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How Much Insurance the Other Driver Was Required to Carry
After a crash, the at-fault driver's insurance minimum is often the first hard ceiling on what a claim can recover.
The floors vary more than most people realize: $15,000 per person in Louisiana and Pennsylvania, $50,000 in Maine, North Carolina, Alaska, and Virginia.
Florida requires no bodily injury coverage at all for most drivers, and New Hampshire does not require insurance in the first place.
Seven states raised their floors in 2025 and 2026, so the charts written even a year ago are wrong in several rows.
The table below carries every jurisdiction's current requirements with the governing statute.
Last verified: August 14, 2026. Hawaii and New Jersey stepped up on January 1, 2026, and North Carolina's new limits phase in by renewal; confirm the figure that governs your policy period.
Call (888) 713-6653 for a free case review that starts with finding every dollar of available coverage.
At-a-Glance: Required Auto Coverage Nationwide
- Bodily injury floors run from $15,000 per person (Louisiana, Pennsylvania) to $50,000 (North Carolina, Virginia, Maine, Alaska)
- Florida requires no bodily injury liability for most private drivers; New Hampshire does not mandate insurance at all
- California, North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and New Jersey all raised their floors in 2025-2026
- About twenty states make uninsured motorist coverage mandatory; the rest only require the offer
- Free consultations 24/7, and you pay nothing unless we win
The 50-State Minimum Coverage Table, Verified for 2026
Bodily injury (BI) reads per person / per accident, in thousands. PD is property damage. "Must-offer" means the insurer must offer the coverage and the buyer may reject it, usually in writing.
| State | BI Minimum | PD | PIP | UM/UIM | System and Statute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 25/50 | $25K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; § 32-7-6 |
| Alaska | 50/100 | $25K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; AS 28.22.101 |
| Arizona | 25/50 | $15K | No | Must-offer, written rejection | At-fault; § 28-4009 |
| Arkansas | 25/50 | $25K | Med-pay must-offer | Must-offer | At-fault; § 27-19-605 |
| California | 30/60 | $15K | No | Must-offer, written rejection | At-fault; Ins. Code § 11580.1b (raised 1/1/2025) |
| Colorado | 25/50 | $15K | No ($5K med-pay unless rejected) | Must-offer, written rejection | At-fault; § 10-4-620 |
| Connecticut | 25/50 | $25K | No | MANDATORY 25/50 | At-fault; § 14-112 |
| Delaware | 25/50 | $10K | Yes, $15K/$30K | Must-offer | At-fault + mandatory PIP; 21 Del. C. § 2118 |
| District of Columbia | 25/50 | $10K | Optional post-crash election | MANDATORY 25/50 + $5K UMPD | Hybrid; § 31-2406 |
| Florida | Not required for most drivers | $10K | Yes, $10K | Must-offer, written rejection | No-fault; § 627.736; § 324.022 |
| Georgia | 25/50 | $25K | No | Included unless rejected in writing | At-fault; § 33-7-11 |
| Hawaii | 40/80 (policies new or renewed on/after 1/1/2026; 20/40 before) | $20K (was $10K) | Yes, $10K | Must-offer, written rejection | No-fault; § 431:10C-301 (SB 2342) |
| Idaho | 25/50 | $15K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; § 49-1212 |
| Illinois | 25/50 | $20K | No | MANDATORY UM 25/50 | At-fault; 625 ILCS 5/7-601 |
| Indiana | 25/50 | $25K | No | Included unless rejected in writing | At-fault; § 9-25-4-5 |
| Iowa | 20/40 | $15K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; § 321A.21 |
| Kansas | 25/50 | $25K | Yes, $4,500 medical | MANDATORY 25/50 | No-fault; K.S.A. 40-3107 |
| Kentucky | 25/50 | $25K | Yes, $10K unless rejected | Must-offer | Choice no-fault; KRS 304.39-110 |
| Louisiana | 15/30 | $25K | No | Included unless rejected | At-fault; R.S. 32:900 |
