Minimum Car Insurance Requirements in Connecticut

Connecticut's minimum auto insurance is 25/50/25, and state law forces your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage to match it. Here's what the statutes actually require, what happens if you skip it, and why the minimum rarely covers a serious crash.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
Jun 11, 2026
6 min read

Connecticut sets its minimum auto liability limits at 25/50/25: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $25,000 per accident for property damage (insurers also sell a $50,000 single-limit option that covers both halves)1. Those numbers aren't a suggestion. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-112(a) fixes the dollar floor, and § 38a-335 requires every auto liability policy delivered, renewed, or amended in the state to meet it23. You can't register a vehicle, renew a registration, or legally operate one in Connecticut without proof that a policy naming that specific vehicle is in force1.

The coverage you're required to carry

The 25/50/25 structure means a single serious injury claim can burn through the $25,000 per-person limit fast; an ambulance ride and a night in the ER can do it on their own. The $50,000 per-accident cap on bodily injury also has to stretch across everyone hurt in the crash, so a multi-car pileup or a car full of passengers divides that number, not multiplies it. Property damage minimums top out at $25,000, which covers a lot of fender-benders but not a totaled newer vehicle. If the car you hit (or that hit you) is worth more than that, the difference comes out of the at-fault driver's own pocket, or yours if the numbers are reversed1.

When you renew your registration, the DMV checks that a policy is on file naming that vehicle. Let coverage lapse and the registration itself is at risk of suspension, separate from any penalty for driving uninsured1.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage isn't optional here

Connecticut doesn't let you shrug off UM/UIM the way some states do. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-336, every auto policy issued in the state has to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage matching your own bodily injury liability limits, with a floor of 25/504. Carry higher liability limits and your UM/UIM rises to match automatically. The only way around it is to reject a lower amount in writing, on a form the insurance commissioner has approved and you've personally signed4. Insurers can't bury that waiver in fine print; it has to be an informed, documented choice.

There's no no-fault safety net behind any of this

Connecticut ran a no-fault system for about two decades, then walked away from it. Public Act 93-297 repealed Connecticut's no-fault law effective January 1, 1994, and the state has run a pure tort, at-fault system ever since5. That matters here because it means there's no mandatory personal injury protection sitting behind your policy, paying your medical bills regardless of fault. Medical payments coverage (MedPay) exists and plenty of drivers buy it, but it's an optional add-on you choose and pay for, not a state-mandated benefit with its own claim deadline5.

Put those two facts together and the UM/UIM mandate stops looking like bureaucratic overkill. If the driver who hits you is carrying only the 25/50 state minimum and your medical bills and lost wages run past that, there's no no-fault claim to fall back on. Your own UM/UIM policy is what closes the gap, which is exactly why Connecticut forces it to track your liability limits instead of letting it sit at some token amount.

You can post a bond instead of buying a policy

Most drivers never touch this option, but Connecticut's financial responsibility law doesn't only accept insurance. Under the statutory scheme in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-334, an owner can instead post a bond from a state-authorized surety company, or deposit cash or securities directly with the Connecticut Insurance Department, at a minimum of $50,000 for a single private passenger vehicle6. It's built for self-insured fleets and the rare individual who'd rather not carry a policy at all, not a shortcut around the coverage requirement; the dollar exposure is identical either way.

What happens if you skip it or let it lapse

Driving without the required coverage is a specific offense under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-213b, with a fine between $100 and $1,0007. The DMV suspends the owner's registration and driver's license too: one month for a first violation, six months for any violation after that7. Getting your license back means showing the court current proof of insurance meeting the state minimums for every vehicle you own, plus paying a $175 reinstatement fee to the DMV78.

If no insurer in the voluntary market will write you a policy

Connecticut has a backstop for drivers who genuinely can't find coverage. The Connecticut Automobile Insurance Assigned Risk Plan, created under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-329 and administered by the Automobile Insurance Plan Service Office, is available to applicants who can show they tried and failed to get a policy in the voluntary market within the preceding 60 days9. Every insurer writing auto policies in the state has to participate, and a licensed Connecticut producer assigns you to a carrier at plan rates. It costs more than standard coverage, but it exists specifically so "nobody will insure me" isn't a legal way out of the requirement.

Why the state minimum rarely covers what a bad crash actually costs

Connecticut places no cap on economic or noneconomic damages, pain and suffering included, in an ordinary car accident claim10. A jury can award whatever it finds the harm is worth. Set that against a $25,000 per-person liability limit and the math explains itself: one bad crash with real injuries can exceed what the at-fault driver's minimum policy will ever pay. That's a large part of why the state built the UM/UIM mandate around matching your own limits instead of a flat number.

Connecticut also follows modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-572h, so a claimant found more than half at fault recovers nothing, and everyone else's recovery is reduced by their own share of fault11. If the other driver was drunk, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-295 lets a victim seek double or treble damages when a DUI violation was a substantial factor in the crash12. Separately, a bar or seller that kept serving a visibly intoxicated adult can face dram shop liability, though recovery there is capped at $250,000 per injured person and $250,000 in the aggregate under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 30-10213.

After the crash

Connecticut's Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection is the agency of record for crash reports, and you'll need one to move an insurance claim forward; see thatcarhitme.com's Connecticut crash reports guide for how to get yours14. Claims for injury or property damage from the same crash both run on the same clock: two years from when the injury is discovered, capped at three years from the date of the accident, under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-58415.

If the property damage minimum falls short of what your vehicle actually lost in value, even after repairs, that's a separate claim worth understanding; see thatcarhitme.com's Connecticut diminished value guide. And if the numbers involved start looking like more than a phone call with an adjuster can resolve, thatcarhitme.com's legal directory can help you find someone local who handles these claims.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. Connecticut Insurance Department, Auto Insurance, https://portal.ct.gov/cid/consumer-information-center/auto-insurance

  2. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-112, Proof of financial responsibility, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_246.htm#sec_14-112

  3. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-335, Minimum coverages, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_700.htm#sec_38a-335

  4. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-336, Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_700.htm#sec_38a-336

  5. Public Act 93-297 (1993), An Act Concerning Automobile Insurance Reform, https://www.cga.ct.gov/ps93/Act/pa/1993PA-00297-R00HB-05176-PA.htm

  6. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-334, Minimum provisions in automobile liability policies, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_700.htm#sec_38a-334

  7. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-213b, Operation prohibited when insurance coverage fails to meet minimum requirements, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm#sec_14-213b

  8. Connecticut DMV, Pay Your License Reinstatement Fee, https://portal.ct.gov/dmv/licenses-permits-ids/pay-license-reinstatement-fee

  9. AIPSO, Connecticut Automobile Insurance Assigned Risk Plan, https://www.aipso.com/Plan-Sites/connecticut

  10. Vandersluis v. Weil, 176 Conn. 353, 407 A.2d 982 (Conn. 1978), https://law.justia.com/cases/connecticut/supreme-court/1978/176-conn-353-2.html

  11. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-572h, Negligence actions, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_925.htm#sec_52-572h

  12. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-295, Double or treble damages for personal injury or property damage resulting from certain traffic violations, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm#sec_14-295

  13. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 30-102, Dram Shop Act, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_545.htm#sec_30-102

  14. CT Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), Accident Information Summaries, https://accidents.despp.ct.gov/

  15. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584, Limitation of action for injury to person or property caused by negligence, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_926.htm#sec_52-584

About This Guide

Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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