What to Know About Florida Auto Insurance

What to know about Florida auto insurance comes down to a relative small number of things, for the most part. The Citrus State – big, boisterous and filled with cars and people – does have a hard-and-fast set of minimum requirements and other rules for auto insurance, to be sure. Given, that there are so many people on the roads there, and with varying degrees of driving skills, it’s a good thing insurance is mandatory.

For starters, minimum requirements for Florida auto insurance deem that, first of all, a motorist will obtain and then maintain at least 10, 000 dollars with of what the state calls “personal injury protection” (PIP) and also that he or she will also obtain and then maintain another 10, 000 dollars worth of “property damage liability” (PDL). All in all, such levels don’t seem to be all that much of a burden when it comes to auto insurance.

For purposes of discussion, PDL is nothing more than insurance that pays for any damages a policy holder or his or her family members cause (and are liable for ) to another person’s property in a crash involving a motor vehicle.

There is a subset of insurance contained within Florida auto insurance policies called “bodily injury liability” (BIL).

BIL is insurance that pays for serious and permanent (that’s key) injury or death to others that’s brought about by the policy holder when he or she causes a crash while operating their motor vehicle. BIL is a particularly useful section of a policy to obtain because it pays for injuries up to the limits specified in the policy and will also cover legal representation for the holder of the policy and any family members living with the policy holder, even if they were operating somebody else’s car at the time.

Drivers who register and operate a vehicle in Florida are advised that they must obtain Florida auto insurance, and that any insurance they hold in another state is invalid.

All insurance must be obtained through a company and agent licensed to do business in the state, as a matter of fact. If a driver fails to maintain coverage, he or she is subject to suspension of their driver’s license for up to three years, which is a stiff penalty.

Once someone suffers a license suspension, there’s a reinstatement fee of 150 dollars and any subsequent violations will end up costing up to 500 dollars to reinstate the driver’s license. Additionally, proof of current Florida auto insurance will have to be provided before the suspension is lifted. What may not be known is that a vehicle that is operated in the state for at least 90 days out of a 365 day period requires that Florida-specific insurance be obtained.

While some of these requirements might seem stringent, there are certainly good reasons for why the state insists on such coverage terms. Florida has literally millions of cars on its roads and highways and drivers of all ages – but especially relatively young and relatively elderly operators — everywhere one turns.

Once one gets a firm grasp on why the state requires insurance, and what its minimum coverage requirements are, there is usually little to complain or quibble over as far as making sure drivers obtain and maintain proper Florida auto insurance. The state itself is a sunny and very happening place in most locales, and state officials just want to make sure everybody is protected as much as possible.