UM/UIM Coverage for Cheyenne Motorcycle Riders: What Riders Need to Know Before a Crash

TL;DR: Key Takeaways

• Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage applies when the at-fault driver has no liability insurance. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage applies when that driver has insurance, but not enough to cover your injuries.
• Wyoming requires UM coverage on an auto policy unless the named insured rejects it, at minimum limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident (W.S. § 31-10-101). Once you reject it, the insurer never has to offer it again, and putting it back is on you.
• Wyoming does not require insurers to offer UIM at all. The Wyoming Supreme Court confirmed that in Broderick v. Dairyland Insurance Co., 2012 WY 22.
• Wyoming has one of the lowest uninsured-driver rates in the country. Cheyenne's exposure comes from somewhere else: I-25 and I-80 cross here, and out-of-state drivers carry their home state's limits.
• Wyoming law leans toward letting you stack UM/UIM limits across policies you paid separate premiums for, but a clearly written anti-stacking clause will be enforced.

In July 2008, a Wyoming rider was on his motorcycle when another driver ran a stop sign and hit him. His injuries were serious. The driver at fault carried exactly what Wyoming requires and nothing beyond it: $25,000 per person in bodily injury coverage. The rider had asked his agent for full coverage. The policy he actually received had no underinsured motorist coverage on it, and he had never read it. He argued the question all the way to the Wyoming Supreme Court, and in Broderick v. Dairyland Insurance Co., 2012 WY 22, he lost. The court held that Wyoming's uninsured motorist statutes unambiguously do not require insurers to provide UIM coverage, and that his failure to read the policy was a defense available to the insurer and the agent.

That decision is the most useful thing a Cheyenne rider can read before a crash, because it describes a gap most riders don't know they have.

"Riders assume the driver who hits them can pay for what they did," says Patrick DiBenedetto, partner and motorcycle lawyer at Metier Law Firm and a rider himself. "In Cheyenne, with two interstates feeding traffic through town, that assumption fails often. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is frequently the only source of money that can cover a serious injury, and whether it's there was decided the day you bought the policy."

Anyone looking for a Cheyenne motorcycle accident lawyer after a crash is really asking one question: who pays. The answer often sits on the rider's own declarations page.

Why Cheyenne's Crossroads Changes the Coverage Math

Wyoming drivers insure themselves at high rates. The state consistently ranks among the lowest in the nation for uninsured drivers, while the Insurance Research Council reported that 15.4% of drivers nationwide were uninsured in 2023, and that one in three was either uninsured or underinsured.

Those national numbers matter here more than the state ones. Cheyenne sits where I-25 meets I-80, and a substantial share of the traffic moving through Laramie County is registered somewhere else, carrying its home state's coverage. Some of it comes from states where more than one in five drivers has nothing. Many of the insured ones carry only their own state's minimum, and several states set that floor below Wyoming's $25,000. When an out-of-state driver causes a crash here and can't cover the injuries, Wyoming's low uninsured rate does nothing for the rider. The rider's own policy does.

What UM and UIM Actually Cover

The two coverages get named together and solve different problems.

Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has no liability insurance. Wyoming's statute also extends "uninsured motor vehicle" to a driver whose insurer is insolvent (W.S. § 31-10-102). Hit-and-run crashes are a different matter. Wyoming's statute doesn't address them, but most policies define an uninsured motor vehicle to include a hit-and-run vehicle when the driver and owner can't be identified. That's a policy term, not a statutory right, and policies commonly attach conditions to it, including prompt reporting.

Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has insurance that runs out before your losses do. This is the more common gap for riders. Wyoming's minimum is $25,000 per person, and motorcyclists are overrepresented in serious and fatal crashes. A transport, a surgery, and a short hospital stay can exhaust $25,000 before you leave the building. Once the at-fault driver's limits are exhausted, underinsured motorist coverage in Wyoming is what reaches the rest, if you bought it.

Does Wyoming Require Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

This is where precision matters, because UM and UIM sit in different places under Wyoming law.

Under W.S. § 31-10-101, an auto policy issued in Wyoming has to include uninsured motorist coverage, at limits of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, unless the named insured rejects it. The statute doesn't say how that rejection has to happen. In our experience, carriers won't accept one verbally. They use a signed waiver form, because without one a coverage fight becomes an argument over who said what years earlier. If you never signed a waiver, the coverage is almost certainly on your policy.

The same statute holds a second rule that catches riders. Once you've rejected UM, the insurer doesn't have to put it back. Coverage need not be provided on a renewal policy where you rejected it on the prior policy from the same insurer, unless you request it in writing. So a rider who declined UM years ago to trim a premium has renewed ever since without it, and no one had to raise it again. Turning it back on is your move, in writing.

UIM has no such rule. Wyoming does not require insurers to offer underinsured motorist coverage, which is precisely what Broderick decided. A rider can carry UM, carry no UIM, and never learn the difference until an underinsured driver puts them in the hospital. Pull your declarations page and read what's listed. If UIM isn't there, ask your agent what it costs to add. The Broderick case also settled what happens to the rider who didn't read the policy, and it wasn't in the rider's favor.

