Minimum Car Insurance Requirements in Maryland

If another driver just hit you, or you're double-checking your own policy after a close call, the first practical question is usually the same: is there enough insurance to actually cover this? Maryland answers part of that for you. State law sets a hard floor on the coverage every registered vehicle must carry. That floor is real, it's enforced, and it's also lower than what most crashes actually cost.

Here's exactly what Maryland requires, what happens if you skip it, and where the minimum leaves you exposed.

The liability coverage every policy must carry

Maryland requires every registered vehicle to carry liability insurance with these minimum limits:¹

$30,000 for bodily injury to one person
$60,000 for bodily injury to everyone hurt in one crash
$15,000 for property damage

Written as shorthand, that's 30/60/15. The Motor Vehicle Administration publishes the identical figures on its auto insurance requirements page.² Those numbers have held steady since 2011, so a policy written this year carries the same statutory minimum a policy did more than a decade ago, even though the cost of a hospital stay or a totaled car has not.

Liability coverage is money for the other side. If you cause a crash, your bodily injury coverage pays the people you hurt and your property damage coverage pays for their vehicle. It pays nothing toward your own injuries or your own car. That's the job of the next two coverages.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage

This one surprises people, because it protects you, but Maryland still makes it mandatory. Every auto policy issued in the state has to include uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, and by default that coverage has to match your bodily injury liability limits.³ So if you carry 30/60 in liability, you carry 30/60 in UM/UIM unless you actively lower it.

You can reduce it, but only in writing. A named insured has to sign a waiver under a specific statute to drop UM/UIM below the liability limits, and it can never go under the state minimum.⁴ If you never signed anything, you have full UM/UIM equal to your liability limits.

Why the state cares: UM/UIM is what pays you when the at-fault driver has no insurance, not enough insurance, or takes off. Given how many drivers carry only the minimum, or nothing, this is often the coverage that actually gets a hurt person paid.

Personal injury protection

Personal injury protection, or PIP, is medical-and-wage coverage that pays no matter who caused the crash. Maryland handles PIP differently from liability: insurers must offer you at least $2,500 in PIP, but you don't have to keep it.⁵ It covers reasonable medical expenses, 85% of lost income, and essential services like household help while you recover.⁵

You can turn it down. A named insured can waive PIP in writing or reject it outright under the statute, and many people do to shave a few dollars off the premium.⁶ That's a decision worth thinking about before a crash, not after, because PIP pays quickly and without a fault fight. When you keep it, your insurer generally has to pay a PIP claim within 30 days of receiving proof, and the policy can require you to file the claim within a set window (no less than 12 months from the accident).⁷

Why the minimum is rarely enough

Maryland is an at-fault state, and it follows one of the harshest fault rules in the country: contributory negligence. Under the rule the state's high court reaffirmed in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, a person who is even 1% at fault for a crash can be barred from recovering anything from the other driver.⁸ That makes the coverage on your own policy, especially UM/UIM and PIP, more important here than in most states, because you can't always count on collecting from the other side.

The dollar limits are the other problem. A single ambulance ride, an ER visit, and a few follow-ups routinely run past $30,000, and a serious injury can reach six figures on its own. Crashes are not rare events, either. In Montgomery County alone, thatcarhitme.com recorded 898 crashes in a single month, May 2025.⁹ When a minimum-limits policy runs out, the injured person is left chasing the at-fault driver personally, which usually means chasing nothing.

Carrying more than 30/60/15, and keeping your UM/UIM at those higher limits, is the practical fix. If your car itself lost value in the wreck, that's a separate claim from your injuries; see our guide to diminished value in Maryland.

What it costs to drive without insurance

Maryland tracks coverage electronically. Insurers report your policy status to the MVA, so a lapse tends to surface fast, even if you're never pulled over.²

When a vehicle sits uninsured, the MVA assesses a penalty fee set by statute: $200 for the first 30 days without required coverage, then $7 for each additional day, capped at $3,500 per vehicle over any 12-month period.¹⁰ On top of the fee, the MVA can suspend your vehicle registration and flag the vehicle. Unpaid balances are referred to the state Central Collections Unit, which adds a 17% collection fee.¹¹

If no company will insure you

Drivers who can't buy a policy on the private market have a state-backed option: Maryland Auto Insurance, the insurer of last resort (still widely called MAIF). It isn't open to everyone. To qualify you generally have to be a Maryland resident and show that you tried in good faith and were rejected by at least two member insurers for a reason other than nonpayment, or that a prior policy was canceled or nonrenewed, or that you've gone 12 or more continuous months uninsured.¹² It exists so that meeting the state's mandatory-coverage law stays possible even for high-risk drivers.

How this connects to a claim after a crash

If you were hit, the coverage picture (the other driver's limits, your own UM/UIM, and whether either of you carried PIP) shapes what you can recover. So does the clock: in most Maryland car accident cases you have three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit for your injuries.¹³ Wait too long and an otherwise strong claim can be over before it starts.

Two practical starting points. Pull the official crash report, which documents the drivers, vehicles, and insurers involved; here's how to get one in Maryland. And if the coverage or fault questions get complicated, it can help to talk to a lawyer; you can find one through our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Md. Code, Transportation § 17-103 (required minimum security). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr&section=17-103
Maryland MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration, Auto Insurance Requirements. https://mva.maryland.gov/title-registration/auto-insurance-requirements
Md. Code, Insurance § 19-509 (uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-509&enactments=false
Md. Code, Insurance § 19-510 (waiver of UM/UIM below liability limits). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-510&enactments=false
Md. Code, Insurance § 19-505 (personal injury protection benefits). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-505&enactments=false
Md. Code, Insurance §§ 19-506, 19-506.1 (PIP waiver and rejection). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-506.1&enactments=false
Md. Code, Insurance § 19-508 (PIP payment deadline; claim filing period). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-508&enactments=false
Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (2013) (contributory negligence). https://www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinions/coa/2013/9a12.pdf
thatcarhitme.com, Montgomery County, MD Crash Report, May 2025. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/maryland/montgomery-county/may-2025-report
Md. Code, Transportation § 17-106 (penalty fee for lapse in required security). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr&section=17-106&enactments=false
Maryland MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration, Auto Insurance Violation Penalties & Payments. https://mva.maryland.gov/title-registration/auto-insurance-requirements/auto-insurance-violation-penalties-payments
Md. Code, Insurance § 20-502 (Maryland Automobile Insurance eligibility). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=20-502&enactments=false
Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 (three-year limitations period for civil actions). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-101&enactments=false