How Much Car Insurance Do I Need?
Posted on: February 6, 2026How Much Car Insurance Do I Need in Florida?
“How much car insurance do I need?” is a question we hear all the time at Beers & Gordon—and in Florida, it’s an especially important one.
Here’s the quick answer: Florida’s legal minimum coverage may be enough to keep your registration valid, but it is often not enough to protect your health, income, or assets after a serious crash. The goal is to carry coverage that helps in real-life situations—when medical bills stack up, time off work adds up, and the other driver’s insurance comes up short.
Quick Answer for Florida Drivers
At a minimum, Florida requires Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage Liability (PDL). But if you can, we strongly recommend you also talk to your insurance agent about:
- Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) coverage (to protect you if you injure someone else)
- Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM) coverage (to protect you if the at-fault driver has little or no coverage)
- Higher Property Damage limits than the bare minimum
- Comprehensive and collision (if you can’t afford to replace your vehicle out of pocket)
- MedPay (to help close gaps PIP doesn’t cover)
- An umbrella policy (if you have significant assets to protect)
If you’re unsure what you currently have, the fastest place to check is your policy declarations page.
Florida Car Insurance Requirements
According to Florida law, drivers are only required to carry two types of insurance.
- At least $10,000 of Property Damage Liability (PDL) coverage
- At least $10,000 of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage
Property Damage Liability (PDL) is designed to cover property damage caused by you (or someone driving your vehicle).
Personal Injury Protection (PIP)—also known as
“No Fault insurance”—covers 80% of your medical bills and 60% of lost wages resulting from a car accident, regardless of who was at fault.
It’s important to note that, even with PIP coverage, you will still have to cover the cost of the remaining 20% of your medical bills and 40% of your lost wages out of your own pocket.
Why Florida’s Minimum Coverage Often Isn’t Enough
Ask any personal injury attorney (or insurance agent, for that matter) and they’ll tell you that Florida’s requirements for auto insurance are woefully low.
After all, $10,000 in coverage is next to nothing when the average new car costs more than $40,000.
Neither PDL nor PIP coverage will protect your assets or replace your car if you get into an accident. Your own injuries are only partially covered—and you may still be paying out of pocket for medical care and time away from work.
Just as important: Florida’s minimum requirements do not automatically protect you if you cause injuries to someone else. And if an accident is severe enough to damage someone’s vehicle, it’s probably severe enough to injure the people inside it.
Car accidents might be common, but they are not commonplace. It is impossible to predict when an accident will occur or how severe it will be, so your best bet is to be prepared with adequate auto insurance.
Wondering if you have a case? Take our quiz to find out.
To better protect yourself and your assets, you typically need more than the required minimum.
There are a wide variety of policies available and many are optional. But if you live in Florida and want real protection—not just legal compliance—there are a few coverages we strongly encourage you to understand.
Coverage You Should Add to Protect Your Assets
Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) coverage
Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) coverage is designed to cover injuries that you cause to others. It can also cover your legal fees if you are sued after an accident.
Other than Florida, all states require drivers to carry some level of BIL coverage, which should give you some indication of how important it is. We would love to see Florida join the other 49 states and require everyone to carry this coverage.
Practical minimums (guidance, not a legal rule): Talk to your agent about liability limits that match your real-world risk. Many drivers choose “split limits” (for example, a per-person amount and a per-accident amount). The key is this: serious crashes can create serious medical costs, and once your policy limits are exhausted, the remaining exposure may come out of your pocket.
Property Damage Liability (PDL): why $10,000 is often too low
Florida’s minimum PDL is $10,000—but modern vehicles, electronics, and repair costs can blow past that quickly.
If you’re asking, “How much property damage car insurance do I need?” this is the simplest way to think about it: choose a limit that wouldn’t put you in a financial hole if you totaled someone else’s vehicle (or damaged multiple vehicles in one crash). Many drivers carry more than the minimum for that reason alone.
Coverage You Should Add to Protect Yourself
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM)
Despite the legal requirements involving car insurance, an estimated 20% of Florida drivers are uninsured. UM coverage can help pay for medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, and pain and suffering when the at-fault driver’s insurance isn’t enough (or when there is no coverage at all). Because Florida is the only state that allows policies with no bodily injury coverage, this protection is even more important.
