Minimum Car Insurance in District of Columbia

Owners of vehicles registered in D.C. (or holding a reciprocity sticker) must keep insurance in effect continuously during the registration period. Required minimums: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury liability; $10,000 for property damage liability; uninsured motorist bodily injury of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident; and uninsured motorist property damage of $5,000 (subject to a $200 deductible). Insurers must also offer optional personal injury protection (PIP) and optional underinsured motorist coverage. Insurance may come from an insurer authorized in D.C. or another method approved by the Commissioner.

D.C. has a choice (optional no-fault) system. Liability insurance is mandatory, and insurers must offer optional personal injury protection (PIP) that pays regardless of fault: medical and rehabilitation benefits of at least $50,000 per victim (options of $50,000 and $100,000), work-loss benefits of at least $12,000 (options of $12,000 and $24,000), and funeral benefits up to $4,000. An injured person with PIP must tell the insurer within 60 days whether they elect PIP benefits. A victim who elects PIP may sue another driver only if the injury causes substantial permanent scarring or disfigurement, a substantial permanent impairment that significantly affects professional or usual daily activities, or an impairment preventing substantially all usual daily activities for more than 180 continuous days, or if medical or work-loss costs exceed the PIP benefits available. Survivors may still sue in death cases. If no election is made within 60 days, the liability coverage applies.

Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory on every policy for vehicles registered or garaged in D.C.: $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $5,000 for property damage with a $200 deductible. An uninsured vehicle includes one with no liability policy, one whose insurer denies coverage or becomes insolvent, and an unidentified (hit-and-run) vehicle. Underinsured motorist coverage is optional: insurers must offer it in amounts up to the uninsured motorist limits; once rejected, it need not be re-offered, and insurers need not keep written rejections.