Florida Car Insurance

In Florida, car insurance is required for anyone with a vehicle they plan to operate. In fact, the fines are hefty if you are found driving a car that does not have adequate Florida auto insurance. Before you buy insurance of any type, be sure you understand exactly what is required, as well as what is recommended. This is especially true with your Florida car insurance needs.

Florida Car Insurance Requirements

In the state of Florida, the car insurance rules are a little different than in many other places. Because the Sunshine State is a partially no-fault insurance state, the required minimum coverage is different than in many other states. The Florida state required limits of coverage are:

1. $10,000 property damage liability coverage
2. $10,000 personal injury protection (PIP) coverage

Property damage coverage takes care of repairing damages to or replacing other people’s vehicles and property that are damaged by motor vehicle accidents where you are at fault. PIP covers bodily injury and medical expenses for you and your immediate family members regardless of who is at fault in the accident.

These limits are extremely low and should be considered strictly minimums and not a recommended amount of coverage to carry. These limits would be easily reached if you were involved in a serious accident and then your personal assets would be at risk. Give serious consideration to higher, more realistic limits.

Recommended Florida Auto Insurance Coverage

Many insurance representatives will tell you different recommended limits. However, one thing they have in common is that they all agree that Florida minimums are too low. Below are some standard recommendations on Florida car insurance coverage. 

• Property damage liability coverage in Florida should be at least 5 to 10 times higher than the required state minimum. Most insurers recommend $50,000 or $100,000 limits on this type of coverage.
• Personal injury protection should be at a level of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident in total. These are much more realistic limits that should protect most people in case of an accident.
• Bodily injury liability coverage covers the injuries to other people if you are at fault, including passengers in your vehicle, not covered by PIP, for accidents outside the state and in case the passengers of the other vehicle sue you. It should be carried in the same limits as PIP.
• Uninsured motorist coverage provides you coverage in case the other person is uninsured or underinsured. It offers much more extensive coverage than PIP, but only after you’ve used up your PIP. Your must purchase Bodily Injury liability in the same amounts in order to be able to purchase uninsured motorist coverage. It is an extremely important coverage to carry.

If you are considering whether or not to put full coverage on your vehicle, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is your vehicle financed? If so, you must carry collision and comprehensive insurance.
2. What is the vehicle worth? If it has a good book value left on it, you should carry full coverage.
3. Can you afford to replace it if it were totaled? If not, you should look into the cost of collision and comprehensive insurance.

Collision and Comprehensive

 Collision and comprehensive insurance are the two types of coverage commonly referred to as full coverage and protect your vehicle from damages. Collision will repair or replace your car if it is damaged in an accident and you are at-fault. Comprehensive will repair or replace your car if it is damaged by one of the named perils covered by the policy. The things typically covered by comprehensive generally include fire, theft, vandalism, animal collision, windstorm damage, hail damage and glass breakage.

Other types of coverage typically offered in Florida are rental reimbursement and towing and labor costs. Medical payments coverage can also cover the difference left by the 20% of medical costs that PIP does not cover. These types of coverage are considered more optional and are usually offered and explained to clients, but many do not take them.

Florida Car Insurance Price Breaks

When you are looking for a great deal on Florida car insurance it helps to know exactly what things are taken into consideration to set the rates for your premiums. Many factors are considered and include:

1. your driving record
2. the driving record of every driver in your home
3. age
4. gender
5. claims history
6. where you live
7. type of car you own
8. what you use your car for
9. if you’ve had continual insurance coverage
10. grades (if a student)

After your rates are set, you may still be able to secure some discounts on your insurance policy premium. Each company in the marketplace tries to set itself apart from all the others and often does so by offering different discounts based on a variety of things. Some common discounts include:

• being a member of certain preferred groups or associations
• multiple car policies
• multiple lines of insurance with the same insurer
• all drivers being of a certain age
• good student discounts
• payment methods
• low mileage

Top Florida Auto Insurance Companies

There are so many Florida car insurance companies offering coverage in the state. Some of the best known ones are listed below.

1. Liberty Mutual
2. GEICO
3. Blue Cross Blue Shield
4. 21st Century
5. The General
6. The Hartford
7. Allstate
8. State Farm
9. Esurance
10. Nationwide

Be sure to carefully compare the different policies that you are being offered so you can be sure the limits are the same and you are comparing apples with apples. You should also carefully research the company you are planning to buy your car insurance from.

You can find out about the financial stability of an insurer by contacting one of the independent insurance ratings companies like A. M. Best, Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s or Weiss Ratings. For information on the company’s customer service record, you can do a simple Internet search to learn about how they treat their customers, claims speed and more.

Finding Florida Car Insurance Quotes Online

When you are ready for your Florida car insurance policy, the best place to start is with quotes from a free online quote tool, like the one above.

It allows you to spend very little of your time, whenever it is most convenient for you, in order to get multiple FL car insurance quotes on the best policy to meet your needs.

Go to the top of this page and click on the tool box, enter your zip code and answer the questions as prompted for a custom quote now!