In Florida, UM coverage and BIL coverage are closely connected—so if you’re trying to add UM, you’ll usually be discussing BIL limits at the same time. In other words: these policies work best as a pair.
Stacked UM coverage (and why it matters)
It’s also important that you stack your Uninsured Motorist coverage to get the most use out of it.
How Does Insurance Stacking Work?
Insurance stacking allows you to add one car’s insurance coverage onto another car’s coverage to increase your policy limit in the event of an accident.
For example, say you have two vehicles on your policy, each with a limit of $50,000 per person and $150,000 per accident. If you stack this policy and get into an accident with an uninsured motorist, you could “stack” the limits and have a total of $300,000 in coverage.
Under Florida law, UM coverage is automatically stacked when you purchase it, but drivers are able to opt out of it in exchange for a lower premium.
How to quickly check if you’re stacked:
- Look at your declarations page for UM coverage
- Look for wording that says “stacked” or “STK” (or the opposite)
- If it’s unclear, ask your insurance company or agent—directly and in writing—whether your UM is stacked or non-stacked
If you are unsure of whether you stacked your UM coverage (or whether you have this type of coverage at all), we highly recommend that you contact your insurance company or agent as soon as possible.
Other Car Insurance Policies To Consider
The importance of bodily injury liability and uninsured motorist coverage cannot be overstated. But if you want to more fully protect your assets (your car as well as your bank account), there are a few other policies you should consider.
Comprehensive and Collision
Both comprehensive and collision coverage will repair or replace your car if it is damaged, but at different times and for different reasons.
Collision insurance covers damage to your car if it’s involved in a collision with another vehicle or object. Comprehensive coverage protects you from damage caused by any other (covered) damage, such as theft or fire.
MedPay
As we discussed earlier, Florida drivers are required to purchase $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) to cover medical bills and lost wages if they are injured in an accident. However, PIP only covers 80% of your medical bills.
MedPay may cover the remaining 20% not covered by PIP. In some cases, it may even continue paying once the $10,000 limit has been met.
Umbrella Policy
An umbrella policy increases the limits on liability coverage (such as property damage liability and bodily injury liability). Depending on the policy, it can also increase your underinsured motorist coverage.
With the costs of both vehicles and healthcare continuing to rise, an umbrella policy can come in handy. Additionally, if you have any collectible assets, this coverage can be vitally important.
A Simple Checklist for Choosing Your Limits
If you’re trying to decide how much car insurance you need in Florida, use this quick checklist when you talk to your agent:
- Start with the legal minimum (PIP + PDL)
- Ask what happens in a serious crash (injuries to others + multiple vehicles)
- Choose Bodily Injury Liability limits that protect what you own (savings, home equity, future earnings)
- Add UM coverage so you’re not relying on the other driver to “do the right thing”
- Confirm whether your UM is stacked (and what that means for your household)
- Consider comprehensive/collision if replacing your car would be a financial hit
- Consider MedPay if you want extra help beyond PIP
The Expertise You Need
Ultimately, the best answer to “how much car insurance do I need?” is simple: as much as you can afford.
Car accidents can happen at any time and the best idea is to prepare for the worst. You need protection if you cause an accident—and you need protection against those who injure you.
While there are some car insurance policies that are not the right choice for every driver—such as gap insurance—Bodily Injury Liability and Uninsured Motorist coverage are not among them. Every Florida driver should seriously consider these two forms of coverage to be better protected in the event of a car accident lawsuit.
We all buy car insurance to protect us from the many dangers that exist on the road. Yet all too often, car insurance coverage is not enough to cover the cost of mounting medical bills (not to mention lost wages).
In such cases, a car accident attorney may help you receive the compensation you need to fully recover from your injuries.
No matter what comes your way, the car accident attorneys at Beers & Gordon are here for you. Whether you are in a dispute with your insurance company or another driver’s insurance, we’ll fight to make sure your rights are represented and that you receive fair and just compensation for your injuries and damages. Call Beers and Gordon today to schedule your free consultation.
Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska in 1997, and two years later began working at a firm in Orlando handling insurance defense matters on cases involving vehicle accidents, negligence, product liability, and more. He established Beers & Gordon P.A. with David Beers in 2009 to represent the rights of people injured because of negligence. He is a member of the invitation-only National Trial Lawyers organization and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.