Florida Car Insurance Requirements in 2026: What the Law Makes You Carry, and What It Doesn't
To register a car in Florida you need two coverages and $20,000 of total limits: $10,000 of personal injury protection (PIP) and $10,000 of property damage liability (PDL). That's it. Florida does not make you buy bodily injury liability (BI) up front, the coverage that pays when you hurt someone else. And yes, that's still the law in 2026.
BI becomes mandatory only after something goes wrong: an injury crash you're blamed for without BI in force, a DUI, or certain license suspensions or revocations (s. 324.072). A simple insurance lapse isn't one of them; that's reinstated with PIP and PDL. At that point the state sets the limits and wants an insurer to certify them with an SR-22 or FR-44 filing.
Below is what the law requires, who has to carry it, what happens when it lapses, and what the minimum leaves sitting on your own balance sheet. I'll keep the PIP claim mechanics short, because the Florida PIP 14-day rule post covers them in detail.
Source: s. 627.736, s. 324.022 and s. 324.0221, Florida Statutes (2026); FLHSMV insurance requirements.
Still the law in 2026
If you've read online that Florida scrapped PIP, you read wrong. In May 2026, Insurance Journal reported that some law firm sites, agency posts and AI search answers were claiming the no-fault law had been repealed. It hasn't been.
The latest attempt was SB 522 in the 2026 session. It would have repealed the no-fault law and required BI of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash, plus $10,000 of property damage, starting January 1, 2027. It died in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on March 13, 2026. Its House companion, HB 769, died in the Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee the same day.
The only repeal bill to clear both chambers in recent years was SB 54 in 2021 (Senate 37-3, House 100-16), and it was vetoed on June 29, 2021. Repeal bills in 2022 (SB 150), 2023 (SB 586), 2024 (SB 464) and 2025 (HB 1181) all died in committee, along with their companions, per Florida Senate bill records. So the rules below are the ones on the books today. If a repeal ever passes, this post gets rewritten.
Required vs. optional, coverage by coverage
The Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) has a warning on its auto insurance overview that I agree with: be careful with the phrases "full coverage" and "what's required," because what one person means by them "may differ from one person to the next." Here's the actual split.
| Coverage | Required to register? | What it pays for |
|---|---|---|
| Personal injury protection (PIP) | Yes, $10,000 | You and others covered by your policy, whoever caused the crash: 80% of reasonable medical bills, 60% of lost income, $5,000 death benefit |
| Property damage liability (PDL) | Yes, $10,000 | Other people's property you damage, like their car or fence |
| Bodily injury liability (BI) | No, until certain crashes, license suspensions or revocations, or a DUI trigger it (not a simple insurance lapse) | Injury or death you cause to other people |
| Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) | No. Must be offered with BI; rejecting it takes a signed form | Your injuries when the at-fault driver has no BI or too little |
| Medical payments (Med Pay) | No | Your reasonable medical and funeral expenses from a covered injury |
| Collision | No | Damage to your own car in a crash |
| Comprehensive (other than collision) | No | Your own car: fire, theft, windstorm, vandalism, flood |
Source: Florida DFS, Personal Automobile Insurance Overview; FLHSMV; s. 627.736, s. 324.022, s. 627.727, Florida Statutes.
Two things in that table surprise people. First, neither required coverage repairs your own car. PDL pays for the other person's property; PIP pays for injuries. If you want your own car covered, that's collision and comprehensive, and Florida law doesn't require either. If you financed the car, read the loan agreement, because it can set coverage requirements of its own. DFS defines "force placed insurance" as coverage a lienholder places when the buyer fails to meet the coverage requirements in the loan agreement.
Second, the $10,000 of property damage can also be met with a single-limit policy of at least $30,000 that combines property damage and bodily injury (s. 324.022(1)). Your declarations page shows which way your policy is written.
On PIP itself: it's the no-fault piece. It pays 80% of necessary and reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost income, out of the same $10,000, plus a separate $5,000 death benefit (s. 627.736(1)). Whether you get the full $10,000 depends on getting care within 14 days and on an emergency medical condition finding. The 14-day rule post walks through that math.
Who has to carry it
The rule attaches to the vehicle's owner or registrant, not to the driver's license. Under s. 627.733(1), the owner or registrant of a motor vehicle that has to be registered in Florida must keep PIP security in place continuously through the registration period. For no-fault purposes, a "motor vehicle" is a self-propelled vehicle with four or more wheels (s. 627.732(3)), so motorcycles sit outside the PIP mandate.
