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Here’s a number that should change how you think about your car insurance: Roughly 1 in 3 drivers sharing the road with you has no insurance, or nowhere near enough of it (2). The Wall Street Journal recently sounded the alarm on a risk most people never see coming — that after a crash, the insurance you’re counting on may not pay (1).

I’ve shopped my own insurance for 50 years, and I don’t just shop it, I read the policies. So let me tell you the part the ads never mention: Your policy is only as strong as its weakest coverage, and millions of people are carrying a dangerous gap without knowing it.

Here’s how the trap springs. The Insurance Research Council found that 15.4% of U.S. drivers are completely uninsured — nearly 30% in states like Mississippi — and another 18% carry only bare-minimum limits that a serious crash blows through in seconds (2). When one of them hits you, the bill doesn’t disappear. It lands on you, unless you’ve got the right protection in place.

And there’s a twist most people learn the hard way. When you turn to your own insurer to cover that gap, it doesn’t simply pay. It effectively steps into the at-fault driver’s shoes and works to keep the payout small (4).

The good news: You can close this gap, and it isn’t complicated. Here are five ways to make sure you’re actually covered.

1. Make sure you carry uninsured-motorist coverage

The single most important protection against this whole mess has an ugly name: uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, or UM/UIM. It’s the coverage that pays your medical bills and losses when the at-fault driver can’t (3).

The trouble is, plenty of people don’t have it or carry only a token amount because it’s optional in many states and easy to decline to shave a few dollars off the bill. The fix is to see what real protection actually costs — and the fastest way to do that is to compare quotes. Doing that may not only uncover lower prices; it will help you understand the coverages you currently have.

How do you compare quotes from different companies? Simple. Free sites like Insurify allow you to safely compare what you have now to what you could have, including the same coverage for less.

Unlike other sites that sell your data, Insurify lets you compare real-time quotes side by side without the spam. It’s fast, secure, and rated 4.7 stars on Trustpilot.

See if you’re overpaying — free, 5 minutes

2. Never ride on the bare minimum — it runs out in seconds

State minimum liability limits were set for a different era. One trip to the emergency room and a totaled car can blow past them almost instantly (3), and once the at-fault driver’s coverage is exhausted, the rest is your problem.

As more drivers drop to rock-bottom coverage to survive rising premiums, this is happening more, not less (5). Carrying real limits — on your liability and your UM/UIM — is the difference between an inconvenience and a financial catastrophe. It’s worth knowing exactly where your policy ends before you ever need it.

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3. Understand that your own insurer isn’t automatically on your side

This is the part that stings. When you file an uninsured-motorist claim, you might assume the company you’ve paid for years has your back. Instead, it effectively takes the role of the other driver’s insurer and works to minimize what it pays you (4).

That doesn’t mean you’re helpless. It means you document everything — photos, the police report, every medical bill — know your policy’s limits before you need them, and don’t accept the first number they float. Read the policy now, not after the wreck.

4. If UM/UIM is optional in your state, add it anyway

In some states, uninsured-motorist coverage is required. In many others, it’s optional, and that’s exactly where people get burned — declining the one coverage built for this problem to save a little each month (3).

Weigh it honestly. The cost of adding solid UM/UIM coverage is usually modest. The cost of not having it, when a driver with nothing plows into you, can follow you for years. It’s the rare add-on that’s almost always worth it — I carry it even though my state doesn’t require it.

5. Re-check every year — your coverage, not just your price

Most people who bother to shop are hunting for a lower price. Yes, do that, but while you’re at it, check the thing that actually matters more: your limits. A cheap policy that leaves you exposed isn’t a bargain; it’s a trap waiting to spring.

Once a year, pull up your policy, confirm your UM/UIM limits are high enough for the way you actually live, and compare what better coverage would cost. It takes a few minutes, and it’s the closest thing to insurance on your insurance.

The bottom line

You can’t control the driver in the next lane. You can’t make the uninsured guy buy a policy, and you can’t stop your own insurer from protecting its bottom line. All of that is out of your hands.

But whether you’re covered when it all goes wrong? That part is entirely up to you, and it’s a 20-minute fix. The crash may be someone else’s fault. The gap in your coverage is the one thing here you actually own — so close it before a stranger’s bad decision becomes your financial disaster.

Sources: Wall Street Journal (1); Insurance Research Council (2); PURE Insurance (3); Lawyer Monthly (4); CCC Intelligent Solutions (5).