What Uninsured Motorist Coverage Actually Pays
Uninsured motorist coverage pays your medical bills, lost wages, and injury-related expenses when another driver causes a crash and carries no liability insurance. It also covers you when the at-fault driver flees the scene and cannot be identified. Wyoming does not require you to carry it, but 6.7% of Wyoming drivers are uninsured as of 2023, meaning roughly 1 in 15 drivers on the road has no coverage to pay your claim.
The coverage steps in only after you confirm the other driver has no insurance or cannot be located. Your own UM policy becomes the substitute for the liability coverage the other driver should have carried. It does not pay for your vehicle damage — that falls to collision coverage or the other driver's property damage liability if they have it.
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Get Your Free QuoteWyoming Uninsured Driver Rate
6.7%
As of 2023, 6.7% of Wyoming motorists drive without insurance. That translates to roughly 28,900 uninsured drivers among the state's 431,900 licensed drivers, creating a measurable gap in available liability coverage after a crash.
Insurance Information Institute, 2023
Wyoming Allows You to Reject UM Coverage
Wyoming law does not mandate uninsured motorist coverage. Carriers must offer it when you buy a policy, but you can reject it in writing. Most insurers require a signed rejection form; without that signature, the coverage stays on your policy by default. If you rejected it years ago and now want to add it, contact your carrier — you can add UM coverage at any renewal or mid-term by request.
The rejection is policy-specific. If you combine two household policies or add a vehicle to a new policy, the carrier will offer UM coverage again. Each policy formation triggers a new offer-and-rejection cycle. Rejecting coverage on one policy does not carry forward to the next.
When you carry UM coverage, Wyoming allows you to choose limits that match or exceed your liability limits. Higher limits cost more but close the gap when the other driver's liability coverage would have been insufficient even if they had carried it.
Wyoming does not require UM coverage, but rejecting it leaves you with no substitute when the at-fault driver has no insurance to pay your injury claim.
What UM Coverage Does Not Pay
UM coverage does not pay to repair your vehicle. Vehicle damage falls to collision coverage on your own policy, or to the other driver's property damage liability if they carry it. If the other driver is uninsured and you do not carry collision, you pay out of pocket to repair your car. Some states offer uninsured motorist property damage coverage to close that gap; Wyoming does not mandate it, and not all carriers writing in Wyoming offer it as an add-on.
UM coverage also does not pay when the other driver carries liability insurance but their limits are too low to cover your full claim. That scenario triggers underinsured motorist coverage, a separate product you buy alongside UM. Underinsured motorist coverage pays the difference between what the other driver's liability pays and what your injuries actually cost, up to your UM/UIM policy limit. Most carriers bundle UM and UIM together as a single line item on your policy; when you see "UM/UIM" listed, both coverages are active.
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How UM Coverage Works After a Crash
After a crash, you file a claim with the other driver's liability carrier if they have one. If they do not, or if they fled and cannot be identified, you file a UM claim with your own carrier. Your insurer investigates to confirm the other driver was uninsured and at fault. Wyoming is an at-fault state, so the other driver's negligence must be established before your UM coverage pays.
Your carrier pays your medical bills, lost income, and injury-related costs up to your UM policy limit. If your injuries exceed that limit, you pay the remainder out of pocket unless you carry higher UM limits. The process mirrors a liability claim, except your own insurer is the payor. You do not pay a deductible for UM injury claims — the coverage pays from the first dollar.
If the other driver is later identified and found to have assets, your carrier may subrogate: they recover what they paid from the at-fault driver and reimburse you for any out-of-pocket costs you covered beyond your UM limit. Subrogation is not guaranteed and depends on whether the other driver has recoverable assets.
Wyoming Minimum Liability Limits
$25,000 / $50,000
Wyoming requires $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in bodily injury liability, plus $20,000 in property damage liability. UM coverage limits typically match or exceed these minimums, but you choose your own UM limits when you buy the coverage.
Wyoming Department of Transportation
UM Coverage and Multi-Vehicle Households
When you insure multiple vehicles on one Wyoming policy, UM coverage applies per person injured, not per vehicle. If two household members are injured in the same crash caused by an uninsured driver, each person's claim is subject to the per-person UM limit, and the combined claims cannot exceed the per-accident limit.
Stacking UM coverage — combining limits across multiple vehicles to create a higher total — is not standard practice in Wyoming. Most carriers write UM coverage on a per-policy basis, not per vehicle. If you want higher UM protection for a multi-vehicle household, buy higher per-person and per-accident limits rather than assuming the limits multiply by the number of cars on the policy.
Compare Carriers That Write UM Coverage in Wyoming
Not every carrier writing in Wyoming offers identical UM coverage structures. Some bundle UM and UIM automatically; others require you to request UIM separately. Some allow you to buy UM limits higher than your liability limits; others cap UM at your liability limit. Allstate, Farmers, Geico, Progressive, State Farm, and USAA all write policies in Wyoming and offer UM/UIM coverage, but the pricing and limit options vary by carrier. Request quotes that include UM coverage at the limits you want, then compare the total premium across carriers. The UM add is typically a modest percentage of your liability premium, but the percentage varies by carrier and by your driving history.