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If you've been hurt in a motorcycle crash and need answers, call us at 833-4MOTO-LAW (833-466-8652) or schedule a free consultation at www.metierlaw.com.

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Stacking UM/UIM in Wyoming

Stacking means combining UM/UIM limits across multiple vehicles or policies into one larger pool for a single claim. If you own more than one bike, or your household insures several vehicles, this matters.

No Wyoming statute addresses it. The Wyoming Supreme Court took the question up in Aaron v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2001 WY 112, 34 P.3d 929, and the answer favors riders more than most people assume. The court found no public policy barring stacking, then went further. Where you've paid separate premiums on separate policies, it presumes those premiums bought stackable coverage rather than a windfall for the insurer. An insurer that wants to prevent stacking has to say so clearly and unambiguously, in terms an ordinary policyholder could understand.

Two limits. Stacking reaches your actual damages and no further. And a clearly drafted anti-stacking clause will be enforced. So it comes down to what your policy says and how plainly it says it. That's one of the first things we read, because on a catastrophic injury it can decide whether the available coverage matches the loss. For how coverage feeds into overall case value, see our breakdown of what a Cheyenne motorcycle accident claim is worth.

The Four-Year Deadline Isn't the Only Clock

Wyoming gives you four years to file a personal injury lawsuit under W.S. § 1-3-105. Read the provision and you'll see what it covers: injuries "not arising on contract." That's your claim against the driver who hit you. However, having four years to file is not a reason to wait to file your claim. Evidence disappears, memories fade, witnesses are harder to find as time passes. Hiring a motorcycle injury lawyer and filing your claim as soon as possible will help you maximize the amount you can recover. 

A UM/UIM claim arises on contract. You're not suing the at-fault driver, you're enforcing a policy you bought against your own insurer. Wyoming allows ten years on a written contract under that same statute, but don't reach for that number either. Your policy sets its own conditions: notice, cooperation, documentation, sometimes consent before you settle with the at-fault carrier. Miss one and the carrier may contest coverage while the four-year window sits wide open. Which conditions apply, and what they leave you, depends on the policy language in front of you.

For the steps that protect a claim from the scene forward, our guide on what to do after a motorcycle accident in Cheyenne walks through it. Riders on the other side of the state can read the same analysis for UM and UIM coverage for Casper riders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Wyoming require uninsured motorist coverage?

Wyoming requires uninsured motorist coverage on an auto policy unless the named insured rejects it, with minimum limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident under W.S. § 31-10-101. Carriers document a rejection with a signed waiver form. Once you have rejected it, the insurer does not have to include it on renewals unless you request it in writing. Underinsured motorist coverage is separate, and Wyoming does not require insurers to offer UIM at all.

What is the difference between uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage?

Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has no liability insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has insurance that isn't enough to cover your injuries. Riders often need the underinsured piece, because a minimum-limits policy of $25,000 is exhausted quickly in a serious crash.

I was hit by an uninsured driver in Wyoming. What should I do?

Get medical care, document the scene, and report the crash. Then locate your own policy and check for UM coverage before you give any recorded statement to an insurer. Being hit by an uninsured driver in Wyoming usually means your own coverage is the primary path to compensation, so it's worth having a motorcycle accident lawyer in Cheyenne review the policy language early.

Can I stack UM and UIM coverage in Wyoming?

It depends on your policy, and Wyoming law leans your way. No statute addresses stacking, and in Aaron v. State Farm the Wyoming Supreme Court found no public policy barring it. Where you paid separate premiums on separate policies, the court presumes you bought stackable coverage. An insurer that wants to prevent stacking has to say so clearly and unambiguously. Stacking reaches your actual damages and no further.

Does uninsured motorist coverage cover a hit-and-run?

Usually, but through your policy rather than the statute. Wyoming's uninsured motorist statute doesn't address hit-and-run crashes. Most policies define an uninsured motor vehicle to include a hit-and-run vehicle when the driver and owner can't be identified, and they typically attach conditions such as prompt reporting.

In Cheyenne, the Policy You Control Is Often the One That Pays

You can't choose what the driver next to you on I-80 carries. You can choose what's on your own policy. In a city where a large share of the traffic started somewhere else, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is the part of your motorcycle insurance in Wyoming that most often determines whether a serious injury gets paid for. Read your declarations page, confirm whether you have UIM and not just UM, and find out what it says about stacking. That's a fifteen-minute job now and an unfixable problem later.

If a crash already happened and a carrier is telling you the coverage isn't there, that's a conclusion worth testing. Insurers don't volunteer every policy that might apply, and locating all of them is among the first things our Cheyenne motorcycle accident lawyers do. Call Metier Motorcycle Lawyers at 833-4MOTO-LAW (833-466-8652) or schedule your free consultation today at www.metierlaw.com.

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Disclaimer: Past results discussed should not be considered a guarantee of your results as the factors of every case are individually unique. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified attorney from Metier Law Firm regarding your individual situation for legal advice.

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