When it’s time to purchase or renew your auto insurance, protect yourself by knowing what you are required to have. Below you will find some of the options available to you as well as a list of requirements by state.
When you and your family buckle up, you want to be sure that you have the best protection possible. To that end, a dizzying number of auto insurance types have popped up, all with different companies offering different details on what is included under coverage and how much they charge for premiums.
Before you get frustrated, make sure that you have the minimum requirements at least. There are certain kinds and dollar amounts of insurance that are required by law. Every state requires different kinds of insurance and different amounts of each. One type that almost every state requires is liability insurance.
Liability Insurance
Liability insurance is the most important car insurance and is required for drivers in most states. It covers you against costs incurred by damage and injury to the other party in an accident that’s your fault.
Liability insurance is comprised of two parts, bodily injury liability and property damage liability. As you might guess from the names, bodily injury liability covers the costs of injury to the persons you hit in an accident and property damage liability covers the damage to their vehicle (and in some cases, property in the car ruined during the accident).
Split Limits
Most auto insurance liability policies are named with three numbers. These numbers are called the split limits. If the split limits are 75/125/50 on your policy, then you would be covered for up to $75,000 in damages for bodily injury you cause another person, $125,000 in damages for any bodily injuries endured, and $50,000 for coverage of damage to property.
The amount of coverage required depends on your state’s auto insurance requirements. The requirements for each state are listed below.
Medical Payments Insurance
This auto insurance policy is beneficial because no matter who is at fault in an accident, you and your family (and all passengers in your car) are covered for bodily injury. Coverage is immediate, after the car accident. There are a variety of different policies available within the medical payments insurance group. Some may even compensate you and other passengers for wages or services lost due to injury caused by the accident.
Personal Injury Protection
Personal injury protection, or PIP, is like medical payments insurance but generally offers more coverage. In addition to immediate medical coverage of all passengers in your car despite fault, most PIP auto insurance policies offer lost wages, funeral expenses, as well as coverage for pain and suffering.
‘No fault’ is the term describing the states who require PIP policies. Included on the states list below are the states who are no fault and those who are not.
Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist Insurance
These types of auto insurance offer coverage for any injury caused by an auto accident where the driver at fault doesn’t have enough liability coverage. Often grouped together, they are actually two different insurance policies.
Uninsured motorist insurance covers you when the other driver has no liability coverage.
Underinsured motorist coverage covers the cost of your injuries that exceed the other driver's coverage maximum amount.
State requirements vary – some want all drivers to have both, others just one or the other, and most don’t want either one. Check below for your state’s requirements. Even if your state doesn’t require either one, consider investing anyway. A little extra coverage never hurt anyone.
State Requirements for Auto Insurance Coverage
Below you will find each state in alphabetical order. Directly beneath each ones are the required insurance policies, the split limits, and whether or not they require no fault coverage. The split limits are in denominations of thousands of dollars. ‘No’ indicates that the state does not require no fault coverage. ‘Yes’ indicates that they do.
Alabama
Bodily injury and property damage liability
20/40/10
NO
Alaska
Bodily injury and property damage liability
50/100/25
NO
Arizona
Bodily injury and property damage liability
15/30/10
NO
Arkansas
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/25
NO
California
Bodily injury and property damage liability
15/30/5
NO
Colorado
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/15
NO
Connecticut
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
20/40/10
NO
Delaware
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection
15/30/10
NO
Washington DC
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
25/50/10
YES
Florida
Property damage liability, personal injury protection
10/20/10
YES
Georgia
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/25
NO
Hawaii
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection
20/40/10
YES
Idaho
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/15
NO
Illinois
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
20/40/15
NO
Indiana
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/10
NO
Iowa
Bodily injury and property damage liability
20/40/15
NO
Kansas
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection
25/50/10
YES
Kentucky
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection
25/50/10
YES
Louisiana
Bodily injury and property damage liability
10/20/10
NO
Maine
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
50/100/25
NO
Maryland
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured and underinsured motorist
20/40/15
NO
Massachusetts
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection, uninsured motorist
20/40/5
YES
Michigan
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection
20/40/10
YES
Minnesota
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection, uninsured and underinsured motorist
30/60/10
YES
Mississippi
Bodily injury and property damage liability
10/20/5
NO
Missouri
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
25/50/10
NO
Montana
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/10
NO
Nebraska
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured and underinsured motorist
25/50/25
NO
Nevada
Bodily injury and property damage liability
15/30/10
NO
New Hampshire
Proof of financial responsibility, medical payments, uninsured motorist
25/50/25
NO
New Jersey
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection, uninsured motorist
15/30/5
YES
New Mexico
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/10
NO
New York
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist, personal injury protection
25/50/10
YES
North Carolina
Bodily injury and property damage liability
30/60/25
NO
North Dakota
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection, uninsured and underinsured motorist
25/50/25
YES
Ohio
Bodily injury and property damage liability
12.5/25/7.5
NO
Oklahoma
Bodily injury and property damage liability
10/20/10
NO
Oregon
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection, uninsured and underinsured motorist
25/50/10
NO
Pennsylvania
Bodily injury and property damage liability, medical payments
15/30/5
YES
Rhode Island
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/25
NO
South Carolina
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
15/30/10
NO
South Dakota
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
25/50/25
NO
Tennessee
Proof of financial responsibility
25/50/10
NO
Texas
Bodily injury and property damage liability
20/40/15
NO
Utah
Bodily injury and property damage liability, personal injury protection, uninsured and underinsured motorist
25/50/15
YES
Vermont
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
25/50/10
NO
Virginia
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured and underinsured motorist
25/50/20
NO
Washington
Bodily injury and property damage liability
25/50/10
NO
West Virginia
Bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured motorist
20/40/10
NO
Wisconsin
Proof of financial responsibility, uninsured motorist