The Complexity of Florida Auto Insurance Laws

The state of Florida has some of the more complicated auto insurance codes in the US. Since knowing and understanding the law is your responsibility wherever you live, this can make it particularly difficult to know your rights and responsibilities under the Florida auto insurance laws.

Florida is known as a “partial” no-fault state in terms of automobile insurance. The no fault part of the law and your auto insurance policy pertains to bodily injuries sustained in a car accident. What this means is that, regardless of who caused the auto accident, each party is responsible for his or her own medical bills for these injuries. This limits the right to sue the party at fault in the collision. Because of this stipulation in the law, it is important to make sure you have adequate personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability coverage built into your auto insurance policy. Florida auto insurance laws require that all drivers carry both types of coverage.

Your PIP coverage compensates you for your own medical bills, lost wages, and funeral expenses resulting from an auto accident. Property damage insurance liability covers expenses resulting from damage caused by you to another’s property. The laws in Florida require that drivers carry ten thousand dollars in both PIP and property damage liability coverage, but it is recommended for most drivers that insurance be purchased in greater amounts, perhaps up to twenty five thousand dollars in PIP and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of property damage liability coverage because a serious auto accident can easily cause more than ten thousand dollars in both bodily injuries and property damage. No one wants to find him or herself underinsured in this situation.

Florida’s car insurance law also may require a driver to carry bodily injury liability (BIL) coverage. This coverage compensates another party for injuries you cause them in an auto accident. On the surface this coverage may seem like a direct contradiction of the “no fault” portion of the state’s laws. BIL coverage is usually only required for drivers that have caused an auto accident resulting in injury in the past. When it is required the insurance coverage minimum is usually a 10/20 ratio which means coverage up to ten thousand dollars per person with a maximum of twenty thousand dollars total. Like the other types of insurance coverage, it is recommended that drivers purchase this coverage in higher amounts. Also, even if a driver is not required to cover BIL coverage, it is recommended that they do anyway for their own financial protection.