Coverage · Auto
Auto insurance, explained.
On the road and in what comes next.
What it covers
An auto policy is a bundle of separate coverages, each with its own limit. Knowing which is which is most of the battle, so here they are in plain words.
Liability
Pays for injuries and damage you cause to other people and their property. Every state requires some, and the minimum is usually less than a serious accident costs.
Collision
Repairs or replaces your own car after a crash, whoever is at fault, minus your deductible.
Comprehensive
Your car when it is not a crash: theft, hail, flood, a tree, a deer. Also minus a deductible.
Uninsured / underinsured motorist
Covers you when the other driver has no insurance or not enough. Easy to skip, hard to replace.
Medical coverage
Medical bills for you and your passengers after an accident. In Florida this is Personal Injury Protection (PIP), which the state requires [confirm current requirement]; in Illinois it is optional medical payments coverage [confirm].
Extras
Rental reimbursement while your car is in the shop, roadside assistance, gap coverage on a financed car. Small add-ons that matter on the day you need them.
One good first question
“If I caused a serious accident tomorrow, would my liability limit cover it, or would the rest come from me?”
Bring this one to Elona and the rest of the conversation gets easier.
What Elona looks at
- Your current declarations page: continuous coverage, every vehicle, and the limits you already carry are the things that lower a rate. Uploading it is faster than typing and proves more.
- Whether your liability limits match what you have to lose, not just what the state requires.
- Deductibles you could comfortably pay tomorrow, and whether raising one is worth it.
- Who drives what: a new driver at home, a car you are about to buy, a car you no longer have.
The complete guide
Auto insurance in Florida and Illinois, explained: the complete guide
A car insurance policy is a bundle of separate coverages: liability for the harm you cause other people, collision and comprehensive for your own car, and coverage for your own injuries. Florida and Illinois start from different places. Florida requires personal injury protection and property damage liability; Illinois requires liability for injuries and property damage plus uninsured motorist coverage. Neither state’s minimum repairs your own car.
I’m licensed in both states, so this guide covers both. Each section is the short version of a post I’ve written, with the full post linked at the end. Where the rules differ, the section is marked with the state.
What “full coverage” actually means
“Full coverage” isn’t a policy you can buy. Most people use it to mean three things together: liability, which pays for the harm you cause others but never fixes your own car; collision, which repairs your car after it hits something, whoever is at fault; and comprehensive, which covers theft, fire, vandalism, falling branches, flood water and storm damage. A lender or leasing company almost always requires the last two, which is where the phrase usually comes from.
Even with all three, a policy can be missing uninsured motorist coverage, rental reimbursement, roadside assistance or gap coverage, and two people who both “have full coverage” can be protected very differently. Your declarations page is the real answer: if a line isn’t on it, you don’t have it.
Read the full guide: What “full coverage” actually means
Florida · Switch to
Florida PIP and the 14-day rule
Florida is a no-fault state. Every owner of a car registered here must carry personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability, at least $10,000 of each, and keep both in force the whole time the car is registered (Fla. Stat. 627.733 and 324.022). PIP pays your own injuries first, whoever caused the crash: 80% of reasonable medical costs, 60% of lost income, and help with things you can’t do while you’re hurt, up to $10,000 per person, plus a separate $5,000 death benefit.
The rule I want everyone to remember: you must get initial care within 14 days of the crash, or the medical part of PIP may not pay at all. And if a treating provider decides you didn’t have an emergency medical condition, medical benefits are limited to $2,500. PIP never fixes a car and never pays for harm you cause someone else.
Read the full guide: Florida PIP, explained
Illinois · Switch to
The Illinois minimum: 25/50/20, plus uninsured motorist
Illinois is an at-fault state, and every car on public roads must carry liability of at least $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 for injury to two or more people and $20,000 for property damage in one crash (625 ILCS 5/7-203). Every policy must also include uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, at least at those same injury limits (215 ILCS 5/143a).
The state checks electronically, at least twice a year, through a system connected to insurers. You also need evidence of insurance in the car, and a card, an image on your phone or a current declarations page all count. Driving uninsured can mean suspended plates and, on conviction, a fine and a three-month driver’s license suspension. And the minimum is a legal floor: the Illinois Department of Insurance itself warns it may not be enough to protect you from a lawsuit.
