amount in a settlement. And even if you were not entirely at fault, you could still be subject to this lawsuit. You would probably only find yourself with this suit in the first place if you were blatantly at fault anyway, such as in a rear-end accident.

That not only leaves you without any compensation at all for your medical expenses, lost wages, and vehicle damage, but it means you have to pay some of the other driver's losses. Even if it is not illegal to drive without insurance in your state, it is a horrible idea to do so. You run a great risk if you drive without coverage.

If you need to understand the laws in your area, or to find sufficient car insurance, or to fight for full compensation after a crash, contact an experienced car accident lawyer. You can use our directory to find this qualified legal expert today.