Minimum Car Insurance Requirements in Illinois

Illinois law requires every registered vehicle to carry at least 25/50/20 liability coverage plus uninsured motorist protection. Here are the exact limits, the statutes behind them, and what happens if you drive without insurance.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
Jun 18, 2026
6 min read

Minimum car insurance requirements in Illinois

Before you drive in Illinois, state law says the car has to be insured. The requirement attaches to the vehicle itself, and every car registered in the state has to carry a liability policy that meets a set floor. The state now checks electronically whether you actually have it.

Chicago alone logged 109,112 reported crashes in 20251 and another 9,461 in January 2026.2 In that much traffic, the coverage you carry, and the coverage the other driver carries, decides who pays after a wreck. Here is what Illinois actually requires, and what it costs to drive without it.

The numbers you have to carry

Illinois sets its minimum liability limits at 25/50/20. Under 625 ILCS 5/7-203, every private passenger auto policy has to provide at least $25,000 for bodily injury to or death of any one person, $50,000 for bodily injury to or death of two or more people in the same crash, and $20,000 for damage to another person's property.3 Those are the amounts your insurer pays to people you injure or whose property you damage when you're at fault. They do nothing for your own injuries or your own car. The 25/50/20 figures have applied to every policy issued or renewed since January 1, 2015.3

Carrying the policy is not optional. The mandatory insurance law, 625 ILCS 5/7-601, makes it illegal to operate, register, or keep the registration on a highway vehicle unless it's covered by a liability policy meeting the 7-203 limits.4 A few vehicle categories are carved out, including government vehicles, properly filed self-insured fleets, farm implements, and vehicles stored off the road, but ordinary drivers get no exception.4

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is required too

Illinois also forces some of that protection back onto your own policy, for the day the other driver has nothing. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a, no auto policy can be issued or renewed in the state unless it includes uninsured motorist (UM) bodily injury coverage at least equal to the 25/50 minimum.5 Insurers offer it matching your own liability limits, and you can't waive it below the statutory floor.6

The same statute covers the driver who hits you and runs. Insurers must make uninsured motorist property damage coverage available, paying up to the actual cash value of your car or your policy limit, whichever is less, with a maximum $250 deductible.5 There's a limit to it. That property damage coverage doesn't apply when the at-fault driver in a hit-and-run can't be identified.5

Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, under 215 ILCS 5/143a-2, is the companion. Buy UM limits above the state minimum and your policy has to carry matching UIM coverage, which pays the gap when an at-fault driver's own liability limits run out before your losses do.6

What Illinois does not require

Illinois runs on a fault system rather than no-fault. There is no personal injury protection (PIP) mandate, and the Department of Insurance lists medical payments (MedPay) coverage as an optional add-on you buy for extra premium rather than something insurers must sell you.6 Collision and comprehensive coverage are optional too, though a lender or lessor will almost always require them while you finance the car.

Because fault controls, the driver who caused the crash, and that driver's insurer, pays for the damage. Illinois uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116.78 Your recovery shrinks by your share of the blame, and it disappears entirely once you're found more than 50% at fault.8

How the state checks, and what it costs to skip it

Since July 1, 2021, the Secretary of State has run an electronic insurance verification program. A third-party vendor linked to every insurer writing auto policies in Illinois checks each registered vehicle at least twice a year.9 Come up uninsured and the state suspends your license plates. A first offender gets them back after buying a policy and paying a $100 reinstatement fee through the ILIVS portal; a repeat offender serves a four-month suspension first.9

Getting caught driving without coverage is a separate charge. Under 625 ILCS 5/3-707, a first or second conviction for operating an uninsured vehicle is a petty offense with a fine over $500 and up to $1,000; a third or later conviction is a business offense carrying a $1,000 fine.10 Show up to court with proof you've since insured the car and, if it's your first time, you can draw a $100 fine and court supervision instead.10 Cause bodily harm while driving uninsured and it becomes a Class A misdemeanor.10

After a suspension for an uninsured crash or certain other violations, the Secretary of State also requires an SR-22, a certificate your insurer files to prove you carry at least the minimum coverage. You have to keep it on file for three years, and any lapse triggers a fresh suspension.11

Why the minimums may not be enough

The state itself warns that the minimum limits may not be enough to protect you from lawsuits.6 One serious injury can pass $25,000 in medical bills before anyone counts lost wages or a totaled car. If the driver who hits you carries only the 25/50/20 floor, that policy is the ceiling on what their insurer pays, which is the reason UM and UIM coverage on your own policy matters so much.

The scale of the risk shows up in the crash numbers, with more than 100,000 reported wrecks in Chicago in a single year.1 Plenty of at-fault drivers are running the bare minimum or nothing at all. When your car is damaged, the property damage limit (or your own collision and UM property damage coverage) has to stretch to cover repairs, and a repaired vehicle can still lose resale value, which is a separate diminished value claim. The official crash report records who was insured and how the wreck happened, and it's usually the first document an insurer asks for.

Deadlines matter as much as dollars. You generally have two years from the crash date to file a personal injury lawsuit under 735 ILCS 5/13-202, and five years for property damage under 735 ILCS 5/13-205.1213 Miss those windows and the claim is gone, however strong it was. If the coverage math gets complicated, it's worth talking to an attorney before you sign a settlement.

A change that hasn't happened yet

Lawmakers have tried to raise the floor. House Bill 66, introduced in the 104th General Assembly, would lift the minimums to 50/100/40, doubling both bodily injury figures and doubling property damage.14 It hasn't passed. The House re-referred it to the Rules Committee in March 2025, and it has sat there since.14 Until that changes, 25/50/20 stays the law, and it's a number every Illinois driver should treat as a floor rather than a goal.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. thatcarhitme.com, Chicago Year-over-Year Crash Report, 2025. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/2025-annual-report

  2. thatcarhitme.com, Chicago Crash Report, January 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/january-2026-report

  3. Illinois General Assembly, 625 ILCS 5/7-203 (minimum liability amounts). https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=062500050K7-203

  4. Illinois General Assembly, 625 ILCS 5/7-601 (required liability insurance). https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=062500050K7-601

  5. Illinois General Assembly, 215 ILCS 5/143a (uninsured and hit-and-run motor vehicle coverage). https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=021500050K143a

  6. Illinois Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance Shopping Guide. https://idoi.illinois.gov/consumers/consumerinsurance/auto-insurance-shopping-guide.html

  7. Illinois Department of Insurance, Comparative Negligence. https://idoi.illinois.gov/consumers/consumerinsurance/comparative-negligence.html

  8. Illinois General Assembly, 735 ILCS 5/2-1116 (comparative fault; 51% bar). https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/073500050K2-1116.htm

  9. Illinois Secretary of State, Mandatory Insurance. https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/vehicles/mandatory-insurance.html

  10. Illinois General Assembly, 625 ILCS 5/3-707 (operation of uninsured motor vehicle; penalty). https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=062500050K3-707

  11. Illinois Secretary of State, Safety and Financial Responsibility Law (SR-22). https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/drivers/drivers-license/sr-22-uninsured-crashes/safefinlaw.html

  12. Illinois General Assembly, 735 ILCS 5/13-202 (two-year injury limitations period). https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=073500050K13-202

  13. Illinois General Assembly, 735 ILCS 5/13-205 (five-year limitations period). https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/073500050k13-205.htm

  14. Illinois General Assembly, House Bill 66, 104th General Assembly (2025-2026). https://www.ilga.gov/documents/legislation/104/HB/PDF/10400HB0066.pdf

About This Guide

Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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