What happens if a hit-and-run driver injured my Kalamazoo employee and nobody got the plate?

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Accepted Answer

The part that surprises most employers: no plate does not automatically kill the claim in Michigan. It just shifts the fight to your own insurance, the employee's no-fault options, and proof.

Three things decide what happens next:

What vehicle your employee was using and what coverage exists

If your employee was driving a company vehicle in Kalamazoo, your commercial auto policy may have UM coverage if you bought it. Michigan does not force insurers to include uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, so if you did not pay for it, it may not be there.

If your employee was a pedestrian, on a job site near a school zone, or outside the vehicle, Michigan's no-fault priority rules matter. They may claim PIP benefits through their own auto insurer, a spouse or resident relative's insurer, or the insurer for the vehicle involved. If no insurer applies, they may have to go through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan.

Whether workers' comp is in play

If this happened while your employee was working, workers' compensation usually covers medical care and wage loss first, even if the driver vanished. That protects the employee fast, but it does not replace a UM claim for pain and suffering or excess losses if UM coverage exists.

For you, that means a comp claim can happen even when the at-fault driver is unknown. Your comp premiums may still feel it.

How fast the crash was reported and documented

This is where hit-and-run cases live or die. Many UM policies require prompt notice, often a police report within 24 hours or "as soon as practicable." In Kalamazoo, that means reporting to Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety or Michigan State Police immediately.

Michigan no-fault has a one-year deadline to claim PIP benefits. UM deadlines are usually contract deadlines, sometimes much shorter than lawsuits. Photos, witnesses, bus-stop cameras, school security footage, and 911 logs matter a lot more when nobody got the plate.

If the wreck happened during a whiteout-type burst on I-96 or US-31, insurers will attack identification and causation hard. That is exactly why the first report and scene evidence matter so much.