What Florida actually requires, and what it does not
FLHSMV is blunt about the rules. Required coverage must be maintained for the entire registration period, even if the car sits inoperable in a driveway, and you must surrender the license plate before canceling insurance. Let coverage lapse and your driving privilege and plate can be suspended for up to three years, with a reinstatement fee of up to $500 and no hardship license available for insurance-related suspensions.
| Requirement | Amount | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Personal injury protection (PIP) | $10,000 | Pays 80% of your necessary and reasonable medical bills and 60% of lost gross income, regardless of fault |
| Property damage liability (PDL) | $10,000 | Pays for damage you cause to someone else’s car or property |
| Bodily injury liability | Not required to register | The 10/20 figures are financial responsibility limits triggered after certain crashes and violations |
| PIP death benefit | $5,000 | Paid in addition to medical and disability benefits under Fla. Stat. 627.736 |
| Taxi and for-hire vehicles | $125k / $250k BI + $50k PDL | Higher statutory limits apply to for-hire vehicles |
What $10,000 of PDL buys in 2026. The average new vehicle transaction price is well north of $45,000, and a moderate rear-end collision with a three-year-old SUV routinely totals $18,000 to $25,000 in property damage. If you carry the Florida minimum, the difference comes out of your assets. Property damage liability at $50,000 or $100,000 typically costs a few dollars a month more than $10,000.
The Florida Bar consumer pamphlet on automobile insurance adds a detail most drivers never see in a quote: Florida permits a PIP deductible of up to $1,000 and a property damage liability deductible of up to $500. If your premium came in suspiciously low, check whether an agent applied one.
How PIP actually pays after a Florida crash
PIP is a benefit you claim from your own insurer, no matter who caused the crash. Under Fla. Stat. 627.736, the required benefits are 80 percent of reasonable and medically necessary medical, surgical, dental and rehabilitative expenses, 60 percent of lost gross income and earning capacity, and a $5,000 death benefit, all subject to a $10,000 combined medical and disability limit.
- See a provider within 14 days. The statute makes medical benefits available only if you receive initial services and care within 14 days of the crash, ordered or supervised by a physician, dentist, chiropractic physician, advanced practice registered nurse, hospital or licensed emergency transport provider. Miss the window and PIP medical benefits are gone.
- The emergency medical condition determination controls your limit. Without a qualifying emergency medical condition determination, reimbursement is limited well below the headline $10,000, which is why the initial diagnosis in your chart matters so much.
- PIP does not pay your co-insurance. Because it covers 80 percent of medical bills, the remaining 20 percent is yours unless you have health insurance or medical payments coverage.
- PIP covers your household, passengers and pedestrians. The named insured, resident relatives, permissive drivers, passengers and people struck by the vehicle are all covered persons under the statute.
- PIP does nothing for the other driver’s injuries. If you cause serious injuries and carry no bodily injury liability, you are personally exposed. That is what BI limits are for.
The practical Florida policy therefore looks nothing like the legal minimum: bodily injury liability at 100/300, property damage at $50,000 or higher, uninsured motorist matching your BI limits, comprehensive and collision if the car has value, and medical payments to backfill the 20 percent PIP leaves behind. For a walkthrough of the numbers, see how much car insurance you need.
FR-44: what a Florida DUI does to your insurance
Most states use an SR-22 filing after a serious violation. Florida has a second, harsher certificate for alcohol-related convictions. Per the FLHSMV financial responsibility bulletin, a DUI conviction raises your required liability coverage to $100,000 per person for bodily injury, $300,000 per crash, and $50,000 for property damage, or an equivalent combined single limit, certified to the state by your insurer.
| Filing | Required liability | Duration | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR-44 | $100k / $300k / $50k | Three years from license reinstatement | DUI conviction |
| SR-22 | Standard financial responsibility limits | Three years | Other financial responsibility violations, at-fault uninsured crashes |
Two things people get wrong about FR-44. First, the three-year clock starts at reinstatement, not at arrest or conviction, so every month spent on a suspended license extends the obligation. Second, the higher limits must be in force for the entire period; a lapse re-suspends the license. Expect the premium to run two to three times your prior rate, and expect a large spread between carriers, because standard insurers price this business defensively while specialty carriers compete for it.
If you are in this situation, read SR-22 insurance explained and then let a broker shop the filing rather than accepting the first quote from your existing carrier.
Why Florida is among the most expensive states to insure a car
Four forces stack on top of each other here, and none of them are about how you drive.
- Uninsured drivers. At 20.6 percent in 2023, Florida ranked seventh nationally per Insurance Research Council data published by the Triple-I, and FLHSMV tracks the same problem as the share of registered non-commercial vehicles carrying no PIP or PDL. Every uninsured driver's crash cost lands on insured policyholders through uninsured motorist and collision claims.
- The PIP system itself. No-fault was designed to reduce litigation, but a $10,000 first-party medical benefit paid at 80 percent, with a 14-day treatment trigger and an emergency medical condition threshold, generates a large volume of small disputed claims and a well-documented clinic-billing problem.
- Density, tourism and weather. Florida mixes heavy urban congestion with a constant flow of unfamiliar rental drivers, plus comprehensive losses that spike with every named storm, hail event and flood.
- Repair costs. Sensor-laden bumpers and windshields have pushed the average property damage claim up sharply, which flows into collision and PDL pricing.
What you can control: raise deductibles rather than dropping coverages, keep coverage continuous, ask about telematics discounts, and re-shop every 12 months. The tactical list is in how to lower your car insurance premium.
One Florida-specific savings note. Because comprehensive is the coverage that pays for storm, flood and falling-tree damage to your vehicle, dropping it on an older car is a legitimate choice only if you could replace the car in cash tomorrow. Otherwise a single September claim costs more than a decade of the premium you saved.
PolicySherpas is licensed in Florida and is paid by the carrier when a policy is issued, not by you. The premiums shown here are published averages used for illustration, not offers of insurance; your Florida rate depends on your motor-vehicle record, claims history, garaging address, vehicle, coverage selections and the carrier's current rate filing with the state.
Sources & further reading
- Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles — Florida insurance requirements
- Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles — Uninsured motorist rate
- Florida Statutes 627.736 — Required personal injury protection benefits
- FLHSMV — Financial responsibility bulletin on FR-44 liability requirements after DUI
- Insurance Information Institute — Facts + Statistics: Uninsured motorists (IRC 2025 study)
- The Florida Bar — Consumer pamphlet: automobile insurance
- MoneyGeek — Average car insurance cost in Florida, 2026 rates by city