General Information
Before you register a vehicle with at least four wheels in Florida, you must show proof of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage Liability (PDL) automobile insurance. PIP covers 80 percent of all necessary and reasonable medical expenses up to $10,000 resulting from a covered injury, no matter who caused the crash. PDL coverage pays for damage to another person’s property caused by you or someone else driving your insured vehicle.
Proof of PIP/PDL coverage must be issued by an insurance company licensed in Florida to sell policies or by qualifying for a self-insurance certificate issued by FLHSMV.
Any vehicle with a current Florida registration must:
- be insured with PIP and PDL insurance at the time of vehicle registration.
- have a minimum of $10,000 in PIP AND a minimum of $10,000 in PDL. Vehicles registered as taxis must carry bodily injury liability (BIL) coverage of $125,000 per person, $250,000 per occurrence and $50,000 for (PDL) coverage.
- have continuous coverage even if the vehicle is not being driven or is inoperable. Surrender the license plate/tag BEFORE cancelling your insurance.
- purchase the policy from an insurance carrier licensed to do business in Florida. (If you are new to the state, you may ask your agent to transfer your current insurance to a Florida policy.)
- maintain Florida insurance coverage continuously throughout the registration period regardless of the vehicle’s location. (Military members stationed out-of-state/country may be exempt. Visit our military page for more information.)
Non-Resident
The vehicle you own must have a Florida registration and license plate and be insured with a Florida policy when a non-resident:
- accepts employment or engages in a trade, profession or occupation in Florida; or
- enrolls children to be educated in a Florida public school.
- You must obtain the registration certificate and license plate within 10 days after beginning employment or enrollment. You must also have a Florida certificate of title for your vehicle unless an out-of-state lien holder/lessor holds the title and will not release it to Florida.
Moving Out of State
Do not cancel your Florida insurance until you have registered your vehicle(s) in the other state or have surrendered all valid plates/registrations to a Florida driver license office and motor vehicle service center or Tax Collector’s office. If you are keeping the insurance carrier, they can change your coverage to your current state of residence when you make the registration change.
Penalties
You must maintain required insurance coverage throughout the registration period or your driving privilege and license plate may be suspended for up to three years. There are no provisions for a temporary or hardship driver license for insurance-related suspensions.
Turn in your license plate at your nearest driver license office and motor vehicle service center or Tax Collector’s office BEFORE canceling your insurance to avoid suspension and reinstatement fees.
Failure to maintain required insurance coverage in Florida may result in the suspension of your driver license/registration and a requirement to pay a reinstatement fee of up to $500.
Definitions:
Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) pays for injury or death to others.
Judgment occurs when an at-fault party is sued in a civil court for damages caused in a motor vehicle crash and has not satisfied property damage and/or bodily injury requirements.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) covers you regardless of whether you are at-fault in a crash, up to the limits of your policy.
Property Damage Liability (PDL) pays for the damage to other people’s property.
Security Deposit is an amount of monies posted in lieu of obtaining a release in an at-fault crash.
SR22 an insurance filing certifying bodily injury liability (BIL) and property damage liability (PDL) to comply with the reinstatement requirements of the Florida Financial Responsibility Law
Self-Insurance
Section 324.171, Florida Statutes outlines the financial requirements for the department to issue a certificate to qualified individuals or other specified entities as a self-insurer.
Visit our Self-Insurance Section to read more.
Automobile Coverage Information
To understand your purchase of auto insurance, you should be familiar with a few terms.
Liability insurance covers bodily injury to other people and damage to the property of others caused by your negligence or the negligence of someone driving your car with your permission. A minimum of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury liability and $25,000 per accident for property damage liability, is required by law, but drivers are strongly urged to consider higher limits.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage covers bodily injury to you, your relatives who live with you and your passengers if they are injured in an accident caused by an uninsured motorist, a motorist whose bodily injury liability limits are less than your uninsured/underinsured motorist limits or a hit-and-run driver. The standard coverage is an amount equal to your bodily injury liability coverage, but you may purchase additional coverage up to an amount double your bodily injury liability. The minimum amount required by law is $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident.
Underinsured motorist conversion coverage also provides for reimbursement in case you are injured by an underinsured driver. If your damages exceed the at-fault driver’s insurance, or other payments, your underinsured motorist conversion coverage will be available for damages not paid. This optional coverage is not reduced by payments from any other source, including the at-fault driver’s liability insurance.
For example, if you have uninsured/underinsured coverage of $300,000 and you sustain $400,000 in personal injuries caused by an at-fault driver with $200,000 in bodily injury liability, without underinsured conversion coverage you would only be able to collect the $200,000 from the other driver’s insurance plus $100,000 from your own underinsured coverage, which equals your $300,000 limit minus the $200,000 collected from the other driver’s insurance. With conversion coverage, you could collect the full $200,000 from your own underinsured coverage.
Basic reparations or medical payments coverage. This optional coverage replaces formerly mandatory coverage and provides for medical payments, and in some cases, lost wages and funeral expenses if you or a relative living with you are injured or killed in an accident.
Collision coverage covers damage to your car caused by collision with another vehicle or object or by your car turning over. There is almost always a deductible which you must pay if you repair or replace the car.
Comprehensive coverage covers damage to your car other than that caused by collision, including theft, vandalism, impact with animals or birds, explosion, flood, falling objects, windstorm and glass breakage. As with collision coverage, there is usually a deductible.
Full glass coverage covers your car’s glass for breakage of safety glass with no deductible for an extra premium. Towing coverage covers the expense of towing your car to a shop. Rental reimbursement pays toward the expense of renting a vehicle if you have a loss covered by either collision or comprehensive coverage and your car is disabled.