At fault, explained
When two cars collide in Illinois, the question of who pays turns on who caused the crash. If it was you, your liability coverage pays the other driver’s injuries and damage, up to your limits. If it was them, their liability coverage should pay yours.
Fault can be shared. Under Illinois law, if you’re found more than 50% at fault, you can’t recover damages from the other driver. At 50% or less, you can, but your damages are reduced by your share of the fault (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). That’s one reason to report every crash to your insurer and let them work out the details, and one reason your own liability limit matters so much here.
What every Illinois car must carry
A car designed for public roads has to be covered by a liability policy from an insurer authorized in Illinois (625 ILCS 5/7-601), with limits of at least:
- $25,000 for injury or death of one person in a crash,
- $50,000 for injury or death of two or more people, and
- $20,000 for damage to other people’s property (625 ILCS 5/7-203).
Every liability policy must also include uninsured motorist coverage, for your injuries when the driver who hit you has no insurance or drives off, at least at those same injury limits (215 ILCS 5/143a). Unless you reject the higher amount in writing, your uninsured motorist limits match your bodily injury liability limits, and when they’re above the minimums, the policy has to include underinsured motorist coverage too, for a driver who has some insurance but not enough (215 ILCS 5/143a-2). Uninsured motorist property damage, for your car when an identified uninsured driver is at fault, is optional; your insurer has to offer it.
The Illinois Department of Insurance says it directly: the state minimums may not be enough to fully protect you from a lawsuit. Choosing your limits is a conversation about what you own and want protected, not a box to tick.
Read the full guide: Illinois minimum car insurance: what the law requires
Proof, verification and what happens without insurance
You have to keep evidence of insurance in the car. An insurance card counts, so does an image on your phone, and so does your current declarations page (625 ILCS 5/7-602).
The state doesn’t wait for a traffic stop, either. The Secretary of State verifies the liability policy on every Illinois-registered vehicle at least twice a year through a vendor linked to insurers. A failed check is repeated 30 days later; a second failure sends the owner a registration suspension letter, with 30 days to show the car was insured on the first check date. Lifting a suspension means buying insurance and paying a $100 reinstatement fee.
A conviction for driving uninsured carries a fine of more than $500 and up to $1,000, and a three-month suspension of your driver’s license (625 ILCS 5/3-707). If you’re turned down elsewhere, ask your agent about the Illinois Automobile Insurance Plan, which exists for drivers who can’t find coverage in the regular market.
Your own car: collision and comprehensive
Liability pays for what you do to other people. It never fixes your own car. The Illinois Department of Insurance says state law doesn’t require physical damage coverage, though a lender may, and splits it in two: collision, for a crash with another car or an object, and comprehensive, for most other causes, such as theft, fire and hail.
Winter is when the difference shows. The slide on ice into a pole or the car ahead is usually collision. An ice-heavy branch on the roof is usually comprehensive, and so is hitting a deer: the NAIC places animal collisions under comprehensive, and notes more deer crashes in October and November than the rest of the year.
Read the full guide: Driving in Illinois winters: what your auto policy covers
After a crash
If no officer is at the scene, Illinois law requires you to notify the police quickly when anyone is hurt or killed, or when property damage is over $1,500, or over $500 if any vehicle involved is uninsured (625 ILCS 5/11-407). Then report it to your insurer, even if it seems small. Photos of the cars, the road and the weather help later. What to do right after a car accident has the full checklist.
New to Illinois
The Secretary of State lets new residents drive on a valid license from their home state for 90 days, and gives them 30 days after establishing residence to apply for an Illinois title and registration. Insurance doesn’t wait for either: a car registered in another state still has to be insured while it’s driven here, with proof in the car (625 ILCS 5/7-601).
If you’re coming from Florida, the rules you know change in three ways. There’s no personal injury protection requirement here; the required pieces are liability and uninsured motorist. Bodily injury liability, which most Florida drivers aren’t required to carry, is the heart of an Illinois policy. And the weather questions move from hurricanes to ice, snow and basements. Moving between Florida and Illinois: your insurance checklist walks through the move in both directions, including when it’s safe to cancel the old policy.
What a standard Illinois home policy leaves out
The Illinois Department of Insurance lists what a typical homeowners policy usually doesn’t cover: flood, earthquake, landslide or mudslide, sewer backup, identity theft, and wear and tear. It also lists claims a policy may not cover: dog bites, swimming pools or trampolines, and a business run from home. None of those is unusual in an Illinois household, so they’re the first things I check on a home policy here.
Earthquake is the one people don’t expect. A standard policy doesn’t cover earthquake damage unless you’ve bought an earthquake policy or endorsement.
Water: burst pipes, backups and flood
Illinois homes deal with three kinds of water, and each goes somewhere different.
Burst pipes. The Department lists burst pipes among the sudden and accidental water damage standard policies cover. The catch is reasonable care: the NAIC notes that policies generally expect the home to be kept at a minimum temperature, or the water shut off if it’s vacant, and that neglect can mean a denied claim.
Sewer and sump pump backup. Covered only if you’ve added it. The Department describes a water backup and sump pump overflow endorsement that pays for damage to a finished basement when water backs up through a sewer or drain or overflows from a sump pump. For many Illinois basements, it’s the most important line on the policy.
Flood. Not in homeowners or renters policies; it’s a separate policy. Any homeowner or renter in a community that takes part in the National Flood Insurance Program can buy one, you don’t need to live in a mapped floodplain, and coverage typically starts 30 days after you buy.
Read the full guides: Frozen pipes and water damage in Illinois homes and Flood insurance, explained. For basements around Chicago, Insurance in Chicago & the suburbs explains sewer backup versus flood.
Mine subsidence
This one is genuinely Illinois. Mine subsidence coverage pays when an underground mine shifts and damages your property. According to the Illinois Department of Insurance, insurers must offer it in counties where mines lie under one percent or more of the land, and if you live in one of those counties you have to sign a rejection form to remove it. Underground mines are common in central and southern Illinois, though other areas can be affected, and in other counties you may add it. If you’re buying a home in central or southern Illinois, ask about it before closing.
Condos
Under the Illinois Condominium Property Act, the association’s policy has to insure the common elements and the units, including the bare walls, floors and ceilings unless the board decides otherwise. It doesn’t have to cover improvements and betterments owners have installed, like built-in cabinets, appliances or other upgrades. And the board decides who pays the master policy’s deductible on a claim: the association as a common expense, the owners who caused the damage or whose unit it started in, or the owners of the units affected (765 ILCS 605/12). Your own condo policy, an HO-6, is what fills those gaps. Ask the association for its master policy summary and deductible, and let’s read it next to yours.
Read the full guide: Condo insurance (HO-6): what the association covers and what you do
Once a year
The Illinois Department of Insurance suggests checking your home insurance with your agent at least once a year. I’d add the car to that: a new driver, a paid-off loan or a move to a new county is exactly when your coverage should change too.
- Check your auto liability and uninsured motorist limits against what you’d want protected.
- Look for collision and comprehensive before the first snow.
- Find “water backup” on your home declarations page. If it isn’t there, you probably don’t have it.
- Ask whether your county is one where mine subsidence must be offered, and about earthquake anywhere.
- Condo owners: know your association’s deductible and whether you’d pay it.