| Maine | 50/100 | $25K | Mandatory $2K med-pay | MANDATORY 50/100 | At-fault; 29-A M.R.S. § 1605 |
| Maryland | 30/60 | $15K | $2,500, waivable | MANDATORY 30/60/15 | At-fault; Transp. § 17-103 |
| Massachusetts | 25/50 | $30K | Yes, $8K | MANDATORY 25/50 | No-fault; c. 90 §§ 34A, 34M (raised 7/1/2025) |
| Michigan | 50/100 (250/500 is the default offer) | $1M property protection in-state; mini-tort $3K | Yes, choice tiers from $50K to unlimited | Optional | No-fault; MCL 500.3009, 500.3107c |
| Minnesota | 30/60 | $10K | Yes, $40K | MANDATORY 25/50 | No-fault; § 65B.49 |
| Mississippi | 25/50 | $25K | No | 25/50 unless rejected in writing | At-fault; § 63-15-3(j) |
| Missouri | 25/50 | $25K | No | MANDATORY UM 25/50 | At-fault; § 303.190 |
| Montana | 25/50 | $20K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; § 61-6-103 |
| Nebraska | 25/50 | $25K | No | MANDATORY 25/50 | At-fault; § 60-534 |
| Nevada | 25/50 | $20K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; NRS 485.185 |
| New Hampshire | Insurance optional; 25/50 when written | $25K | $1K med-pay when written | Mandatory when a policy is written | At-fault; RSA 264:20 |
| New Jersey | Standard policy: 35/70 (policies on/after 1/1/2026); Basic policy: no BI required | $25K ($5K Basic) | Yes, $15K minimum | At chosen limits on Standard | Choice no-fault; § 39:6B-1 (P.L. 2022, c.87) |
| New Mexico | 25/50 | $10K | No | Must-offer, written rejection | At-fault; § 66-5-215 |
| New York | 25/50 (50/100 for death) | $10K | Yes, $50K | MANDATORY UM 25/50 | No-fault; Ins. Law § 3420(f); V&T § 311 |
| North Carolina | 50/100 (policies issued or renewed on/after 7/1/2025; 30/60 until renewal) | $50K | No | MANDATORY UM and UIM | At-fault, contributory; § 20-279.21 (S.L. 2023-133) |
| North Dakota | 25/50 | $25K | Yes, $30K | MANDATORY 25/50 | No-fault; § 39-16.1-11 |
| Ohio | 25/50 | $25K | No | Optional | At-fault; § 4509.51 |
| Oklahoma | 25/50 | $25K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; 47 O.S. § 7-204 |
| Oregon | 25/50 | $20K | Yes, $15K | MANDATORY 25/50 | At-fault + mandatory PIP; ORS 806.070 |
| Pennsylvania | 15/30 | $5K | $5K first-party medical | Must-offer, written rejection | Choice no-fault; 75 Pa.C.S. § 1702 |
| Rhode Island | 25/50 | $25K | No | Required, except minimum-limits-only buyers may reject | At-fault; § 31-47-2 |
| South Carolina | 25/50 | $25K | No | MANDATORY UM 25/50/25; UIM must-offer | At-fault; § 38-77-140 |
| South Dakota | 25/50 | $25K | No | MANDATORY 25/50 | At-fault; § 32-35-70 |
| Tennessee | 25/50 | $25K | No | Must-offer, written rejection | At-fault; § 55-12-102 |
| Texas | 30/60 | $25K | $2,500 must-offer | Must-offer, written rejection | At-fault; Transp. § 601.072 |
| Utah | 30/65 | $25K | Yes, $3K | Must-offer | No-fault; § 31A-22-304 (raised 1/1/2025) |
| Vermont | 25/50 | $10K | No | MANDATORY 50/100/10, above the liability floor | At-fault; 23 V.S.A. § 800 |
| Virginia | 50/100 | $25K | No | MANDATORY at liability limits | At-fault, contributory; § 46.2-472 (mandatory since 7/1/2024) |
| Washington | 25/50 | $10K | $10K must-offer | Must-offer, written rejection | At-fault; RCW 46.30.020 |
| West Virginia | 25/50 | $25K | No | MANDATORY UM 25/50/25; UIM must-offer | At-fault; § 17D-4-2 |
| Wisconsin | 25/50 | $10K | No | MANDATORY UM 25/50; UIM optional | At-fault; § 344.01 |
| Wyoming | 25/50 | $20K | No | Must-offer | At-fault; § 31-9-405 |
Seven States Raised Their Floors, and the Old Charts Are Now Wrong
California moved to 30/60/15 for 2025, its first increase since 1967.[1] North Carolina went to 50/100/50 for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, the highest floor in the country, phasing in policy by policy.[2] Virginia made insurance itself mandatory in 2024 and raised limits to 50/100/25 for 2025. Utah and Massachusetts stepped up in 2025, Massachusetts for the first time since 1988.
