In the first 24 hours after a hit-and-run in Houston, make sure you are safe, call 911 if anyone is hurt, report the crash to police, write down everything you can about the other vehicle, look for video and witnesses, and then tell your own insurer. The police report is not a formality: Texas law requires an immediate report after a crash with an injury, and the Texas Department of Insurance says uninsured motorist coverage does not respond to a hit-and-run that police were never told about.
The short version
- Safety, then 911. Move out of traffic if you can, and call 911 for any injury. Houston’s non-emergency police line for locations inside the city limits is (713) 884-3131 (Houston Police Department, “How to Contact HPD”).
- Report it. A driver in a crash that injures someone, or disables a vehicle, must notify police immediately (Transportation Code § 550.026(a)).
- Record the other vehicle. Plate (even part of one), make, color, damage, direction, and any odd feature. Then ask nearby businesses and homes about cameras.
- Tell your own insurer promptly. The Texas Department of Insurance says to report the accident to your company as soon as possible and to send it a copy of the police report.
- Physical contact decides one coverage. For an unknown driver, uninsured motorist recovery requires that “actual physical contact must have occurred” (Insurance Code § 1952.104(3)).
What should you do in the first minutes after a hit-and-run in Houston?
Check yourself and your passengers, get out of the lane of traffic if you can do it safely, and call 911 if anyone is hurt or the road is blocked. Do not chase the other driver. Everything you need from the other vehicle can be written down or reported while you wait for police.
Chasing a car that has just left risks a second crash and gains nothing a plate number and a police report would not. If you are hurt, accept the ambulance even if the injury seems minor, because those records start the documentation of your injuries. Police do ask the public for help in these cases: an ABC13 report from June 2024 on a Museum District hit-and-run that killed one man and seriously injured two others described a driver who left the scene and police asking for tips about an older tan sedan.
On a freeway, note the direction of travel and the nearest exit. Two of our articles cover I-45 crashes and Houston’s most dangerous roads.
How do you report a hit-and-run to Houston police?
Call 911 if anyone is injured or in danger. For a crash inside Houston city limits with no emergency, the Houston Police Department takes non-emergency calls at (713) 884-3131. Outside the city, report to the local police department or the sheriff, as the Texas statute directs.
Transportation Code § 550.026(a) tells a driver in a crash that hurts or kills someone, or disables a vehicle, to give notice “immediately by the quickest means of communication.” Inside a municipality the notice goes to the local police department; up to 100 feet outside one, to the local police or the sheriff; elsewhere, to the sheriff or the nearest state department office. The text is on the Legislature’s site for Transportation Code chapter 550.
Ask the responding officer for a report or incident number and write down the officer’s name and badge number. The Texas Department of Insurance advises this: filing usually takes a few days, and your insurer will want a copy. The state insurance department spells out what skipping the report costs, in its auto insurance guide (last updated 11 December 2025): uninsured motorist coverage does not respond to a hit-and-run that police were never told about.
Later tips go to specialists. HPD’s 29 April 2026 release on another fatal hit-and-run points tipsters to its Hit-and-Run Unit or to Crime Stoppers (713-222-TIPS, 8477); ABC13’s 2024 report adds that tips leading to the charging or arrest of felony suspects may earn up to $5,000.
What should you write down about the other vehicle and driver?
The plate number or any part of it, the make, model and color, the damage you saw or caused, the direction it went, and anything unusual such as stickers, a roof rack or missing paint. Details that look trivial are often what lets an officer match a vehicle days later.
A phone voice memo works if your hands are shaking. Add the driver’s description if you saw one, how many people were in the car, and the time. Police and the public work from descriptions: in the ABC13 case the car was described as an older model, likely a Buick, with peeling paint on the trunk.
Photograph the scene before cars move: your own damage, debris, paint transfer, skid marks and street signs that fix the location. For more, see our photo checklist after a crash. The Texas Department of Insurance adds that independent witnesses “can help prove fault,” and that without witnesses an insurer might deny a claim if the other driver denies fault.
How do you track down video and witnesses?
Ask people before you leave: anyone who saw the crash, and every business, home or bus with a camera facing the road. Give each witness your phone number and ask for theirs. Tell the police which cameras you noticed, because they can request footage you cannot.