- Continuous means continuous. FLHSMV says coverage has to stay in force even if the car isn't driven or doesn't run. A car parked in the garage on a Florida plate still needs PIP and PDL.
- Plate first, then cancel. Selling the car, leaving the state, or storing it for the season? FLHSMV tells owners to surrender the plate at a driver license or motor vehicle service center or a tax collector's office before cancelling the policy. Do it in the other order and you've created a lapse.
- Nonresidents: the 90-day rule. A nonresident's vehicle that has been physically in Florida for more than 90 days during the preceding 365 days, driven or not, needs Florida security for as long as it stays in the state (s. 627.733(2)). If you winter in Naples, Sarasota or The Villages on an out-of-state plate, count your days.
- New jobs and school enrollment: 10 days. Per FLHSMV, a nonresident who takes a job in Florida or enrolls children in a Florida public school needs a Florida registration, plate and policy, and has 10 days after starting work or enrollment to get the registration and plate.
- Taxis are different. FLHSMV lists BI of $125,000 per person and $250,000 per occurrence, plus $50,000 of PDL, for taxis.
An insurer can't sell you PIP without PDL (s. 627.7275), so in practice the two arrive as a pair. And if you're an owner without PIP in force on the day of a crash, you lose the no-fault law's protection and are personally liable for the PIP benefits that should have been paid (s. 627.733(4)).
When Florida makes you buy bodily injury liability
Florida's financial responsibility law (chapter 324) is where BI comes in. The baseline proof of financial responsibility is $10,000 of BI for one person, $20,000 for two or more people, and $10,000 of property damage, written as 10/20/10 (s. 324.021(7)). You don't need it to register a car. You need it after one of these:
| Trigger | What you must carry | For how long |
|---|---|---|
| Injury crash, you were charged with a moving violation, and 10/20/10 plus PIP wasn't in force | 10/20/10 BI and PD with an SR-22 filing, plus releases from the injured or a security deposit | 3 years from the suspension date |
| DUI conviction (s. 316.193) | 100/300/50 with an FR-44 filing, or a $350,000 certificate of deposit | At least 3 years from reinstatement |
| Certain license suspensions or revocations (ss. 322.26, 322.27), not a simple insurance lapse | Proof of financial responsibility (10/20/10) for every vehicle registered in your name | Until reinstated, and maintained afterward |
| Unpaid court judgment from a crash | Pay (or have stayed) the judgment, then show 10/20/10 proof | Proof kept 3 years; suspension up to 20 years or until the judgment is resolved |
Source: FLHSMV, Involved in a Crash?; s. 324.021(7), s. 324.023, s. 324.051, s. 324.072, s. 324.131, Florida Statutes; FLHSMV FR-44 bulletin.
- BI, one person
- BI, per crash
- Property damage
Source: s. 324.022, s. 324.021(7), s. 324.023, Florida Statutes; RCW 46.29.090 and RCW 46.30.020
Show the numbers
| BI, one person | BI, per crash | Property damage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FL register | $0 | $0 | $10K |
| FL crash | $10K | $20K | $10K |
| FL DUI | $100K | $300K | $50K |
| WA | $25K | $50K | $10K |
The Washington column is there for scale. Washington won't let you drive a car subject to registration there without a liability policy of at least 25/50/10 (RCW 46.30.020, RCW 46.29.090). Florida starts at zero BI and jumps to 100/300/50 after a DUI.
The SR-22 and FR-44 are forms your insurer files with FLHSMV to certify you carry those limits. Florida law requires insurers to make reinstatement policies available, subject to their underwriting, for at least six months (s. 627.7275(2)). In the crash scenario, FLHSMV may also charge a $15 reinstatement fee if one applies.
Here's why 10/20/10 is thin, as a labelled hypothetical. Say you cause a crash and three people in the other car each have $15,000 of damages, $45,000 in total. With 10/20/10, the policy pays at most $10,000 for any one person and $20,000 for everyone combined. That leaves $25,000 unpaid, and the injured people can pursue you for it. If a court judgment from a crash goes unpaid, FLHSMV says your license, tags and registrations can stay suspended for up to 20 years or until it's satisfied.
