What Coverage Is Required for Car Insurance in Florida?

Florida’s car insurance requirements are narrow: at least $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and at least $10,000 in Property Damage Liability (PDL). Both must be in place before you register a vehicle and must stay active the entire time your registration is valid.¹ Florida is a no-fault state, so your own PIP policy pays your medical bills after a crash regardless of who caused it. That sounds simple, but the coverage has rules that can shrink your benefits quickly if you don’t know them.

What PIP Actually Pays

PIP covers you, relatives in your household, anyone driving your vehicle with permission, your passengers, and pedestrians or cyclists your vehicle strikes. The policy pays up to $10,000 in medical and disability costs, plus a separate $5,000 death benefit.²

It does not pay 100% of your costs. PIP covers 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost income, both applied against that $10,000 cap. It also does not cover damage to any vehicle or other property, injuries you caused intentionally, injuries sustained while committing a crime, or pain and suffering.²

The 14-Day Rule and the $2,500 Cap

Two rules quietly gut PIP coverage for people who don’t know about them.

First, you must receive initial medical treatment within 14 days of the accident. Miss that window and your PIP insurer owes you nothing for medical bills, no matter how badly you were hurt.²

Second, even if you get treatment in time, your benefits are capped at $2,500 unless a qualifying medical provider determines you have an emergency medical condition. Only a physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse can make that determination. Without it, you don’t get the full $10,000.³

After any crash, see a doctor within two weeks, and make sure the provider documents an emergency medical condition if one exists.

What PDL Covers

PDL covers damage your vehicle causes to someone else’s property — another car, a fence, a mailbox, a storefront. The minimum is $10,000.⁴

That figure does not go far. A rear-end collision that deploys the other driver’s airbags can exceed it easily, and any damage above your limit comes out of your own pocket. PDL also pays nothing for your own vehicle. Repairs to your car after a crash you caused require separate collision coverage, which Florida does not require you to buy.

What Florida Does Not Require

Florida is one of the few states that does not require bodily injury liability (BIL) coverage for ordinary drivers. If you carry only the state minimums and injure someone, no BIL policy stands behind you. The injured person can sue you directly for anything beyond their own PIP, and you pay out of pocket for what a court awards.

Florida also does not require collision, comprehensive, or uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. UM gets one special rule though: if you carry BIL, your insurer must include UM at matching limits unless you reject it in writing on a state-approved form.⁵ Florida has one of the highest uninsured driver rates in the country, so rejecting UM leaves you exposed if an uninsured driver hits you.

Higher Requirements After a DUI

A DUI conviction changes the minimums entirely. Instead of the standard PIP-and-PDL floor, you must carry:

Bodily injury liability of at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident
Property damage liability of at least $50,000

These enhanced limits must stay in place for three years after your driving privileges are reinstated.⁶ To prove you’re carrying them, your insurer files an FR-44 with the state. It’s similar to the SR-22 used in most other states, but with much higher liability requirements.⁷

What Happens If Your Coverage Lapses

When PIP or PDL coverage lapses, your insurer reports it to the state. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles then suspends your driver’s license and vehicle registration, even if you haven’t been in an accident or stopped by police.⁸

Reinstatement fees escalate with repeats:

First reinstatement: $150
Second reinstatement within three years of the first: $250
Each additional reinstatement within that three-year window: $500

If you go three years without another lapse after your first reinstatement, the fee resets to $150.⁸ You’ll also need to obtain noncancelable coverage and file proof with the state for two years.

There’s a bigger consequence people miss. If you’re uninsured when an accident happens, you lose your no-fault tort immunity. Anyone you injure can sue you for the full value of their damages, including pain and suffering, without having to meet Florida’s serious-injury threshold.¹

Proof of Insurance While Driving

You must have proof of insurance with you whenever you drive. An officer can ask for it during any traffic stop or at an accident scene.⁹ Acceptable proof includes a paper insurance card, a policy document, an insurance binder, a certificate of insurance, or an electronic version on your phone or tablet.¹⁰ Handing an officer electronic proof doesn’t give them permission to look at anything else on the device. Presenting insurance you know is expired or invalid is a first-degree misdemeanor, not a traffic infraction.

1
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.733 – Required Security
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.736 – Required Personal Injury Protection Benefits; Exclusions; Priority; Claims
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 627.736 – Required Personal Injury Protection Benefits; Exclusions; Priority; Claims
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 324.022 – Financial Responsibility; Motor Vehicle Registered in This State
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Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.727 – Motor Vehicle Crash and Loss Data
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Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 324.023 – Financial Responsibility for Bodily Injury or Death
7
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. FR-44 Bulletin 12-19-07
8
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 324.0221 – Reports by Insurers to the Department; Suspension of Driver License and Vehicle Registrations; Reinstatement
9
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 316.646 – Security Required; Proof of Security and Display Thereof
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Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.646 – Security Required; Proof of Security and Display Thereof