Minimum Auto Insurance Requirements by State (2024)

When it comes to minimum auto insurance requirements by state, most states require drivers to buy the state minimum insurance before getting behind the wheel. When you’re on a budget, buying the car insurance state minimum coverage is a great way to keep cheap auto insurance.

We’ll help you learn more about auto insurance minimum limits by state and find the best state minimum car insurance. Then, you can enter your ZIP code above to compare quotes with as many companies as possible to find the lowest rates for minimum insurance.

Minimum Auto Insurance Requirements by State

Do all states require auto insurance? Nearly every state requires drivers to carry a certain amount of car insurance before they can register a car or drive on public roads.

States that require insurance want to protect people from accidents they did not cause. When you carry liability auto insurance, you’ve guaranteed your ability to pay for damage you might cause in an accident.

This is why most states only require liability insurance — you can choose not to protect your own car, but other drivers shouldn’t be financially responsible for damage you cause.

You can check the minimum car insurance requirements by state below.

Minimum Auto Insurance Coverage Requirements by State

Does every state has the same requirements for coverage? Most states require a minimum amount of liability, while several others include personal injury protection, medical payments, or uninsured/underinsured motorist as part of the coverage requirements.

Your state’s minimum car insurance is the cheapest option for coverage, but it comes with a risk. You’ll have to pay for any repairs your car needs from your own pocket. You’ll also have to pay for damage you cause in an accident if your liability coverage runs out.

You can avoid financial hardship by buying more liability coverage than your state requires and getting coverage for your car.

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Types of Auto Insurance Coverages Required

You might have noticed several types of coverages listed as state requirements for car insurance. Insurance laws might be confusing, but you can explore what they mean below:

• Liability: Liability insurance pays for damage you cause in an accident. The amount of minimum liability insurance you need varies by state.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM): UM/UIM insurance protects you from drivers who don’t have adequate insurance. It also covers you if you’re the victim of a hit-and-run.
• Personal injury protection (PIP): Personal injury protection coverage covers medical expenses related to injuries you or your passengers sustain in an accident. It also covers funeral costs, lost wages, and other related expenses.
• Medical payments: Similar to PIP, medical payments insurance covers injuries after an accident. Unlike PIP, it doesn’t cover lost wages and related expenses — it only pays for direct medical expenses.

Although minimum car insurance is your cheapest option, many drivers elect for more coverage to ensure their cars are well protected. Two of the most popular coverages that can complete your car’s protection are comprehensive and collision insurance.

Collision insurance pays for repairs to your vehicle after an at-fault accident. Comprehensive auto insurance covers damage from other events, like fire, weather, theft, vandalism, and animal contact.

Many car loan lenders and lease holders require drivers to get full coverage, which includes comprehensive and collision insurance. Although these coverages are valuable, they are not required by any state law.

States That Don’t Require Car Insurance

There are only a few states where car insurance is not required. The first state that doesn’t require car insurance is New Hampshire – it only requires drivers to prove their ability to pay for damage they cause in an accident. If you can’t demonstrate your financial ability, New Hampshire auto insurance requirements are 25/50/25 plan for liability coverage.

While New Hampshire auto insurance laws don’t list an exact amount that proves your financial ability to pay for damages, it should at least be enough to equal the liability requirements. If you drive without being financially able, you can lose your license and have your registration suspended.

Although New Hampshire doesn’t require drivers to carry car insurance, the state can require people to buy insurance after violations like DUIs.

The other state that doesn’t require car insurance is Virginia. If you choose not to buy Virginia auto insurance, you’ll have to pay an uninsured motorist fee of about $500 a year. Skipping car insurance leaves you vulnerable to financial hardship after an accident.

If you choose to get auto insurance, the minimum requirements for auto insurance in Virginia are 25/50/20 for liability coverage.

Since car insurance in Virginia usually costs about the same as the uninsured motorist fee, your best bet is usually buying coverage.

Although all other states require car insurance, some allow you to skip coverage if you make a large deposit with the DMV. These amounts vary from $25,000 to $115,000, but you’ll be without the valuable protection of car insurance if you choose this route.

Finding Cheap State Minimum Auto Insurance

In the United States, each state has its own auto insurance regulations. Car insurance laws by state vary in how much coverage they require — some states demand the bare minimum car insurance while others have much stricter laws. No matter what the laws are in your state, if your budget is tight, it’s best to get cheap state minimum insurance.

If minimum coverage sounds right for you, you should still compare state minimum car insurance quotes with multiple companies to find the best price. Although minimum insurance is the cheapest option, you’ll see different rates based on your unique circumstances.

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Minimum Car Insurance Coverage by State Policy Differences

Every state has its own set of rules for driving and minimum insurance coverage. Liability is the minimum requirement in most states.

Is there a difference in state minimum auto insurance coverage between states? There is a difference in the amount of liability coverage that each driver is required to carry between all of the states.

Every state sets its own rules for driving and how people must conduct themselves on the public roads.

This means that each state has the right to set the amount of insurance coverage that people must have at as high or as low an amount as they believe is necessary.

Bodily Injury Liability Auto Insurance

The type of liability coverage that most states require that drivers purchase is bodily injury liability and property damage liability coverage.

Bodily injury liability consists of two different numbers.

The first number is the amount of coverage that drivers must have in the event that they are the cause of an accident that results in bodily injuries to one person. For example, in one state, for one person hurt in a car collision, the one who caused the accident must have purchased a policy that offers $15,000 to pay the injured party’s medical bills or funeral expenses.

The second number related to bodily injury liability coverage is the amount of money that people must have for everyone hurt in the accident that the driver has caused.

In the state above, drivers must have bought a policy that will pay $30,000 total for everyone hurt in the accident.