Cameras can fill in what you did not see. In the Museum District case, ABC13 reported that METRO’s stationary cameras recorded the sedan running a red light at Fannin and Blodgett, and ABC13 reported on surveillance video it obtained. Not every street has a camera, but gas stations, restaurants, apartment complexes and homes with doorbell cameras are worth asking, and the people who run them can tell you how long they keep recordings.
A witness who saw the plate or the direction of travel can matter a great deal. We explain why witnesses matter in a Houston car accident case in a separate article, and if the driver is identified later, our failure-to-stop page applies.
Which of your own insurance coverages can pay after a hit-and-run?
Three coverages on your own policy are the usual candidates: collision for your car, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage for injuries and, in some cases, property damage, and personal injury protection for medical expenses and lost income. Which ones you have depends on what you bought or rejected.
The Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel explains in its article on hit-and-run coverage that collision “pays for the damage, but won’t pay for any injuries,” while uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage pays when a driver with no or too little insurance, including a hit-and-run driver, damages your car, and also covers you and your passengers if you are hurt. It adds that collision and UM/UIM usually work together if you carry both.
Under Insurance Code § 1952.101(b) and (c), an insurer must build uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage into a Texas auto liability policy unless a named insured rejects it in writing. Personal injury protection follows the same pattern (§ 1952.152); the statute defines it as paying reasonable expenses for necessary medical services and, for an income producer, lost income, incurred within three years of the accident (§ 1952.151); the statute does not require more than $2,500 for each person (§ 1952.153). The property damage part of uninsured motorist coverage carries a $250 deductible (§ 1952.105(b)). Your declarations page shows what you actually carry.
These are claims against your own insurer, which may question how the crash happened and what your injuries are worth. For how these claims run, see the uninsured and underinsured motorist overview, the car accident lawyers page and whether an insurance claim needs an attorney.
What does the physical-contact rule mean for your claim?
When the owner or driver of the vehicle that caused the harm is unknown, Texas requires that “actual physical contact must have occurred” between that vehicle and you or your property for uninsured motorist recovery. A car that forced you off the road without touching you does not meet that wording.
That sentence comes from Insurance Code § 1952.104(3), which governs the policy provisions that must appear in uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage; read it on the Texas Legislature’s Insurance Code chapter 1952 page. The text says “actual physical contact” and does not describe what kind. A side-swipe that scrapes your door, or a car that struck your parked vehicle and drove off, involves contact with your property or vehicle. If there was no contact at all, other coverages on your policy, such as collision or personal injury protection, may still respond, because the contact requirement is stated for the uninsured motorist coverage.
If your parked car was hit, the driver had its own duty: under § 550.024 the operator who damages an unattended vehicle must stop and either locate the owner or leave a conspicuous written note with the driver’s and owner’s names and addresses and a statement of the circumstances. We cover the contact question, and what a prosecutor must show against a fleeing driver, in our article on what Transportation Code § 550.021 requires of the driver who leaves.
How do you get a copy of the police report?
Expect a wait of roughly a week: HPD says its crash reports take 5 to 8 days to process. Buy a copy online through TxDOT’s system or ask HPD’s Records Division, and have at least two identifying details of the crash ready.
HPD’s public information requests page says the Records Division handles accident reports (713-308-8500, option 3), that processing takes 5 to 8 days, and that you must supply at least two of the date, location or names of the parties. It also points to the TxDOT online purchase site, whose crash reports page lists $6 for an ordinary copy and $8 certified, plus card fees in some cases. Each route is laid out in our report-copy article.
Send the report to your insurer when you have it, as the Texas Department of Insurance advises. If it lists a wrong plate, date or direction, ask the reporting officer how to correct it.
What does the first-24-hours checklist look like?
