UNDERSTANDING YOUR COVERAGE

Why Your Auto Policy Deserves a Second Look

Florida is a "no-fault" state, and its auto insurance rules are unlike almost anywhere else in the country. Every registered vehicle must carry two coverages:

  • Personal Injury Protection (PIP), $10,000. Pays your own medical bills and lost wages after an accident, no matter who caused it. PIP generally pays 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost income, up to the $10,000 limit. Benefits are capped at $2,500 unless a doctor diagnoses an emergency medical condition, and you must get treatment within 14 days of the accident.
  • Property Damage Liability (PDL), $10,000. Pays for damage you cause to someone else's car or property, up to $10,000.

That's it. Bodily Injury Liability — the coverage that pays for injuries you cause to other people — isn't required to register a car in Florida. It's only required later, after certain events such as an at-fault accident with injuries or a DUI conviction. Many Florida drivers carry none at all.

It's easy to assume the legal minimum is enough because it's the law. In practice, Florida's minimums leave two large gaps: nothing for the people you injure, and $10,000 for vehicle damage at a time when the average new car costs well over four times that. Closing those gaps is usually one of the least expensive upgrades you can make.

THE CASE FOR HIGHER LIMITS

Florida's no-fault system protects at-fault drivers only up to a point. Once an injury is serious — a permanent injury, significant scarring or disfigurement, or death — the injured person can step outside no-fault and sue the driver who caused it. If that driver has no Bodily Injury coverage, every dollar of the judgment, plus legal defense costs, comes from their own savings, home equity and future wages.

The numbers add up quickly. The average bodily injury claim nationally runs about $26,500 per injured person. A crash that seriously injures two or three people can easily produce $150,000 to $300,000 or more in claims. With no Bodily Injury coverage, that entire amount is yours to pay. The National Safety Council estimates the average economic cost of a traffic death at roughly $2.05 million, and auto accidents account for close to a quarter of today's "nuclear verdicts" — jury awards of $10 million or more.

Property damage is a gap too. Florida's required $10,000 of PDL can be used up by a single fender-bender with a newer vehicle. A record 23.1% of auto claims were declared total losses in 2025, and anything above your limit is your responsibility.

Adding Bodily Injury Liability, and raising your limits to something like 100/300/100, is one of the most cost-effective changes you can make. A personal umbrella policy on top of that adds $1 million or more of protection for a few hundred dollars a year. Most umbrella carriers require minimum underlying auto limits, often 250/500/100, so it's worth planning the two together.

UNINSURED/UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE — THE PART THAT PAYS YOU

Uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage protects you, your family and your passengers when the driver who causes an accident has no Bodily Injury coverage or not enough to cover what you're owed. It pays for medical bills beyond PIP, lost wages, and pain and suffering. It also applies to hit-and-run accidents, where the at-fault driver can't be identified.

In Florida, this coverage matters more than almost anywhere else. Because Bodily Injury Liability isn't required, a driver can be completely legal and still have no coverage for your injuries. Add the drivers who carry no insurance at all, and a Florida driver faces a high chance that the person who hits them can't pay. Your PIP covers only the first $10,000, and only part of your bills and lost wages. Beyond that, UM is what stands between you and the gap.

Two Florida rules matter here:

  • UM is optional, but the law presumes you want it. Florida insurers must offer UM in the same amount as your Bodily Injury limits. You can reject it or choose lower limits only in writing. Many drivers signed that rejection form years ago without realizing what they gave up.
  • UM is tied to your Bodily Injury coverage. Your UM limits generally can't be higher than your Bodily Injury limits. If you carry no Bodily Injury coverage, you typically can't buy UM at all. Carrying Bodily Injury protects you from what you might owe, and it also makes the coverage that pays you available.

You can choose stacked UM, which multiplies your coverage by the number of vehicles on your policy and follows you and your household in any vehicle, or non-stacked UM, which costs less but is more limited. I'll explain the trade-off for your household.

Put simply: you can't control how much insurance the other driver carries, or whether they carry any at all. What you can control is how much UM protection stands behind you. It's worth carrying limits that match your own Bodily Injury coverage, not the state's bare minimum.