Every state sets its own rules, but most require liability coverage that pays for injuries and damage you cause to other people. Some states also require personal injury protection or uninsured motorist coverage on every policy. If you have a car loan or a lease, the lender or lessor will also want collision and comprehensive on the car itself. Past those requirements, the right limits depend on what you own and who drives. State minimums are a floor, and a multi-car crash or another driver’s totaled car can run past them, leaving the difference on you.
The coverages on a personal auto policy
- Bodily injury liability applies to injuries you cause to someone else.
- Property damage liability pays for damage you cause to someone else’s car, or to objects and structures you hit.
- Collision pays for damage to your own car from a collision with another car, an object or a pothole, or from flipping over.
- Comprehensive pays for damage to your car that wasn’t caused by a crash, such as theft, fire, flood or vandalism.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is for when the driver who hits you has no insurance, drives off, or doesn’t carry enough insurance to pay your full loss.
- Medical payments pays treatment for you and your passengers, and can also pay when you’re hurt as a pedestrian, a cyclist or a passenger in someone else’s car.
- Personal injury protection (PIP) works like medical payments but can also pay lost wages and other nonmedical costs.
What the law requires varies by state
Bodily injury and property damage liability are required in most states. The amounts are written as three numbers: per person injured, all injuries in one accident, and property damage. A few examples from the state agencies themselves:
- California requires $30,000 for injury or death to one person, $60,000 for injury or death to more than one person, and $15,000 for property damage, under Insurance Code §11580.1b. The DMV is explicit that comprehensive or collision alone doesn’t meet the requirement.
- Texas requires 30/60/25: $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $25,000 for property damage. Every Texas policy includes PIP and insurers must offer uninsured motorist coverage; to turn down either one, you have to do it in writing.
- New York requires $25,000 for bodily injury to one person, $50,000 for all persons and $10,000 for property damage, plus $50,000 of no-fault coverage and uninsured motorist coverage subject to the same minimums.
- Florida requires at least $10,000 of PIP and $10,000 of property damage liability to register a vehicle with four or more wheels. If a crash report notes injuries and the at-fault driver is charged with a moving violation, that driver must have had liability coverage of at least $10,000/$20,000/$10,000; a driver without it has to buy that coverage and keep an SR-22 filing for three years from the suspension date.
Other states set their own numbers. If you keep cars or drive regularly in more than one state, check the state pages and tell me where each car is kept.
No-fault and PIP states
In a no-fault state, your own insurance company pays for injuries to you and your passengers regardless of who caused the crash, and PIP is how it does it. New York and Florida both build their requirements around it. Florida’s PIP pays 80 percent of necessary and reasonable medical expenses up to $10,000 for a covered injury, no matter who caused the crash. Other states, like Texas, put PIP on the policy unless you reject it in writing. Before you sign anything that waives PIP or uninsured motorist coverage, read what you are giving up.
What a lender or lease adds
The state minimum only protects other people. If you owe money on the car, your lender will require collision and comprehensive, because the car is its collateral. Lease agreements typically require collision and comprehensive as well as bodily injury and property damage liability, and the contract can set its own terms, so it is the document to check, not the state minimum.
Ask the lessor or lender one more question: if the car is stolen or totaled and the insurance payout is less than what you still owe, who covers that gap? Get the answer before you sign, not after a loss.
How I size limits above the minimum
Texas’s insurance department puts it plainly: minimum limits might not be enough if you cause a multi-vehicle crash or total another driver’s car, and you could be personally responsible for the difference. New York’s regulator likewise advises raising liability limits based on your needs and the assets you want to protect. That is the question I start with: what would a judgment reach if a crash were your fault?
- What you own. Count the house, savings and business you would want to protect if a claim ran past your policy limit.
- Who drives. Teen drivers, a long commute or a car used for work all change the exposure and what underwriters ask about.
- Your own protection. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is sized to protect you from the other driver’s low limits, so I look at it alongside your liability.
- The car’s value. On an older car you own outright, collision and comprehensive are a choice, not a requirement, and the deductible is part of that choice.
Tickets, a lapse or a required filing don’t take you out of the market; see non-standard auto insurance. For the standard route, start with auto insurance.
Common questions
Is full coverage required by law?
The state requirements on this page are liability and, in some states, PIP or uninsured motorist coverage. Collision and comprehensive are what a lender or lease contract usually requires.
Does collision or comprehensive meet the state requirement?
Not by itself. California’s DMV, for example, says comprehensive or collision insurance does not meet the financial responsibility requirement; you need the liability limits.
What does 30/60/25 mean?
It is shorthand for liability limits: $30,000 per person injured, $60,000 for all injuries in one accident and $25,000 for property damage. That is the Texas minimum.
Do I need uninsured motorist coverage?
Some states require it, such as New York, and others, such as Texas, require insurers to offer it unless you reject it in writing. Even where it is optional, it is the coverage that responds when the at-fault driver has little or no insurance.
What is a no-fault state?
A state where your own insurer pays for injuries to you and your passengers through PIP regardless of who caused the crash. New York and Florida are examples.
Sources
- California DMV: insurance requirements
- Texas Department of Insurance: auto insurance guide
- New York DFS: how much auto insurance must I carry?
- New York DFS: what auto coverages do I need?
- Florida HSMV: insurance requirements
- Florida HSMV: insurance requirements after a crash
- NAIC: what does auto insurance cover?
- Federal Reserve: Keys to Vehicle Leasing, insurance
General information about personal auto insurance requirements as of October 2026, not legal advice; your state’s law, your loan or lease contract and the policy itself control. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.