Safety and 911 come first, then the police report, the vehicle description, video and witnesses, and notice to your insurer. The table below puts each step beside the reason for it and the source that supports it.
| Step | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Safety and medical care | Move out of traffic if safe, call 911 for any injury, accept the ambulance. | Your health comes first, and the medical record starts your injury documentation. |
| 2. Police report | Call 911 or, inside Houston with no emergency, (713) 884-3131. Get the report number, officer’s name and badge number. | Reporting is required after an injury crash (Transp. Code § 550.026(a)), and the Texas Department of Insurance says UM coverage does not respond to an unreported hit-and-run. |
| 3. The other vehicle | Record plate or partial plate, make, model, color, damage, direction, and driver description. | Police work from descriptions, as the ABC13 case showed. |
| 4. Scene photographs | Photograph damage, debris, road marks and signs before vehicles move. | The Texas Department of Insurance lists taking pictures of the scene among its claim tips. |
| 5. Video and witnesses | Identify cameras facing the road; collect witness names and numbers. | Independent witnesses can help prove fault when the other side disputes it. |
| 6. Your own insurer | Notify it as soon as possible; send the police report when you have it. | Most companies have filing deadlines; UM, collision and PIP are your own policy’s coverages (Ins. Code §§ 1952.101, 1952.152). |
| 7. Report copy | Request it once HPD has finished processing it. | The Texas Department of Insurance says to send your insurer a copy of the police report. |
Checked 16 October 2026: Texas Department of Insurance auto insurance guide; HPD contact page.
When should you talk to a lawyer after a hit-and-run?
Before you give your own insurer a recorded statement, sign a medical authorization, or accept an offer, and as soon as a serious injury is involved. A lawyer cannot undo missed evidence, but can tell you early which coverages and deadlines apply to your policy.
Your own insurer decides what to pay on an uninsured motorist claim, so the usual caution about adjusters applies: speak to an attorney before the adjuster, think before sharing medical records, and know tactics insurers use after a crash. For value, see valuing a Houston car-crash claim and the kinds of damages you can seek; for timing, the length of a Texas injury case. The general steps are on our after-an-accident page.
After a hit-and-run, write down a timeline while it is fresh: when and where it happened, what the other vehicle looked like, the report number. The Houston hit-and-run accident page describes the claim type, a truck that did not stop is a different fact pattern, and the timeline can go through the contact page. If someone died, see wrongful death claims and who may file. If the person hit was on foot, on a bike or on a motorcycle, see our pages on pedestrian, bicycle and motorcycle accidents, or the Houston personal injury lawyers page. Bring the documents a case evaluation needs if you can.
Frequently asked questions
Does insurance cover a hit-and-run?
Your own policy can. Collision coverage pays for damage to your car but not injuries, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage can pay for injuries and for car damage when a driver with no or too little insurance, including a hit-and-run driver, causes them, according to the Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel. Which coverages you have depends on what you bought.
Does uninsured motorist cover a hit-and-run?
It can, if you reported the crash to police and, when the driver is unknown, actual physical contact occurred between that vehicle and you or your property (Insurance Code § 1952.104(3)). The Texas Department of Insurance says it does not respond to a hit-and-run that police were never told about.
Does insurance cover a hit-and-run on a parked car?
Under collision coverage, damage to your own vehicle is paid, according to the Office of Public Insurance Counsel. A parked car that was struck involves physical contact with your property, which is what § 1952.104(3) asks about, and the property damage part of uninsured motorist coverage has a $250 statutory deductible (Insurance Code § 1952.105(b)).
Do I have to report a minor hit-and-run?
Texas requires an immediate report when someone is hurt or killed, or a vehicle is left unable to be driven normally and safely (Transportation Code § 550.026(a)). Even where that is not met, the Texas Department of Insurance says to call police if the other driver left, because uninsured motorist coverage does not respond to one that went unreported.
How soon can I get the police report for a Houston hit-and-run?
HPD says accident reports take 5 to 8 days of processing first. Ask the Records Division, with at least two of the date, location or names of the drivers.
Can I give police a tip about a hit-and-run anonymously?
Yes. Crime Stoppers takes anonymous tips at 713-222-TIPS (8477), online or through its mobile app, according to ABC13’s June 2024 report on a Museum District hit-and-run. That report also said tips leading to the charging or arrest of felony suspects may earn up to $5,000.
About the authors
Sam A. Maida, Jr.
Owner and Managing Attorney
Sam A. Maida, Jr. has represented injured Texans in the greater Houston area since the firm opened in 1993.
State Bar of TexasAvvoMartindale-HubbellLawLinkThatCarHitMeLinkedIn
Bernard G. Johnson III
Litigation Managing Attorney
Bernard G. Johnson III is a board certified trial lawyer licensed in Texas since 1996 and a graduate of South Texas College of Law.