Background: we did not have collision insurance on our small truck, DH was hit in the rear by a driver with insurance, the guy's insurance company "totaled" our truck. DH was not hurt. We will keep the truck and get it fixed. We did all negotiations with hitter's insurance company since our own insurance guy was not involved because we had no collision insurance with him. All that is well and good.

Here is my question:

How does personal injury work in this situation where (theoretically) I am hurt in a car crash, I have no collision insurance, I am hit by someone who has no car insurance. ? I mean, who negotiates issues?

I do not want to be in a situation where I am physically impaired and I have no one working to negotiate a settlement. Over a third of the drivers in St. Louis are uninsured.

Of course, I realize that getting a court judgement against one of these uninsured jerks, and collecting from them, are two different things.