Minimum car insurance requirements in the District of Columbia

If you were just in a crash, two questions usually come first: did the other driver carry enough insurance, and does your own policy meet what the District actually requires? Below are the exact numbers, deadlines, and rules that apply in Washington, D.C., with the statute or agency source behind each one.

The District sets only a floor. You can buy more, and given how low the minimums are, most drivers should.

The mandatory minimum limits

Every vehicle registered in the District must carry liability coverage of at least 25/50/10:¹²

• $25,000 for bodily injury to any one person in a crash
• $50,000 for total bodily injury when more than one person is hurt
• $10,000 for property damage

Those are the figures the DC DMV lists for registration, and they come from the Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act in Title 31 of the D.C. Code.¹² They have not changed since 1986.³ One ambulance ride plus a short hospital stay can pass $25,000, so the legal minimum often runs out before the bills stop.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is required too

In many states, uninsured motorist (UM) coverage is optional. The District builds it into the mandatory policy. Your insurer has to include UM bodily-injury protection matching your liability limits, $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, plus UM property-damage coverage of $5,000 that carries a $200 deductible.¹²

This is the coverage that pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough of it. In the District you cannot waive it to shave your premium; it rides along with the required policy.¹

Liability by default, no-fault by choice

The District runs a choice system. The baseline is tort-based liability insurance, where the driver who caused the crash pays, through their insurer, for the harm they did.² Layered on top is optional personal injury protection (PIP), a limited no-fault benefit that pays your own costs regardless of fault.

Insurers must offer PIP, but you are not required to take it, and you can reject it in writing.⁴ That choice carries a real consequence, which is why it deserves attention before you sign rather than after a crash.

If you elect PIP: benefits, the 60-day deadline, and the lawsuit threshold

When PIP is on your policy, the statute sets minimum benefits per victim:⁴

• at least $50,000 for medical and rehabilitation expenses
• at least $12,000 for lost wages
• up to $4,000 for funeral costs

The timing is strict. A victim has to elect PIP benefits in writing within 60 days of the crash, and that window can be extended only by mutual written agreement with the insurer.⁵ Miss it without an agreement and the benefits can be lost.

There's a catch that surprises people. Once you take PIP benefits, you generally cannot sue the at-fault driver unless your injury clears a threshold: substantial permanent scarring or disfigurement; a substantial, medically demonstrable permanent impairment that affects your daily or professional life; an impairment that keeps you from substantially all of your usual activities for more than 180 continuous days; or medical and work-loss costs that exceed the PIP benefits available to you.⁵ For a severe injury, that door usually stays open. For a moderate one, electing PIP can quietly bar the lawsuit you would otherwise have.

Penalties for driving uninsured

The requirement has teeth. Under D.C. Code § 31-2413, owning a registered but uninsured vehicle draws a civil fine of $150 for a lapse of 1 to 30 days, then $7 for each additional day, capped at $2,500 per violation.⁶ Actually operating a vehicle without the required insurance is treated more seriously: a first offense brings a fine of up to $500, a license suspension of up to 30 days, or both, rising by 50% and up to 60 days for repeat offenses.⁶ Failing to show proof of insurance on request is a $30 fine.⁶

If you genuinely weren't driving during the lapse, there is relief. The DMV can waive all or part of the penalty when you prove the vehicle wasn't operated during that period.⁶

A reform passed the Council but isn't law yet

The 25/50/10 floor is one of the oldest in the country, and the D.C. Council has moved to raise it. The Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Act of 2025 (B26-0057) would lift the bodily-injury minimums to $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident and add $5,000 to UM coverage.³ The Council gave the bill final approval and transmitted it to the Mayor in mid-2026, but it had not taken effect as of this writing.³ D.C. acts still have to clear the Mayor and a congressional review period before they become enforceable, so the current legal minimum remains 25/50/10.³ Read your own declarations page against today's requirement, not the reform headline.

Why the minimum is rarely enough

Two features of D.C. law make thin coverage a gamble. The limits are low, and the District still follows contributory negligence: in an ordinary driver-versus-driver claim, being found even 1% at fault can bar you from recovering anything at all.⁷ (Pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable users are protected by a more forgiving comparative rule under D.C. Code § 50-2204.52.)⁷ When recovery is all-or-nothing and the other driver carries only $25,000, your own higher limits and UM coverage are often what actually pays.

Deadlines apply to the claim, not only to your policy. Most car-crash injury and vehicle-damage lawsuits in the District have to be filed within three years.⁸ If the District government itself is a defendant, such as a crash with a city vehicle, you must give the Mayor written notice within six months.⁹

Sorting out who pays after a crash usually means comparing your coverage against the other driver's and checking whether your UM applies. It can help to talk to a lawyer who handles D.C. cases; you can find one through the thatcarhitme.com legal directory. For the crash report, see our D.C. crash report guide, and if your vehicle lost resale value after repairs, see diminished value in D.C..

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. DC DMV, Vehicle Insurance requirements. https://dmv.dc.gov/service/vehicle-insurance

2. D.C. Code § 31-2406, Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act (required coverages). https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-2406

3. Council of the District of Columbia, B26-0057, Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Act of 2025. https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B26-0057

4. D.C. Code § 31-2404 (personal injury protection benefits). https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-2404

5. D.C. Code § 31-2405 (PIP election deadline and lawsuit threshold). https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-2405

6. D.C. Code § 31-2413 (penalties; adjudications). https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-2413

7. D.C. Code § 50-2204.52 (vulnerable users; comparative negligence) and Wingfield v. Peoples Drug Store, Inc., 379 A.2d 685 (D.C. 1977) (contributory negligence). https://law.justia.com/cases/district-of-columbia/court-of-appeals/1977/11243-3.html

8. D.C. Code § 12-301 (three-year statute of limitations for personal injury and property damage). https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/12-301

9. D.C. Code § 12-309 (six-month written notice to the Mayor). https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/12-309