If another driver just hit you in Vermont, one of the first questions that decides what you can recover is how much insurance was on the road. Vermont sets a legal floor for that coverage, and it's lower than most people assume. Knowing the exact numbers helps you understand what a claim can realistically pay and why carrying more than the minimum usually protects you, not the other driver.
This page sticks to what Vermont specifically requires: the dollar amounts, the deadlines, and the penalties written into state law.
The minimum liability limits in Vermont
Every owner of a registered vehicle, and every licensed driver or learner's permit holder, must keep an auto liability policy in force before operating on Vermont highways. The statutory minimum is $25,000 for the injury or death of one person, $50,000 for two or more people injured or killed in one crash, and $10,000 for property damage in any one crash.1 Insurance agents write this as "25/50/10."
Those numbers have not changed for 2026, and they sit among the lower minimums in the country. Liability coverage pays the people you injure and the property you damage. It does not pay for your own injuries or your own vehicle, which is why the $10,000 property-damage floor matters: a single newer vehicle can exhaust it on its own.
What financial responsibility actually means
Vermont frames the rule around "maintenance of financial responsibility," not simply buying a policy.1 A standard liability policy is the usual way to meet it, but the statute allows two alternatives. You can post a bond in the required amounts, or you can file evidence of self-insurance of $115,000 with the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.1 Self-insurance is realistic mostly for companies running large fleets, not for an individual driver.
Proof of insurance and the seven-day rule
You have to carry proof of financial responsibility whenever you drive, and Vermont lets you show it on a phone or other portable device. Handing an officer your phone to display an insurance card does not, by itself, give consent to look through anything else on the device.1
There's a built-in grace period. If you're cited for not having proof, you won't be convicted if you send or produce proof that was in effect at the time of the stop to the issuing agency within seven business days.1 The Commissioner can also require you to produce evidence of coverage before a vehicle inspection.1
Penalties for driving without coverage
Actually driving uninsured carries a civil penalty of up to $500, and it counts as a traffic violation.1 Not having your proof on you, when you do carry coverage, is a smaller civil penalty of up to $100.1 The consequences don't stop at the fine. The DMV can assess points, require you to file financial responsibility with the state, and suspend both your driving privileges and your vehicle registration if you operate without established coverage.2
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is required
Vermont is one of the states that requires uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage on every auto policy. No policy can be delivered or issued for delivery in Vermont unless it protects you against the owners and operators of uninsured, underinsured, and hit-and-run vehicles.3 The minimum is $50,000 for one person and $100,000 for two or more people injured or killed.3 If you carry liability limits higher than 50/100, your UM/UIM limits automatically match them unless you direct your insurer otherwise.3
Vermont's UM law also reaches property damage. It provides up to $10,000 per claim for damage caused by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver, subject to a $150 deductible, and the deductible is waived in certain situations where you have other collision coverage.3 That's the coverage that responds in a hit-and-run, when there's no at-fault driver's policy to bill.
This isn't a technicality. The Insurance Research Council estimated that about 9.7% of Vermont drivers were uninsured in 2022, below the national figure of roughly 14% but still close to one in ten.4 UM/UIM coverage is what pays when the person who hit you can't.
Vermont is an at-fault state with no PIP
Vermont handles crashes on a traditional at-fault (tort) basis, not no-fault.2 There is no mandatory personal injury protection (PIP), and a standard policy is not required by statute to include medical payments coverage. Because it's an at-fault system, the driver who caused the crash, through their insurer, is responsible for your damages, and you establish that fault to recover.
Medical payments and rideshare coverage
MedPay is sold as an optional add-on that covers medical bills regardless of fault, but Vermont doesn't require it on an ordinary policy. The one place the law sets a MedPay floor is rideshare. A transportation network company driver who is carrying a passenger, or on the way to pick one up, must have at least $1,000,000 in liability coverage, $1,000,000 in UM/UIM coverage, and $5,000 in medical payments coverage.5 When that driver is only logged into the app and waiting for a request, the required liability drops to $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage, plus the UM/UIM coverage that section 941 already requires.5
Why the state minimum may not be enough
Two features of Vermont law make thin coverage risky for injured people. First, Vermont follows modified comparative negligence. You can still recover as long as your share of the fault is not greater than the other driver's, but your award is reduced in proportion to your own negligence, and you recover nothing once your share crosses that line.6 Second, you generally have three years from the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, and three years for damage to your vehicle, with the injury claim measured from when the injury is discovered.7
There's no statutory cap on compensatory or punitive damages in an ordinary crash case against a private driver. Vermont's damage cap of $500,000 per person and $2,000,000 per occurrence applies only when you sue the State of Vermont itself.8 So the real ceiling in most cases isn't a statute; it's the at-fault driver's policy limits. If that driver carried only 25/50/10 and your medical bills and lost wages run higher, your own UM/UIM coverage is often the difference between being made whole and absorbing the shortfall yourself.
After a crash in Vermont
Get the insurance information for every driver involved, and make sure the crash is reported as required. Vermont crash reports run through the DMV, and you can start that process from our Vermont crash reports page.9 If your vehicle lost market value even after a solid repair, that loss can be its own claim; see our guide to diminished value in Vermont. And when the injuries are serious or fault is disputed, it's worth talking with a lawyer, which you can do through our legal directory.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Vermont Statutes, 23 V.S.A. § 800 (Maintenance of financial responsibility). https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/011/00800
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Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Insurance. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/insurance
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Vermont Statutes, 23 V.S.A. § 941 (Insurance against uninsured, underinsured, or unknown motorists). https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/011/00941
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Insurance Information Institute, Background on: Compulsory Auto/Uninsured Motorists (citing Insurance Research Council estimates). https://www.iii.org/article/background-on-compulsory-auto-uninsured-motorists
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Vermont Statutes, 23 V.S.A. § 750 (Transportation network companies; definitions; insurance requirements). https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/010/00750
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Vermont Statutes, 12 V.S.A. § 1036 (Contributory and comparative negligence). https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/027/01036
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Vermont Statutes, 12 V.S.A. § 512 (Injuries to person or property; three-year limitation). https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/023/00512
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Vermont Statutes, 12 V.S.A. § 5601 (Liability of the State; damage limits). https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/189/05601
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Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Crashes. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/crashes