What a lapse costs
FLHSMV finds out fast. Every insurer that writes PIP or PDL has to report a cancellation or nonrenewal to FLHSMV within 10 days, and has to warn the policyholder in writing that it will (s. 324.0221(1)). When the department's records show no required security, it suspends the registration and the driver license, after notice and an opportunity to be heard. FLHSMV says that suspension can run up to three years, and there's no hardship license for an insurance suspension.
Source: s. 324.0221(3), Florida Statutes (fees are nonrefundable)
Show the numbers
| Fee | |
|---|---|
| 1st | $150 |
| 2nd | $250 |
| 3rd and later | $500 |
The fee is the small part. Without a license you can't legally drive to work, and you still have to get coverage back in place. For a plain lapse, that means PIP and PDL again, not BI; insurers have to make those reinstatement policies available, subject to underwriting (s. 627.7275(2)). The simplest fix is the boring one: if you're switching insurers, line up the new policy's start date with the old one's end date, and if you're taking a car off the road, turn in the plate first.
Proof of insurance
Florida accepts proof on your phone. Under s. 316.646(1), you can show a valid policy, binder, certificate of insurance or other proof in electronic form, in the format FLHSMV prescribes. Handing an officer your phone to show the card doesn't, by itself, give consent to search the device. Keep a paper copy in the glovebox anyway; phones die at the worst moments.
What the minimum leaves exposed
Florida's rule protects the car owner's own medical bills up to a point and the other person's property up to $10,000. It doesn't promise anything for your injuries if someone else causes the crash and carries nothing but PIP and PDL. And plenty of drivers carry nothing at all.
Source: Insurance Research Council via Triple-I: uninsured motorists facts and statistics and table archive
Show the numbers
| Year | Uninsured |
|---|---|
| Florida 2015 | 26.7% |
| Florida 2019 | 20.4% |
| Florida 2023 | 20.6% |
| U.S. 2023 | 15.4% |
By the Insurance Research Council's estimate, 20.6% of Florida motorists were uninsured in 2023, against 15.4% nationally, a gap of 5.2 percentage points. Florida's rate was 26.7% in 2015, 20.4% in 2019 and 20.6% in 2023. Triple-I's table carries a footnote on Florida noting that the state's compulsory auto law applies to PIP and physical damage, but not to third-party bodily injury coverage.
Source: FLHSMV, Florida Traffic Crash Facts Annual Report 2024
Show the numbers
| Crashes | |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 395,175 |
| 2024 | 381,423 |
Source: FLHSMV, Florida Traffic Crash Facts Annual Report 2024
Show the numbers
| Deaths | |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 3,375 |
| 2024 | 3,098 |
Fewer crashes and fewer deaths in 2024 is good news, but the scale is still large. FLHSMV's 2024 annual report counts 381,423 codable crashes, 160,945 of them with injuries and 246,426 people hurt, plus 97,999 hit-and-run crashes. In a hit-and-run there's no other driver's policy to claim against at all.
That's the hole uninsured motorist coverage fills. Under s. 627.727, any policy with BI on a Florida-registered or garaged car must include UM unless a named insured rejects it in writing on an OIR-approved form, and UM limits match your BI limits unless you pick lower ones. "Uninsured" in the statute also covers a driver whose BI limits are less than your damages, and one whose insurer is insolvent. UM pays on top of PIP and Med Pay, without duplicating them.
The catch, and the part people miss: UM rides on BI. If you buy the state minimum, PIP and PDL only, you have no BI and therefore no UM. My read: for most households with a paycheck or a home to protect, BI and UM are the first two coverages worth pricing above the minimum. An umbrella policy sits above BI if your assets are larger than any auto limit, and the Florida auto insurance page lays out how the pieces fit.
After Hurricane Isaias: flooded cars
Hurricane Isaias came ashore in the Panhandle on the night of October 9, 2026, and the Chief Financial Officer's October 10 release points storm-affected Floridians to DFS for insurance help. If your car took on water, the question is whether you carry comprehensive, which DFS also calls "other than collision." That's the coverage DFS lists for fire, theft, windstorm, vandalism or flood damage to your vehicle. PIP and PDL, the required minimum, don't pay to repair your own car.
