Minimum car insurance requirements in Montana

If another driver just hit you in Montana, one of the first things that shapes your claim is how much insurance that driver was legally required to carry. The state sets a floor, and it is a low one.

Montana is an at-fault state. The driver who causes a crash is responsible for the harm, and that driver's liability insurance is the first place your medical bills and vehicle repairs get paid from. So the legal minimums matter to you even if your own coverage is generous, because they often decide whether there is enough money on the other side to cover what happened to you.

What Montana law requires you to carry

Every owner or operator of a motor vehicle on Montana roads has to carry liability insurance.¹ The minimum limits come from Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-103, and drivers usually see them written as 25/50/20:²

• $25,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in a single accident
• $50,000 for total bodily injury to or death of two or more people in a single accident
• $20,000 for injury to or destruction of someone else's property in a single accident

That is the whole mandate for a standard passenger vehicle. The first number is the most you can collect from the at-fault driver's policy for your own injuries. The second is the ceiling for everyone hurt in the same crash combined. The third covers your car and other property. Drivers can buy higher limits, and many do, but nothing in the statute requires it.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage

Montana does not make you buy uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM), but it does make your insurer put it in front of you. Under Mont. Code Ann. 33-23-201, every auto policy issued in the state has to include UM coverage in limits matching your liability coverage unless you reject it in writing.³ That rejection then carries forward to your renewals until you ask, again in writing, to add the coverage back.³

This coverage is what pays you when the at-fault driver has no insurance, or carries only the state minimum and your losses run higher. If you signed away UM/UIM at some point without realizing it, that decision can quietly cap what you are able to recover after a serious crash.

No PIP and no required medical payments coverage

Here is where Montana parts ways with many states. There is no personal injury protection (PIP) requirement, and no mandatory medical payments (MedPay) coverage. The motor vehicle liability statutes call for bodily injury and property damage liability plus the UM offer, and nothing more.⁴¹ MedPay exists only as an optional add-on with no state-set minimum.

Because there is no PIP, your own policy does not automatically step in to pay your medical bills after a crash. You recover those costs from the at-fault driver's liability coverage, or, when that driver was uninsured or underinsured, from your own UM/UIM coverage if you kept it. That structure puts real weight on the coverage choices you made before the crash ever happened.

Proof of insurance and how the state checks

You have to keep proof of insurance in the vehicle and show it on demand to a peace officer, a highway patrol officer, or a judge, under Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-302.⁵ A paper insurance card or an electronic version on your phone both satisfy the requirement.

Montana also verifies coverage electronically. Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-157 directs the Department of Justice to run an online insurance verification system, which the Montana Highway Patrol and county treasurers use to confirm a policy is active during traffic stops, at registration, and after a crash.⁶ If you are collecting documents after a collision, the official Montana crash report will usually name the other driver's insurer.

Penalties for driving without insurance

Driving uninsured in Montana is a misdemeanor, and the consequences climb with each offense under Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-304:⁷

• First conviction: a fine of $250 to $500.
• Second conviction: a $350 fine, and the court orders you to surrender your registration and license plates.
• Third or subsequent conviction: a $500 fine, up to 10 days in jail, or both, along with surrender of registration and plates.
• Fourth or subsequent conviction: surrender of your driver's license, which the state suspends until you show proof that you carry the required insurance.⁷

Prior convictions count against you if they happened within the previous five years.⁷ After a suspension, you generally have to file proof of financial responsibility, often an SR-22 certificate from your insurer, before the state will restore your registration or license.⁷

Why the state minimum is often not enough

A single ambulance ride and a couple of days in the hospital can pass $25,000 fast. That per-person figure is all the at-fault driver's minimum policy owes you for your injuries. Anything above it becomes a claim against the driver personally, or a claim against your own UM/UIM coverage.

Two features of Montana law sharpen that gap. Montana follows modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar under Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-702, so you can still recover as long as you are not more at fault than the other side, though your award is reduced by your own percentage of fault.⁸ And in an ordinary car crash case, Montana does not cap compensatory damages, so what you are legally owed is not limited by statute even when the at-fault driver's policy is.

Timing is its own trap. You generally have three years from the crash date to file a personal injury lawsuit under Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-204,⁹ and two years for vehicle and property damage claims under Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-207.¹⁰ Once those windows close, the claim is gone no matter how strong it was.

If the at-fault driver carried only the state minimum and it will not cover your losses, that is usually the moment to talk with an attorney about your UM/UIM coverage, the driver's personal assets, and anyone else who might share responsibility for the crash.

This article is general information about Montana law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-301 (required motor vehicle insurance). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0060/part_0030/section_0010/0610-0060-0030-0010.html

2. Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-103 (motor vehicle liability policy minimum limits). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0060/part_0010/section_0030/0610-0060-0010-0030.html

3. Mont. Code Ann. 33-23-201 (motor vehicle liability policies to include uninsured motorist coverage; rejection by insured). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0330/chapter_0230/part_0020/section_0010/0330-0230-0020-0010.html

4. Mont. Code Ann. Title 33, ch. 23, part 2 (Motor Vehicle Liability). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0330/chapter_0230/part_0020/sections_index.html

5. Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-302 (proof of insurance to be carried and displayed). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0060/part_0030/section_0020/0610-0060-0030-0020.html

6. Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-157 (creation of online motor vehicle liability insurance verification system). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0060/part_0010/section_0570/0610-0060-0010-0570.html

7. Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-304 (penalties). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0060/part_0030/section_0040/0610-0060-0030-0040.html

8. Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-702 (comparative negligence). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0010/part_0070/section_0020/0270-0010-0070-0020.html

9. Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-204 (tort actions, three-year limitation). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0020/part_0020/section_0040/0270-0020-0020-0040.html

10. Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-207 (actions for damage to property, two-year limitation). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0020/part_0020/section_0070/0270-0020-0020-0070.html