30 Jun One in Three Drivers Doesn’t Have Enough Car Insurance
One in three drivers is behind the wheel without enough car insurance, a figure that’s been climbing since the pandemic.
Looking at claims data from between 2017 and 2023, a report from the Insurance Research Council found the rate of U.S. drivers who were either underinsured or completely uninsured jumped from 23% to 33.4%.
Nearly every state requires motorists to carry some amount of liability insurance to be on the road legally. In 2017, less than 11% of car accidents with injuries resulted in medical bills higher than the at-fault driver’s liability coverage.
That figure rose to 14.7% in 2020 and, by 2023, nearly one in five (18%) at-fault drivers didn’t have enough coverage to pay for medical expenses.
Paying too much for car insurance? Check out these options to save.
Offers in this section are from affiliate partners and selected based on a combination of engagement, product relevance, compensation, and consistent availability.
Geico auto coverage is available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It offers 16 discounts and a variety of optional add-ons, like roadside assistance, rental car reimbursement and mechanical breakdown insurance.
The same year, more than one in seven drivers (15.4%) had no auto insurance at all, according to the report.
In a statement, IRC president Dale Porfilio says the spike in under- and uninsured drivers was fueled by the abrupt economic upheaval brought on by the pandemic.
“We’ve been watching for rates to improve with lower unemployment and household income increases, but [they] continue to tick upward in most states,” he added. “We presume deteriorating insurance affordability is more than offsetting economic improvements.”
To protect drivers who are insured, car insurance companies offer uninsured motorists (UM) coverage, which provides compensation for injuries and property damage caused by someone without car insurance or a hit-and-run driver. Underinsured motorists (UIM) coverage, meanwhile, pays for repairs and medical bills that exceed the at-fault driver’s limits.
Twenty states mandate UM coverage, but only six require drivers to have both UM and UIM insurance.
Given how many drivers lack sufficient coverage, IRC vice president Vickie Kilgore said it’s a good idea to buy both, even if your state doesn’t require them by law.
“They’ll help pay for medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages that would have been the responsibility of the at-fault driver,” Kilgore said.
You should also review your own liability coverage to make sure you’re not adding to the problem.
How much car insurance do I need?
The amount and type of insurance coverage you need depends on the state you live in, but these are the most common required elements.
UM/UIM insurance
Twenty-two states require drivers to have some sort of coverage to account for uninsured (UM) or underinsured (UIM) motorists.
- States that require UM coverage: Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
- States that require UIM coverage: Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin
- States that require both: Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. require both UM and UIM coverage.
No-fault states may also require personal injury protection (PIP) or medical payment (MedPay) coverage, both of which cover medical expenses for you and your passengers after an accident, regardless of who is at fault.
- States that require Personal Injury Protection: Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon and Utah. (Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Texas, Washington, and Washington D.C. offer PIP as an optional add-on).
- States that require MedPay: Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
State minimum liability insurance
All U.S. states (with the exception of New Hampshire) require a minimum amount of liability car insurance. Each sets its own minimum rates: In New York, for example, the minimum is $25,000 in bodily injury liability per person, $50,000 in bodily injury liability per accident and $10,000 in property damage liability per accident.