If you do have comprehensive: photograph the damage, including the waterline inside the car, and report the claim promptly. If a claim stalls, the DFS Division of Consumer Services helpline is 1-877-693-5236 (1-877-MY-FL-CFO). The same release includes a fraud warning, so check out anyone who contacts you offering to help with a claim. If your home was damaged too, the deadlines for that claim are in how long you have to file a hurricane claim in Florida.
What to check before your next renewal
- Is there a BI line at all? If your declarations page shows only PIP and PDL, you have the legal minimum and no coverage for injuries you cause.
- UM: included, lowered or rejected? If you signed a rejection years ago, that choice stays until you change it.
- Collision and comprehensive. If your car is worth more than you could comfortably replace, these are the only coverages on the list that fix it. Check the deductibles too.
- The loan agreement. If the car is financed, compare its coverage requirements to your policy so the lienholder doesn't place coverage for you.
- Snowbird and new-resident dates. Track the 90-in-365 days and the 10-day window after a Florida job or school enrollment.
- Cancelling? Plate in first, policy cancelled second.
FAQ
What car insurance is required in Florida?
To register a car with four or more wheels in Florida you need $10,000 of personal injury protection (PIP) and $10,000 of property damage liability (PDL), kept in force continuously. Bodily injury liability is not required to register.
Is bodily injury liability required in Florida?
Not to register a typical private car. It becomes required after certain events: an injury crash where you were charged with a moving violation without 10/20/10 coverage in force (SR-22 for three years), certain license suspensions or revocations, or a DUI conviction (100/300/50 with an FR-44 for at least three years). A simple insurance lapse is reinstated with PIP and PDL.
Did Florida get rid of PIP in 2026?
No. The 2026 repeal bills, SB 522 and HB 769, both died in committee on March 13, 2026. PIP and property damage liability are still required to register a car in Florida.
What happens if my Florida car insurance lapses?
Insurers report cancellations to FLHSMV within 10 days, and FLHSMV can suspend your license and registration. Reinstatement costs $150 the first time, $250 the second and $500 for each later one within three years of the first, under s. 324.0221.
Does Florida accept electronic proof of insurance?
Yes. Under s. 316.646, you can show proof of insurance in electronic form, and showing it on a phone does not by itself give an officer consent to search the device.
Your own policy wording and Florida law control what's covered. Confirm your situation with a licensed agent, the Florida Department of Financial Services or Office of Insurance Regulation, or, for legal questions, an attorney.
Sources
- Florida Statutes s. 627.736, required personal injury protection benefits (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 627.733, required security (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 627.732, definitions (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 627.7275, PIP/PDL and reinstatement policies (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 627.727, uninsured motorist coverage (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 324.021, definitions; minimum financial responsibility limits (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 324.022, property damage liability (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 324.0221, reporting, suspension and reinstatement fees (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 324.023, financial responsibility after DUI (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 324.051, reports of crashes; suspensions (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 324.072, proof required upon certain convictions (2026)
- Florida Statutes s. 324.131, period of suspension after a judgment (2026)
- Florida Senate: SB 150 (2022)
- Florida Senate: SB 586 (2023)
- Florida Senate: SB 464 (2024)
- Florida Senate: HB 1181 (2025)
- Florida Statutes s. 316.646, proof of security, electronic format (2026)
- FLHSMV: insurance requirements
- FLHSMV: Involved in a crash?
- FLHSMV Bureau of Financial Responsibility bulletin on the FR-44 (Dec. 19, 2007)
- FLHSMV: Florida Traffic Crash Facts Annual Report 2024
- Florida DFS: Personal Automobile Insurance Overview
- Florida CFO press release on Hurricane Isaias resources (Oct. 10, 2026)
- Florida Senate: SB 522 (2026)
- Florida Senate: HB 769 (2026)
- Florida Senate: SB 54 (2021)
- Insurance Journal: claims that Florida's no-fault law was repealed (May 5, 2026)
- Triple-I: Facts and statistics, uninsured motorists (IRC data)
- Triple-I: uninsured motorists table archive (IRC data)
- RCW 46.29.090, Washington liability policy limits
- RCW 46.30.020, Washington mandatory liability insurance
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal, tax or insurance advice. Coverage depends on the actual policy, its terms, conditions and exclusions, and state law. Maru Insurance · WA License (WAOIC) #1365574 · FL License #G363233 · NPN 22261820.