State-minimum car insurance stops paying at limits set by law, and one serious crash you cause can cost far more. You owe the rest yourself. Ask your insurer to quote liability limits of at least $100,000 per injured person, and add uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at the same limits.
Start with what you carry now. Your declarations page, the coverage summary at the front of your policy, usually shows liability limits as three numbers, such as 30/60/15.
A 30/60/15 policy pays up to $30,000 for each person you injure, $60,000 for everyone hurt in one crash, and $15,000 for the property you damage. Those are California’s minimums, raised in 2025 after more than 50 years at 15/30/5. Pennsylvania still requires 15/30/5.
Say you run a red light and hit a new SUV. Its driver needs surgery and misses three months of work, and the injury claim comes to $95,000. The SUV is a $50,000 total loss. At 30/60/15, your insurer pays $30,000 toward the injuries and $15,000 toward the SUV. You owe the other $100,000, from savings or future paychecks.
Doubling your limits won’t double your premium, because few claims ever reach the higher amounts. Ask for quotes at 100/300/100, the level Consumer Reports recommends, which would have covered that red-light crash in full. If you have significant assets to protect, get a quote at 250/500/250 too. Most insurers also require at least $250,000 of auto liability before they’ll sell you an umbrella policy.
The same math runs the other way. If the driver who hits you carries only the minimum, their policy can run out before your medical bills are paid. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage pays for your injuries and your passengers’ when the driver at fault carries too little insurance or none. The Insurance Research Council estimates that one in three drivers was uninsured or underinsured in 2023. Set this coverage to match your new liability limits.
Your state sets the least you can legally carry. What you own and earn should set what you buy.
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