Read the full guide: Illinois minimum car insurance: what the law requires
Everything Illinois in one place: Car and home insurance in Illinois: the complete guide
Uninsured motorist coverage
Most of an auto policy is about what you might do to someone else. Uninsured motorist coverage (UM, or UM/UIM) is about what someone else might do to you. When the driver who caused the crash has no insurance, or not nearly enough, it steps into their shoes and pays for your injuries and those of the people covered on your policy. It usually isn’t for your car, and it doesn’t replace health insurance.
It’s also the coverage most often turned down at a counter in a hurry, with that choice quietly carried into every renewal. Look for “UM” on your declarations page; if it says “rejected,” or the limit is lower than your liability, that was a choice someone made in writing, and you can change it.
Florida · Switch to
In Florida it isn’t required, but when you buy bodily injury liability your insurer must include it at the same limits unless you reject it or choose lower limits in writing (Fla. Stat. 627.727). Ask whether yours is stacked or non-stacked.
Illinois · Switch to
In Illinois it’s required at least at the state minimums, it covers hit-and-run drivers, and above the minimums the policy must include underinsured motorist coverage at the same amount (215 ILCS 5/143a and 143a-2).
Read the full guide: Uninsured motorist coverage: why it matters
Gap insurance on a new or leased car
A new car loses value fast, and a loan balance comes down slowly. If the car is totaled or stolen, collision or comprehensive pays what the car was worth at the time, minus your deductible, not what you still owe. The difference is the gap, and gap coverage is built to pay it.
It tends to matter when you put little down, take a long loan, roll an old balance into the new loan, or lease. It’s sold by dealers and lenders, and by some auto insurers as an add-on, and the products differ: ask whether it covers your deductible, what it leaves out, whether it has a cap, and whether you can cancel it. Check your lease first, because some leases already include it.
Read the full guide: Gap insurance on a new or leased car
Adding a teen driver
The permit, not the license, is the moment to call your agent or insurer, ideally before the first practice drive. Insurers differ on whether a permit holder has to be listed now or only once licensed, so ask yours and keep the answer in writing. An undisclosed driver in the household is the real risk: the Florida CFO’s consumer guide cautions that it can lead an insurer to deny a claim and cancel the policy.
Both states let a teen start practicing at 15 and get a license at 16, after at least 50 hours of certified supervised driving, 10 of them at night. It’s also a good moment to look at which car they’ll drive, whether your liability still fits your family, and which discounts your insurer offers.
Read the full guide: Adding a teen driver: what to do before they drive
What to do after a car accident
Stop, check on everyone and call 911 if anyone is hurt. If the cars can be moved out of traffic, move them. Then exchange names, addresses, insurers and policy numbers, plates and license numbers, and take more photos than you think you need. Stick to the facts and let the insurers work out fault. Tell your insurer promptly, even if you don’t plan to claim, and keep every record in one place.
Florida · Switch to
In Florida, call the police if anyone is hurt or the damage looks like $2,000 or more (Fla. Stat. 316.065), and get any medical care within 14 days so your PIP can pay.
Illinois · Switch to
In Illinois, call the police if anyone is hurt or the damage is over $1,500, or over $500 if any car involved is uninsured (625 ILCS 5/11-407).
Central Florida readers: Insurance in Orlando & Central Florida covers what’s worth checking on a policy for busy roads.
Read the full guide: What to do right after a car accident
Illinois · Switch to
Illinois winters: collision, comprehensive and the deer
If your car slides on ice into a pole, a ditch or the car ahead, damage to your own car is usually a collision claim. An ice-heavy branch on the roof, or a deer on a dark county road, is usually comprehensive. Neither is required by Illinois law, so with liability alone your own car isn’t covered for either.
When you slide into someone else, Illinois fault rules decide who pays, and ice on the road doesn’t settle that by itself. If you’re found more than 50% at fault, you can’t recover anything from the other driver (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). Towing, rental reimbursement and medical payments are the extras people miss when they’re stuck. For street parking, car theft and plow season in the city, see Insurance in Chicago & the suburbs.
Read the full guide: Driving in Illinois winters: what your auto policy covers
Florida · Switch to
When a Florida policy lapses
Florida requires PIP and property damage liability on every registered car continuously, even one that isn’t driven, and insurers must report a cancellation to the state within 10 days (Fla. Stat. 324.0221). So the state often knows about a lapse before you do. FLHSMV sends a letter asking for proof of coverage, and without it your driver license and registration can be suspended. There’s no hardship license for an insurance suspension, and reinstating costs a state fee.
