Rhode Island Car Insurance
Rhode Island car insurance takes into account what you can afford to buy, before it requires you to buy more.
| State Regulator Information | 401-462-9520 | www.dbr.state.ri.us |
| Insurance Premium | Avg. Annual Premium: $ 1,848 | National Average: $1,318 |
| Mandatory Car Insurance Coverage | Bodily Injury Liability:$25k/50k Property Damage Liability: $25k |
UM/UIM: Optional depending on liability coverage purchased |
Not every mandatory coverage is the same for Rhode Island car insurance.
Rhode Island car insurance is the only insurance in the country that makes certain coverages mandatory based on other coverages that are purchased. The coverage that may or may not be required is uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Whether or not you have to purchase it depends solely on what you do with the required liability coverage.
For really bad drivers, choosing your coverage will be the least of your worries.
The Minimum Liability Needed to Satisfy Rhode Island Car Insurance
Rhode Island minimum required liability coverage falls about average as compared to other states. They require that your policy cover you for no less than 25/50/25.
This breaks down as $25,000 in liability coverage for medical related expenses that another person may have after you injure them with your vehicle. The middle number is a total of $50,000 available in coverage for all everyone, not in your vehicle, that has medical expenses from an accident that you cause.
The last 25 is that you are required to carry no less than $25,000 in liability coverage for any property damage that you cause. Now this may seem to be a high number and offer enough coverage to you if you were to get into an accident. But, what if you damage an expensive vehicle or cause an accident with multiple vehicles?
The Uninsured Motorist Coverage and Rhode Island Car Insurance
The state of Rhode Island requires that you carry uninsured/ underinsured motorist coverage as well as liability coverage on your vehicle to legally drive in the state. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is what covers your injuries and damages if another driver causes an accident.
It only kicks in though if the other driver has no insurance or not enough insurance to cover your expenses. If the coverage is used to cover damages to your vehicle, you are still responsible for a $200 deductible.
Rhode Island car insurance does have an “opt out” option for the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. It is only available to those that purchase the minimum amount of liability coverage only. If you purchase higher liability coverage than what is minimally required by the state, you will be required to also buy the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
Rhode Island Car Insurance Plan
Also known as “Assigned Risk Pool” or “Force Placed Coverage”, this program is for those drivers that are so bad, no insurance company wants to voluntarily insure them. These drivers then have to go through this plan and an insurance company is “assigned” or “forced” to insure them.
Every insurance company has to take in an equal share of these drivers as determined by how much business they do. The larger insurance companies are required to take on more of these drivers than smaller ones because the larger companies do more regular business.
Once placed in this program a driver will see astronomical insurance premiums according to how bad they are. When I worked in this department I personally saw premium of over $9,000 and heard of a policy that was being charged $14,000. Keep in mind; this was for only 6 months of insurance.
You can be removed from this assigned risk Rhode Island car insurance plan once you have obtained a 3-year record of clean driving.
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