In Tennessee they wrote the uninsured motorist law such that your insurance company pays the claim and then goes after the uninsured and hounds them to death till they come up with the bucks. The choice is pay or move where they can't find you to collect the judgement.
It works. The woman who hit my wife called months laterand cussed her out for ruining he life. My wife told her it was the insurer not her that took her to court and got the judgement and the garnishment.
The big insurance companies pay your claim and then sue the uninsured driver if necessary.
But you know the old saying about blood and a turnip.
And in the mean time, poor slobs like you and me.... we get shafted with higher insurance premiums for having filed a claim.