(1) The general assembly is acutely aware of the toll in human suffering and loss of life, limb, and property caused by negligence in the operation of motor vehicles in our state. Although it recognizes that this basic problem can be and is being dealt with by direct measures designed to protect our people from the ravages of irresponsible drivers, the general assembly is also very much concerned with the financial loss visited upon innocent traffic crash victims by negligent motorists who are financially irresponsible. In prescribing the sanctions and requirements of this article 7, it is the policy of this state to induce and encourage all motorists to provide for their financial responsibility for the protection of others and to assure the widespread availability to the insuring public of insurance protection against financial loss caused by negligent financially irresponsible motorists.
(2) (a) The general assembly hereby finds that motor vehicle crashes cause a substantial economic impact in lost wages, medical bills, and property destruction exacerbated by the following:
(I) Some negligent motorists are uninsured or flee the scene of a crash.
(II) Negligent motorists often attempt to avoid financial responsibility by means such as fleeing the state, concealing their whereabouts, or failing to update the address on their driver's license with the department of revenue, thereby frustrating service of process and preventing the innocent victim from accessing either the negligent driver's liability insurance policy or the uninsured motorist coverage the victim has purchased.
(III) When innocent traffic crash victims cannot access either the negligent driver's automobile liability policy or their own uninsured motorist coverage, the burden of the uncompensated losses are borne by the taxpayer in the form of taxes for medicaid, by trauma facilities in the form of uncompensated hospital-related costs, and by the innocent victim.
(b) (I) The state of Colorado encourages the widespread availability of uninsured or underinsured motorist insurance by requiring every motor vehicle liability policy delivered or issued in this state to contain uninsured motorist coverage unless the named insured rejects such coverage in writing.
(II) Because insurance benefits have been paid for by either the negligent driver or the innocent victim for the purpose of compensating the innocent victim for injuries or losses, the general assembly declares that it is necessary to simplify the process for an innocent victim to access the negligent driver's liability insurance policy or his or her own uninsured motorist coverage in order to prevent the burden from being borne by the taxpayer or the health-care system.
(c) Therefore, the general assembly declares that the policy of Colorado is that all motor vehicle liability policies shall require policyholders of an automobile liability policy to appoint their insurance carrier as an agent for the purpose of service of process in certain limited instances in accordance with section 42-7-414 (3), and to deem a defendant to be uninsured for purposes of uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage if the court deems service on the defendant's insurance company to be ineffective or insufficient.
Source: L. 94: Entire title amended with relocations, p. 2473, § 1, effective January 1, 1995. L. 2010: Entire section amended, (HB 10-1164), ch. 196, p. 846, § 2, effective January 1, 2011. L. 2026: (1), IP(2)(a), (2)(a)(I), and (2)(a)(III) amended, (HB 26-1237), ch. 117, p. 488, § 75, effective August 12.
ANNOTATION
Law reviews. For article, "The Sociological and Legal Problem of the Uncompensated Motor Victim", see 11 Rocky Mt. L. Rev. 12 (1938). For article, "Über Problems: Ride-Sharing Exclusions in Personal Automobile Insurance Policies", see 47 Colo. Law. 46 (Aug.-Sept. 2018).
Annotator's note. Since this section is similar to repealed § 13-7-2(3), CRS 53, relevant cases construing § 13-7-2(3) have been included in the annotations to this section.
When article applicable. The provisions of this article do not come into play until an insurance policy has been certified as proof of financial responsibility. Urtado v. Shupe, 33 Colo. App. 162, 517 P.2d 1357 (1973), aff'd, 187 Colo. 24, 528 P.2d 222 (1974).
The motor vehicle financial responsibility act does not require insurance. United States Fire Ins. Co. v. Goldstein Transp., 30 Colo. App. 478, 496 P.2d 1079 (1972).
The modern trend of legislation is in the direction requiring operators of motor vehicles to maintain liability insurance for the protection of third persons and this has been necessitated by the tremendous increase of the number of such vehicles and the irresponsibility problem. Lucas v. District Court, 140 Colo. 510, 345 P.2d 1064 (1959).
A liability insurance policy is for the benefit of injured persons in that it provides security for the satisfaction of any judgment obtained. Lucas v. District Court, 140 Colo. 510, 345 P.2d 1064 (1959).
Insurance policies are definitely relevant to the subject matter of pending actions growing out of accidents covered by such policies, especially in view of the fact that this legislation apparently would require a defendant to disclose to the state authority information concerning the insurance which a plaintiff might seek, and this would be a matter of public record. Lucas v. District Court, 140 Colo. 510, 345 P.2d 1064 (1959).
This section reflects the legislative intent that all purchasers of automobile liability insurance policies must have the opportunity to purchase uninsured motorist coverage. Passamano v. Travelers Indem. Co., 882 P.2d 1312 (Colo. 1994).
Applied in Briner v. Charnes, 10 B.R. 850 (Bankr. D. Colo. 1981); State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Meyer, 647 P.2d 683 (Colo. App. 1982).