This can also be expressed as “25/10/10.” Here are the minimum limits in all 50 states
| Bodily injury liability per person/per accident/property damage liability | Other coverage requirements | |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 25/50/25 | None |
| Alaska | 50/100/25 | None |
| Arizona | 25/50/15 | None |
| Arkansas | 25/50/25 | None |
| California | 30/60/15 | None |
| Colorado | 25/50/15 | None |
| Connecticut | 25/50/25 | UM/UIM: 25/50 |
| Delaware | 25/50/10 | PIP: 15/30 |
| Florida | $10,000 property damage | PIP: $10,000 |
| Georgia | 25/50/25 | None |
| Hawaii | 20/40/10 | PIP: $10,000 |
| Idaho | 25/50/15 | None |
| Illinois | 25/50/20 | UM/UIM: 25/50 |
| Indiana | 25/50/25 | None |
| Iowa | 20/40/15 | None |
| Kansas | 25/50/25 | PIP: $4,500; UM/UIM: 25/50 |
| Kentucky | 25/50/25 | PIP: $10,000 |
| Louisiana | 15/30/25 | None |
| Maine | 50/100/25 | UM/UIM: 50/100 MedPay: $2,000 |
| Maryland | 30/60/15 | UM: 30/60/15 |
| Massachusetts | 20/40/5 | UM: 20/40 PIP: $8,000 |
| Michigan | 50/100/10 | PIP: $50,000 and up |
| Minnesota | 30/60/10 | UM/UIM: 25/50 PIP: $40,000 |
| Mississippi | 25/50/25 | None |
| Missouri | 25/50/25 | UM/UIM: 25/50 |
| Montana | 25/50/20 | None |
| Nebraska | 25/50/25 | UM/UIM: 25/50 |
| Nevada | 25/50/20 | None |
| New Hampshire | 25/50/25** | UM: 25/50 MedPay: $1,000 |
| New Jersey | 25/50/25 | UM/UIM: 25/50 PIP: $15,000 |
| New Mexico | 25/50/10 | None |
| New York | 25/50/10 | UM/UIM: 25/50 PIP: $50,000 |
| North Carolina | 30/60/25 | UM/UIM: 50/100/50 |
| North Dakota | 25/50/25 | UM/UIM: 25/50 PIP: $30,000 |
| Ohio | 25/50/25 | None |
| Oklahoma | 25/50/25 | None |
| Oregon | 25/50/20 | UM/UIM: 25/50 PIP: $15,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 15/30/5 | PIP: $5,000 |
| Rhode Island | 25/50/25 | None |
| South Carolina | 25/50/25 | UM: 25/50/25 |
| South Dakota | 25/50/25 | UM/UIM: 25/50 |
| Tennessee | 25/50/25 | None |
| Texas | 30/60/25 | None |
| Utah | 30/65/25 | PIP: $3,000 |
| Vermont | 25/50/10 | UM: 50/100/10 |
| Virginia | 50/100/25 | None |
| Washington | 25/50/10 | None |
| Washington, D.C. | 25/50/10 | UM: 25/50/5 |
| West Virginia | 25/50/25 | UM: 25/50/25 |
| Wisconsin | 25/50/10 | UM: 25/50 |
| Wyoming | 25/50/20 | None |
Source: *Florida only requires $10,000 in property damage liability, ** New Hampshire only requires proof of financial responsibility, either with insurance, a bond or cash deposit
Meeting these requirements will allow you to drive legally, but they’re not adjusted for years at a time and often don’t account for inflation in both medical expenses and auto repairs.
As a result, minimum liability coverage can easily be insufficient to protect your assets if you’re found responsible for a collision. As a good rule of thumb, you should have enough insurance to cover your net worth, or the sum of your assets minus your debts and liabilities.
If you have a particularly high net worth, consider an umbrella insurance policy, which can increase your overall liability coverage to $1 million or more.
How much car insurance do you need FAQs
What is a good amount of car insurance?
Having enough car insurance coverage to pay for damages to others is essential — get enough to cover your entire net worth, or at least meet your state’s minimum requirements.
Do I need comprehensive and collision car insurance?
If you are financing or leasing your vehicle, you’re likely required by the terms of your loan or lease to have comprehensive and collision coverage. If you own your car outright, it’s worth having comprehensive and collision coverage if you wouldn’t be able to repair or replace your car on your own out of pocket. If your car isn’t worth ten times the premiums for these coverages, however, it might be time to drop them.
What companies have the cheapest car insurance?
Subscribe to the CNBC Select Newsletter!
Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox. Sign up here.
Why trust CNBC Select?
At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every car insurance review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of insurance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.
Catch up on CNBC Select’s in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.
Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.