Property Damage Liability Auto Insurance

The third number is associated with property damages. The property damage liability coverage is the amount of money that drivers must be prepared to pay for property repairs, such as for:

• Cars
• Utility Poles
• Damaged landscaping
• Livestock that has been injured or killed
• Damages to buildings and houses

In the example, property damage liability is required to be $10,000 under these policies. The minimum property damage limits by state are 15/30/10. 

The Minimum Car Insurance by State Differs

People will notice that there will be several reasons for the differences in auto insurance rates between states is the minimum requirements that people need to purchase.

One of the reasons for the difference is if the state is a tort state or it is a no-fault state.

As was mentioned above, liability coverage is required by drivers in most states.

In a tort state, drivers have unlimited abilities to sue each other for their bodily injuries and property damages.

In contrast, in a no-fault state, the drivers will not be able to sue the driver that hits them for their medical bills until the state’s qualifications have been met.

To prevent lawsuits, no-fault states require their drivers have limited amounts of liability coverage.

Because people in no-fault states need to purchase liability coverage and PIP insurance, people may find that they are paying more for their insurance coverage than those in tort states because, in most cases, they only need to purchase liability coverage.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Another reason that drivers in some states will pay for more coverage than in other states is that some states require that their drivers purchase more than just liability.

For example, a state may obligate drivers to have uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance.

By mandating that all drivers purchase liability coverage, the states have set out to decrease instances when drivers cannot take financial responsibility for the damages they cause when they drive recklessly.

When people do not do this and drive uninsured or underinsured, the injured drivers have the recourse of obtaining payment for their bills with their uninsured motorist coverage.

The Basic and Standard Policies

When people opt to buy just the liability coverage that is required of them in tort states, they are purchasing the basic policy.

Every auto insurance company is required to sell packages that include at least the state’s minimum requirements.

The other choice people have when they wish to purchase more than just the minimum requirements is to buy a standard policy.

With the standard policy, they will have the liability coverage they need in tort states plus the extra coverage they must have in no-fault states and the optional coverage they choose.

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Making Auto Insurance Affordable

If drivers have a difficult time affording their insurance policies, they may decide that they would like to purchase the basic policy.

With the least amount of insurance, these drivers will obtain the lowest prices for their auto insurance coverage.

Although purchasing the state’s minimum requirements only will keep drivers from receiving penalties and possibly losing their licenses, it will not be enough coverage to keep them from losing their savings to the repairs needed on their own vehicles and their medical bills.

Car Insurance Requirements by State

Minimum levels of auto insurance are mandatory in most states.

If an individual owns a new car they will usually get maximum amounts of coverage, but many times people that own older cars with high mileage, or have cars that are completely paid off will only select the minimum required amounts of car insurance.

While minimum automobile coverage may seem like a great idea because the monthly premiums will be much lower, it is important to understand exactly what state minimums for auto insurance really entails.

Finding the right coverage means making comparisons and seeing your options. Enter your ZIP code into our free auto insurance comparison tool to see coverage and price options!

Auto Insurance Coverage Across the U.S.

States mandate certain levels of automobile insurance as a way to protect the car owner, as well as the general public, against extreme financial loss in case of an accident.

If car insurance was not mandatory and a person experienced a serious accident, the people in the other car would have to incur medical and personal expense to cover any injuries or harm to property.

By having automobile insurance, the person with the insurance that caused the accident would not be liable for the total amount of damages as defined in the insurance policy.

The insured person would be liable only for their auto insurance deductible, which is the amount they have to pay before the insurance company begins to make the remaining payments.

Automobile insurance, therefore, provides the insured person with the safety on knowing that as long as they pay the insurance premiums the insurance company will agree to pay for damages that are specified in the insurance policy.

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Understanding Auto Insurance Minimums by State

Most states require a person owning a car to have minimum car insurance coverage through a licensed insurance company that provides automobile coverage. There are two areas that must be covered by the law:

• Bodily injury liability: This part of the insurance policy provides coverage for any medical bills, pain, and suffering, or other medically necessary expenses resulting from a car accident.
• Property damage liability: Property damage liability helps pay for damage to another person’s car and other property damaged in the accident. If the person who is insured is found to be at fault for an accident they would be responsible, through their insurance company, for the cost of damage repair. Read more about the best property damage liability (PDL) auto insurance companies.

Here is how minimum auto insurance coverage works. There are generally three numbers that a person will see when looking at state-mandated minimum automobile insurance coverage. The numbers appear as 25/50/30.

These numbers refer to bodily injury liability and property damage liability in dollar amounts.

• The 25 refers to the fact that the insurance must provide up to $25,000 coverage for the first person filing an injury claim in an accident
• The second number, 50, is the maximum amount insurance coverage must for any personal injury claims filed by the insurer or any other person involved in an accident, or $50,000
• The third number, 20, means that the auto insurance coverage must provide a maximum of $20,000 to pay for property damage

This minimum coverage may seem to provide total coverage; however, it depends on how many people were injured in the accident.

If three or more people sustained injuries and the total amount of medical expenses equaled more than $50,000, the insured person could then be personally sued to recover any remaining medical bills as a result of the accident.

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If all the people involved in the accident did not incur costs equaling the $50,000 then everyone’s medical bills would be covered by the insurance company.

Depending on the severity of the accident, the person at fault for the accident could potentially find themselves being sued for medical expenses that exceed state-mandated minimum coverage amounts.

Finding Cheap Car Insurance Minimums by State

When looking into the minimum liability limits for each state, it is always recommended that a person interested in car insurance contact several automobile insurance companies to compare quotes and auto insurance types. This will help you find the best state auto insurance minimum policy.

Even when purchasing state minimum required coverage, comparison shopping for the required auto insurance makes sense as costs may differ depending on the insurance company. Make sure to compare rates by using our free insurance comparison tool below.

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