Minimum Car Insurance Requirements in Texas

If another driver just hit you, or you're checking whether your own policy will hold up, the question is usually the same. What does Texas actually require? The short answer is a liability policy with limits of at least $30,000 / $60,000 / $25,000. The longer answer, the part that decides whether you are actually protected after a wreck, is worth a few minutes.

Texas roads carry a lot of traffic and the crash numbers are large. In 2025, the city of Austin alone recorded 11,937 crashes, 99 of them fatal, according to thatcarhitme.com's Austin crash report.¹ Even a slower stretch is not quiet: Austin logged 902 crashes in May 2026.² Behind many of those cases sits the same problem, which is whether the at-fault driver carried enough insurance to cover what they broke.

The 30/60/25 rule

Anyone who registers a vehicle in Texas has to show financial responsibility, and for almost everyone that means buying a liability policy.³ Under Texas Transportation Code Section 601.072, the minimum limits are $30,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person, $60,000 for bodily injury per crash when two or more people are hurt, and $25,000 for property damage.⁴ Agents and the Texas Department of Insurance shorten this to "30/60/25."⁵ Liability insurance is how nearly everyone complies, but Chapter 601 also allows other methods, including a surety bond, a cash or securities deposit with the state, or a self-insurance certificate for large fleets.³

Those limits only pay for harm you cause to other people. Liability coverage does not repair your own car or treat your own injuries. If you total a $45,000 truck and the at-fault driver carried only the $25,000 property minimum, the remaining $20,000 is a gap that someone has to fill.

How Texas checks that you're covered

Proof of insurance here is not only the card in your glovebox. The state runs an electronic verification system called TexasSure, a joint project of the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Insurance, the Department of Public Safety, and the Department of Information Resources.⁶ It matches registered vehicles against the active liability policies that insurers report, so a lapse can surface when you renew your registration or when an officer runs your plate.⁶ You may be asked to show that proof at a traffic stop, after a crash, and when you register or inspect the vehicle.

Plenty of drivers go without anyway. As of September 2025, TxDMV estimated that about 11.87% of Texas drivers were uninsured.⁶ That is roughly one in eight vehicles, and it is the main reason to look closely at the optional coverages below.

Penalties for driving without insurance

Getting caught without the required coverage is a misdemeanor, not just a citation. A first offense under Transportation Code Section 601.191 carries a fine of not less than $175 and not more than $350.⁷ A second or later offense runs from $350 to $1,000.⁷ The Texas Comptroller's accounting manual lists the same ranges.⁸ Court costs and state fees stack on top, so the real bill lands higher.

The fine is not the worst of it. On a repeat conviction, the state must suspend your driver's license and vehicle registration unless you file and maintain proof of financial responsibility, an SR-22, for two years from the date of that conviction.⁹ A registration block can also stop you from renewing your plates until the coverage is back in place.

The coverages Texas makes insurers offer you

Here is the part many people miss. Two coverages are not mandatory, but state law forces your insurer to put them in front of you, and you lose them only if you sign them away in writing.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, UM/UIM, pays your bills when the driver who hit you had no insurance or not enough, including hit-and-run crashes. Under Texas Insurance Code Section 1952.101, an insurer cannot issue an auto policy without providing UM/UIM unless the named insured rejects it in writing.¹⁰ With roughly one in eight Texas drivers uninsured, this is coverage worth keeping.⁶

Personal injury protection, PIP, pays medical bills and part of your lost wages for you and your passengers regardless of who caused the crash. Texas bundles PIP into every auto policy unless you reject it in writing, and insurers are not required to offer more than $2,500 per person in aggregate benefits.¹¹ Unlike some no-fault states, Texas attaches no short treatment deadline to it. Many drivers also add medical payments coverage, a separate endorsement that can work alongside or instead of PIP.⁵

If you never signed a written rejection, there is a good chance UM/UIM and PIP are already on your policy, so check your declarations page before you assume you are without them.

Why the minimum often is not enough

Texas is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash and their insurer are responsible for the damage.⁵ Recovery follows proportionate responsibility: you can still collect if you were partly to blame, but if a jury puts you at more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing.¹² That makes the size of the other driver's policy matter, because $30,000 per person can vanish against a single hospital stay.

Consider how the math plays out. Say another driver runs a red light and puts you in the hospital with $90,000 in bills. If that driver carried only the state minimum, their policy tops out at $30,000 for your injuries, and you are left chasing the other $60,000 from a person who may have nothing to collect. UIM coverage on your own policy is built for exactly that shortfall, which is why dropping it to save a few dollars a month is a costly trade.

Timing matters as well. In most Texas crash cases you have two years from the date of the wreck to file suit for injuries or property damage, under Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003(a).¹³ Miss that window and the claim is usually barred, however strong it is.

When a crash damages your vehicle, the loss can outlast the repair. A fixed car that now carries an accident on its record is worth less than one that does not, and you can read how that claim works on the Texas diminished value page. To document what happened, the official Texas crash report is the record insurers and courts rely on.

What to do with this

Carry at least 30/60/25 to stay legal, and treat it as a floor rather than a goal. Keep the UM/UIM and PIP your insurer has to offer, since they cover the exact gap the minimum leaves open when the other driver is uninsured or underinsured. If you were hurt by a driver whose policy will not cover your losses, an attorney in the legal directory can help you find other sources of recovery, including your own UM/UIM.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. thatcarhitme.com, Austin, Texas 2025 annual crash report. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/texas/austin/2025-annual-report

2. thatcarhitme.com, Austin, Texas May 2026 crash report. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/texas/austin/may-2026-report

3. Texas Transportation Code Section 601.051 (requirement to establish financial responsibility). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm

4. Texas Transportation Code Section 601.072 (minimum motor vehicle liability limits). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm

5. Texas Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance Guide (Consumer Bulletin CB-020). https://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb020.html

6. Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, TexasSure Vehicle Insurance Verification. https://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/register-your-vehicle/texassure-insurance-verification

7. Texas Transportation Code Section 601.191 (operating a vehicle without required insurance; offense and fines). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm

8. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Manual of Accounts, Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Violations (Fiscal 2026). https://fmcpa.cpa.state.tx.us/fiscalmoa/rev.jsp?num=3056

9. Texas Transportation Code Section 601.231 (suspension of driver's license and vehicle registration). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm

10. Texas Insurance Code Section 1952.101 (uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm

11. Texas Insurance Code Sections 1952.152 and 1952.153 (personal injury protection; $2,500 aggregate per person). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm

12. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 33.001 (proportionate responsibility). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.33.htm

13. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003(a) (two-year limitations period). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.16.htm