Florida Is the Only State That Requires Car Insurance but Not Bodily Injury Coverage

The only state that mandates insurance but not bodily injury coverage. As rates fall, a Palm Beach County attorney urges a 60-second policy check.

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL, UNITED STATES, November 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Florida auto rates are finally falling, slightly. The state Office of Insurance Regulation says the five largest insurers are averaging an 8% cut for 2026, after 7.4% in 2025. But with budgets still tight, Palm Beach County attorney Shannon J. Sagan of The Dash Cam Lawyer^® is warning drivers not to “save” by trimming to the legal minimum, a policy with a gap many families don’t find until after a crash.

Florida is the only state that requires car insurance but not bodily injury (BI) liability coverage. Bodily injury coverage pays for injuries you cause to others. The Florida minimum is only $10,000 in personal injury protection (PIP) and $10,000 in property damage liability. PIP pays 80% of medical bills, capped at $2,500 unless a doctor finds an emergency medical condition, which then could go up to $10,000.

The less obvious problem: under Florida law (§627.727), uninsured motorist (UM) coverage is tied to bodily injury coverage. A PIP-and-property-damage-only policy carries no UM at all.

That matters because of who else is on the road:

– The Insurance Research Council estimates 20.6% of Florida drivers were uninsured in 2023, the 7th-highest rate of 51 jurisdictions, against 15.4% nationally.
– Florida recorded 97,519 hit-and-run crashes in 2024, about one in every four crashes (FLHSMV).
– Only about 52% of Florida policyholders buy UM coverage, per 2020 NAIC data analyzed by the Florida Policy Project.

“In Florida, trying to save money and getting the bare minimum gets you a license plate. It doesn’t provide your family with a safety net,” said Sagan, who has practiced personal injury law for 21 years. “If an uninsured or hit-and-run driver puts your child in the hospital, you could get a judgment, but when they have no bodily injury coverage there’s often no way to collect. Your medical bills land on your PIP, your health insurance, or your UM, if you bought it.”

Sagan’s firm sees the gap in its own cases: in 2026, about 40% of the at-fault drivers who hit and injured his clients were uninsured or had $0 bodily injury coverage. “In my over 25 years of being in this industry, I’ve never seen it this bad.”

Lawmakers have tried to close the gap. In 2021, SB 54, which would have repealed PIP and required bodily injury coverage, passed the Senate 37-3 and the House 100-16 before Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed it. Similar bills died in 2025 and again in 2026.

“Rates are slightly coming down. If your renewal is lower this year, don’t spend the savings by cutting coverage. Spend 60 seconds reading your declarations page instead. The most important coverage on your auto policy is UM,” Sagan said.

THE 60-SECOND POLICY CHECK
Find the declarations page in your insurer’s app or renewal email.
1. Bodily injury liability: Is there a dollar amount? If not, you may have no lawyer paid by your carrier if you injure someone, and you are not entitled to UM without BI.
2. Uninsured motorist (UM/UIM): Listed, or did you sign a form rejecting it?
3. Every car, every driver: Check the second car and the teen driver.
4. Price it: Ask your agent to quote BI and UM against this year’s savings.

About The Dash Cam Lawyer^®
The Dash Cam Lawyer^® is the Palm Beach County personal injury practice of attorney Shannon J. Sagan (Fla. Bar #10793), who has represented injured people for 21 years. The firm encourages Florida drivers to use dash cams and to understand their own coverage before a crash, and Sagan has given away more than 1,400 dash cams for free to Florida drivers. Learn more at thedashcamlawyer.com.

Media Contact
Shannon J. Sagan, The Dash Cam Lawyer^®
Phone: 561-561-DASH (3274)
Web: thedashcamlawyer.com.

Shannon J. Sagan
The Dash Cam Lawyer
+1 561-561-3274
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