The fix is usually simple if you act quickly: send proof if you were covered all along, or get a new policy in place right away. If you truly don’t need the car insured, surrender the plate first and cancel second, never the other way round.
Read the full guide: What happens if your car insurance lapses in Florida
FR-44 and SR-22 in Florida
Neither one is a type of insurance. Each is a certificate your insurer files with FLHSMV to prove you carry the coverage the state requires, usually so you can get your license back. You buy an auto policy, and an insurer willing to file the form does the filing.
An FR-44 follows a DUI conviction and requires higher liability limits, at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per crash for bodily injury and $50,000 for property damage, for at least three years (Fla. Stat. 324.023). An SR-22 is used in other suspensions, such as an at-fault crash with injuries where you didn’t have the required insurance. Your suspension notice is the final word on what you need and for how long, and the policy has to stay in force, without a gap, for the whole period.
Read the full guide: FR-44 and SR-22 in Florida: what they are and how to get one
Moving to Florida
Once you become a Florida resident, FLHSMV gives you 10 days to title and register your car, and you need a policy from a Florida-licensed insurer to do it, with PIP and property damage liability of at least $10,000 each. You have 30 days to get a Florida driver license. So the insurance comes first, because registration waits on it.
The clock can start sooner than people expect: starting a job here, enrolling children in a public school, registering to vote or filing for homestead can all count. Keep your old policy until the Florida one has started. And bring your home questions too, because hurricane deductibles, inspections and flood all work differently here.
Read the full guide: Moving to Florida: your insurance checklist
Moving between Florida and Illinois
You’re not just moving a policy, you’re changing systems. Florida is no-fault, built around PIP; Illinois is at-fault, built around liability and uninsured motorist coverage. Your car needs a policy written for the new state, by an insurer licensed there, within that state’s deadlines.
The order matters more than anything. Call your agent before the moving truck, line up the new policy’s start date, and don’t cancel the old one until the car is registered in the new state or the old plates are surrendered. Florida says cancelling first can lead to a Florida suspension and reinstatement fees. And remember the house: a home, condo or renters policy is written for one address.
Read the full guide: Moving between Florida and Illinois: your insurance checklist
Before you shop: your declarations page
Every section above ends in the same place: your declarations page, the summary of every coverage, limit and deductible on your policy. It’s the fastest way to see what you have, and it’s what lets an agent compare like for like. If you’re changing companies, start the new policy before the old one ends. More in How to read your declarations page and How to switch insurance companies without a gap.
Questions people ask
Is Florida a no-fault state, and is Illinois an at-fault state?
Yes. In Florida, your own personal injury protection pays your own covered injury costs first, up to its limit, whoever caused the crash.
In Illinois, the driver who causes the crash pays, through their liability coverage. That's why the two states require such different things.
What's the difference between collision and comprehensive?
Collision repairs your car when it hits another car or an object, or rolls over, whoever is at fault. Comprehensive covers your car for things other than a crash, like theft, vandalism, fire, a falling branch, flood water or storm damage. Each has its own deductible, and neither is required by Florida or Illinois law.
Which part of my policy pays if a hurricane or flood damages my car?
Usually comprehensive, not collision. If you carry only the state minimum, you don't have comprehensive, so storm or flood damage to your own car isn't covered. More on what "full coverage" means.
Do I need bodily injury liability in Florida?
Florida doesn't require it for most drivers; the required coverages are personal injury protection and property damage liability. But a policy without it can leave you personally responsible if you seriously hurt someone.
It also matters for uninsured motorist coverage: when you buy bodily injury liability, your insurer must include uninsured motorist coverage unless you reject it in writing (Fla. Stat. 627.727).
I spend winters in Florida but live in Illinois. Which state's insurance do I need?
It depends on where you're a resident, and a few Florida rules can apply even if you aren't. A car that has been in Florida for more than 90 days in the past 365 must carry Florida's required coverage (Fla. Stat. 627.733). Illinois requires any car driven there to be insured, with proof in the car.
Tell me where the car is registered and how long it spends in each state, and I'll check it with you.