In many states, you need to have car insurance to drive on the road legally. However, the exceptions to that rule are New Hampshire and Virginia. When it comes to Florida, it is required to have insurance when driving. It cannot be expired. If you encounter law enforcement, such as when getting pulled over, you will have to show proof of insurance. As well as any time you register a vehicle, you also have to have car insurance in Florida.
There are a lot of vehicles in the state of Florida, and a lot of residents are located near the beach. They might drive around with golf carts, water bikes, or other nonstandard vehicles. It is not required to insure these vehicles, but standard ones do need to have minimum car insurance.
Why You Need the Right Coverage
If you are in an accident, then you need to show an officer that you have insurance for that vehicle. And if you do not have the minimum required insurance, then you might get charged with the accident. Your license could be suspended in that case.
The penalties are even worse if you do not have the right insurance and know it to be the case. For example, that could include presenting them with expired information. You could go to jail or have to pay fines because it is considered to be a first-degree misdemeanor.
The good news is that the penalties might be lessened if you can give the authorities your proof of insurance within a day of having an accident. Then, you might be able to void the citation and avoid having to pay a fine. However, you can prevent a lot of hassle if you get the right insurance from the start.
About Car Insurance in Florida
The state law says that every driver has to have a certain level of car insurance. Since the state is no-fault, you may find that it has different requirements. For example, you have to have personal injury protection.
While you hope that you will never need to use car insurance, you will still want to know about the minimum coverage if you are thinking about driving in the state. You will need to have $10,000 for property damage liability and $10,000 for personal injury protection. However, you might want to think about getting more coverage than the minimum to keep yourself safe.
Liability Coverage
If you are at the cause of an accident, you must have liability insurance. That is in place to protect people who might have had property damage or injuries to themselves. Remember, that type of coverage will not protect your property or yourself. Instead, it is about covering another driver.
Getting property damage insurance can help you pay for repairing a vehicle you may have damaged. However, if the other driver caused any property damage, they will need to pay for it. Remember that $10,000 is not a very high amount, so you might want to increase your limit.
Personal Injury Protection
Florida is a no-fault state. This means that even if someone else is at fault, it’s your personal injury policy that will pay for any expenses, up to a certain limit. You do not need to have bodily injury protection, which is a type of policy that might help pay for the expenses of people who got injured in accidents that you caused.
Personal injury insurance will cover the costs of medical treatment. Just remember that it does not cover the cost of pain and suffering. If you want to get these damages covered, you will need to file a lawsuit.
But just remember that even if bodily injury insurance is not required, you are not entirely safe. You may want to get the insurance anyway. If someone is killed or severely injured because of you, then you will need to have protection.
While it is a no-fault state, you might still get sued if you caused extensive damage. That is also the case if you caused injuries that someone’s policy couldn’t completely cover. If you do not get the protection, then you might have to pay for these damages yourself and, potentially, legal fees.
Closing Thoughts
While it might seem like a hassle, car insurance is actually designed to protect both you and other people on the road. Make sure that you do your research when you are looking for insurance providers.
Disclaimer
The information contained in South Florida Reporter is for general information purposes only.
The South Florida Reporter assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the Service.
In no event shall the South Florida Reporter be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Service or the contents of the Service. The Company reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the contents of the Service at any time without prior notice.
The Company does not warrant that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components
