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What to Do After a Hit-and-Run in Austin
A hit-and-run in Austin is both a crime and a coverage problem. The driver who left the scene violated Tex. Transp. Code § 550.022, which is a separate criminal offense the responding Austin Police Department officer will investigate. From the injury-claim side, your own uninsured-motorist coverage steps into the gap left by the missing driver, but activating it requires a police report on file within the first few days, and recovering anything beyond UM limits requires identifying the driver, which is an evidence problem that gets harder by the hour.
Report it to APD immediately: § 550.022 makes it mandatory
Tex. Transp. Code § 550.022 requires drivers involved in any crash with personal injury or vehicle damage to stop, render aid, and exchange information. Leaving the scene is a criminal offense, a felony if anyone was injured. Call 911 from the scene if you can; the responding APD officer creates a CR-3 report that anchors the entire downstream claim. If you left the scene yourself to get medical care, file the report at the nearest APD substation or online the same day. UM carriers want to see a police report on file within 24 to 72 hours of the crash, and gaps in that timeline become arguments against coverage later. The Travis County District Attorney's office prosecutes the criminal side; your civil claim runs separately but draws on the same investigation.
Activate your uninsured-motorist coverage, and understand what it covers
If you carry uninsured/underinsured-motorist (UM/UIM) coverage on your auto policy, a hit-and-run by an unidentified driver activates the UM portion. UM coverage in Texas is required to be offered but can be rejected in writing; many people sign the rejection without realizing what they are giving up. Pull your declarations page. If you have UM, your own carrier steps into the role of the missing at-fault driver up to your policy limits. Notify your carrier within the timeframe your policy specifies (usually 30 days or 'as soon as practicable') and keep that notification in writing. If you have stacked or multi-vehicle coverage, the limits may be higher than the single-vehicle number suggests.
Preserve scene evidence: paint, debris, and the cameras nobody owns
Identifying the driver who left is the single highest-leverage thing that can happen on a hit-and-run file. Photograph paint transfer on your vehicle from multiple angles before any repair work begins; color, height, and texture of the transfer often identify the make and model of the striking vehicle. Photograph debris at the scene: broken trim pieces, mirror housings, and headlight glass often carry part numbers traceable to a specific vehicle. Note the direction the striking vehicle fled. Then move fast on cameras: Austin's downtown core, major arterials like Lamar and Riverside, and most commercial corridors have private surveillance — gas stations, convenience stores, parking garages, doorbell cameras — with retention windows often as short as 7 to 14 days. TxDOT and City of Austin traffic-management cameras may have footage but most are live-feed only and do not retain recordings.
Travis County investigative resources, and what to ask APD
APD's Vehicular Homicide and Crashes Unit handles serious hit-and-run investigations within Austin city limits; Travis County Sheriff's Office handles incidents in unincorporated areas. Ask the responding officer for the case number and the assigned detective's contact if the case is referred for follow-up. Provide your photos, witness contacts, and any partial plate information promptly. Surveillance footage gathered by APD as part of the criminal investigation often becomes available through civil discovery later, but you will move faster, and preserve more, by chasing private footage yourself with a preservation letter from counsel in the first week. If the driver is identified through APD's investigation, your civil claim moves from UM-only to a direct claim against that driver's policy.
Frequently asked
Questions Texas accident victims ask us
- Under Tex. Transp. Code § 550.022, a driver involved in a crash that results in injury or vehicle damage must stop at the scene, render reasonable aid, and exchange information. Leaving the scene without doing those things is a criminal offense: a felony of the third degree if anyone was injured, and a higher-grade felony if anyone was killed. The civil claim is separate from the criminal case but the police investigation often produces evidence that becomes central to the civil recovery.
- Yes. Call 911 from the scene if you can. If you had to leave for medical care, file the report at an APD substation or online the same day. A timely police report is essential both for the criminal investigation and for your UM coverage; your own carrier will expect to see a CR-3 report on file within the first few days, and gaps in that timeline produce coverage arguments later.
- UM/UIM coverage on a Texas auto policy compensates you when the at-fault driver is uninsured, underinsured, or — as in a hit-and-run — unidentified. Texas insurers are required to offer UM coverage but you can reject it in writing, and many drivers sign the rejection without realizing what it gives up. Check your declarations page. If you have UM, it steps into the role of the missing driver up to your limits. If you do not, the resources available on the file shrink considerably unless the driver is later identified.
- Photograph paint transfer on your vehicle from multiple angles before any repair work. Collect debris at the scene — broken trim, mirror housings, headlight glass — which can carry part numbers traceable to a specific vehicle make and model. Note direction of travel of the fleeing vehicle, any partial plate information, color, body style, and any distinguishing features. Get witness names and phone numbers immediately because bystanders disappear within minutes. Photograph the scene wide and close before vehicles or debris are moved.
- Private surveillance retention varies: many gas stations and convenience stores overwrite within 7 to 14 days, some retain 30, a few longer. Doorbell cameras typically retain on cloud subscription tiers with widely varying windows. The municipal and TxDOT traffic-management cameras in Austin are largely live-feed and do not retain recordings. A preservation letter to nearby businesses in the first week is the only reliable way to lock in footage before it overwrites.
- Texas law restricts insurers from raising rates based on a claim where you were not at fault, and a hit-and-run UM claim by definition is a no-fault situation as to you. The carrier may use the claim in renewal underwriting in limited ways, but a UM recovery is not the same as an at-fault accident on your record. Concerns about premium impact should not stop you from activating coverage you have already paid for.
- If APD identifies the at-fault driver through their investigation, your civil claim shifts from a UM-only claim against your own carrier to a direct claim against the identified driver's policy, while keeping the UM coverage available if the at-fault policy is inadequate. The criminal case proceeds separately through the Travis County DA's office and does not depend on your civil case, though evidence developed in one often becomes available in the other.
- Generally not without a careful read. Your own UM carrier is contractually obligated to act in good faith but is still on the hook for the dollars it pays, and first offers reflect that. Texas case law recognizes a separate cause of action for UM bad-faith claims handling when a carrier denies or undervalues a clear claim. Evaluate the offer against the medical record, your provable damages, and the full UM limits available before agreeing to anything.
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