Washington, DC Car Insurance

Even the lawmaking center of our nation requires residents to carry Washington, D.C. car insurance.

You only have to carry Washington, D.C. car insurance if you register your car there or apply for a reciprocity sticker.

Washington, D.C. car insurance requirements include both liability coverages and uninsured motorist coverages. The first coverages are to protect other drivers in the District of Columbia. The second coverages are to protect you from other drivers that don’t carry insurance.

Liability Required for Washington, D.C. Car Insurance

Liability coverage requirements for Washington, D.C. car insurance start with $10,000 in coverage for damages that you may cause to property that you don’t own. This includes property owned by private citizens as well as property owned by the government (city, county, federal, etc.).

In addition to the liability coverage for property damage, Washington, D.C. also requires liability coverage to cover the medical expenses for other people. This coverage is for the people that you injure with your vehicle that are not in your vehicle at the time of the accident.

The minimum coverage allowed for this liability coverage is $25,000 to cover the medical expenses for a single person that you injure. The second half of this coverage requires $50,000 minimum coverage as required by Washington, D.C. insurance laws. The second half of this coverage is in the event that you injure more than one person in an accident. This $50,000 is the most that your insurance company would pay for all medical expenses that resulted from the accident.

If the medical expenses for one person go over $25,000, or $50,000 for all the people injured, you will be personally responsible to pay for the remaining amount.

Uninsured Motorist Required for Washington, D.C. Car Insurance

Uninsured motorist coverage provides protection for you, in the event that a person without insurance hits you. Washington, D.C. car insurance laws require that you have this coverage in place because of the increase of drivers on the road that are driving illegally without insurance.

The bodily injury part of the uninsured motorist coverage has the same minimum limits required as the bodily injury liability coverage at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. The coverage limits also work the same way as the bodily injury liability coverage. The only difference is that this coverage is to pay for your medical expenses and the medical expenses of those that were in your vehicle at the time of the accident.

Many other states only require uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage; in Washington, D.C. they also require uninsured motorist property damage (UMPD). This coverage pays for the damages done to your vehicle, similar to the comprehensive and collision coverage that you would carry. However, UMPD will only pay up to a certain amount for the damage done to your vehicle by an uninsured driver.

Washington, D.C. car insurance laws require that you carry no less than $5000 for UMPD. You can also have no less than a $200 deductible to accompany this coverage.

Penalties for no Washington, D.C. Car Insurance

If you allow your Washington, D.C. car insurance to lapse, you will find your vehicle registration (and reciprocity sticker) suspended. In addition, you will also be automatically fined $150. If you are still without Washington, D.C. car insurance after 30 days, additional fines of $7 a day will be added until you get insurance or hit the $2500 maximum fine imposed.