Two more landed on January 1, 2026: Hawaii doubled its floor to 40/80/20,[3] and New Jersey's standard policy rose to 35/70.[4] The phase-in mechanics matter as much as the numbers: in North Carolina and Hawaii the new limits attach at renewal, so two drivers in the same state can lawfully carry different minimums today, and which policy covers your crash depends on its renewal date, not the calendar.
Florida and New Hampshire Break the Pattern Entirely
Florida requires personal injury protection and property damage coverage, but no bodily injury liability at all for most private drivers.[5] A Floridian can be legally insured and still carry nothing that pays for the people they hurt. Bodily injury coverage becomes required only after certain offenses, and practically required after a crash under the financial responsibility law, which is exactly one crash too late for the victim.
New Hampshire goes further: insurance is not mandatory at all for most drivers, though a policy that is written must meet 25/50/25. In both states, and in every state where minimums lag medical reality, the injured person's own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage does the work the at-fault driver's policy cannot, which is why the UM/UIM column above deserves as much attention as the BI column. That column's full story, mandatory versus must-offer, the written rejections, and the offset rules that decide what UIM actually pays, lives in our companion table of UM and UIM requirements in all fifty states.
Why the Minimum Is Often the Number That Decides the Claim
One night in an emergency room can exhaust a $25,000 policy. A surgery, a hospital admission, or any permanent injury clears the floor in every state, at which point the question stops being what the case is worth and becomes where the rest of the money comes from: an umbrella policy, a second defendant, an employer, or your own underinsured motorist coverage. Our page for crashes with uninsured drivers covers that hunt in detail.
The fault system matters too. In the dozen no-fault jurisdictions, your own PIP pays first regardless of fault and lawsuits are reserved for injuries that cross the state's threshold, a structure explained on our page about no-fault state claims. And in the two contributory negligence states on this table, North Carolina and Virginia, higher minimums arrive with the country's harshest fault rule attached; the full map of those rules lives at how fault percentages cut a recovery.
The State Insurance Pages Behind These Rows
Eight states get a full page on what the minimums actually cover, what they leave exposed, and how UM/UIM fills the gap there.
Car Insurance Minimums FAQ
- Q: What happens when my damages exceed the at-fault driver's minimum policy?
-
A: The insurer's obligation stops at the policy limit, and the search widens: other liable parties, employer liability if the driver was working, umbrella coverage, and your own underinsured motorist coverage. Minimum-limits cases are where UIM earns its premium, and where naming every responsible defendant matters most. The gap between a serious injury and a $25,000 policy is not something to accept; it is something to investigate.
- Q: Which state requires the most and the least coverage?
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A: North Carolina now sets the highest floor at 50/100/50 as policies renew, with Virginia, Maine, and Alaska at 50/100. At the bottom, Louisiana and Pennsylvania require just $15,000 per person, Florida requires no bodily injury coverage at all for most drivers, and New Hampshire does not require insurance in the first place. The spread means the same crash can have six figures of available coverage in one state and effectively none across the border.
- Q: Is uninsured motorist coverage required?
-
A: In about twenty jurisdictions it is mandatory, sometimes at the liability limits, and Vermont requires UM limits higher than its liability floor. Everywhere else the insurer must offer it and the buyer may reject it, usually in writing. Rejecting UM/UIM to save a few dollars is the decision people regret most after a hit-and-run or a minimum-limits crash, because it is the one coverage that protects you from other people's choices.
- Q: The minimums changed in my state. Which number applies to my crash?
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A: The policy in force on the crash date controls, and in the phase-in states that depends on the policy's renewal date. In North Carolina, a policy issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 carries 50/100/50 while an older policy lawfully carries 30/60/25 until renewal; Hawaii's 2026 increase works the same way. Pulling the actual declarations page, not assuming the new statutory floor, is the first coverage task in any post-increase claim.
The Policy Limit Is Their Ceiling. It Does Not Have to Be Yours.
Minimum-limits crashes are where injured people most need someone hunting for coverage beyond the obvious policy.
Crash victims deserve a recovery measured by their injuries, not by the smallest policy the law allowed the other driver to buy.
Mapping every policy that could apply, liability, umbrella, employer, UM and UIM, is Lawsuit Legal's first move in an underinsured case.
Call (888) 713-6653 or send the form for a free, confidential review of what coverage actually exists in your crash.
We help people hit by minimum-limits drivers, families facing catastrophic bills against small policies, and drivers whose own UM claim just turned adversarial, with the legal help they need to reach every available dollar.
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