Like home insurance, Florida drivers pay higher prices for car insurance than the rest of the country. One reason for this is the high number of drivers without insurance.
According to the Insurance Research Council, which is backed by the insurance industry, the number of drivers on the road across the country who don’t have car insurance began to rise quickly during the pandemic in 2020 and has since kept going up. The same study also found that cars in Florida are speeding up the trend more than the average driver.
In 2022, about 16% of Florida’s 16.4 million registered drivers did not have insurance. This put the state at number 15 in the country for the percentage of uninsured drivers. The most recent numbers, from 2023, show that one in five drivers in Florida does not have insurance. According to the study, only five states and the District of Columbia have higher rates. These are Mississippi, New Mexico, D.C., Michigan, Tennessee, and Missouri.
The Insurance Research Council and the state of Florida seem to use different methods to determine the number of cars without insurance. Based on figures from this month, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says just under 6% of drivers in the state do not have insurance.
Still, people in the insurance business are sounding the alarm.
“The fact that the number of people who don’t have insurance keeps going up,” said Mark Friedlander, director of corporate communications for the Insurance Information Institute, which is backed by the insurance business and connected to the Insurance Research Council. “In Florida, the laws are very clear.” Getting insurance is a must.
In a strange twist, though, New Hampshire is the only state that lets people drive with less adequate insurance. The study also found that 90% of people who live in the Granite State have insurance, even though the state doesn’t require it.
People who drive in most other states have to get at least $25,000 in bodily harm coverage. Florida, on the other hand, only needs $10,000 in property damage and $10,000 in personal injury insurance. North Carolina recently raised the minimum insurance coverage that drivers must have. Now, they must have coverage that pays $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident for injuries, and $50,000 for damage to property.
Only people in New York, New Jersey, and Nevada pay more than Floridians to meet their state’s minimum liability requirements. This is despite Florida’s low bar for meeting minimum liability requirements. This is according to Bankrate, an online financial guide for consumers that compares the pros and cons of mortgages, credit cards, and investments.
The necessary levels of insurance coverage in Florida have been in place since the 1970s.
In 2021, a bill was passed that would have raised those minimums and gotten rid of the state’s “no fault” rules, but Gov. Ron DeSantis turned it down. Two similar bills have been filed in the Florida legislature’s current session that would raise the minimum coverage and get rid of the state’s “no-fault” accident law. This could start the debate all over again.
Friedlander said it would be hard to change the current system because raising the minimum insurance requirement would probably make it even more expensive to drive, and a lot of people already don’t do it because of how much it costs.
Friedlander said, “I understand why they are not moving forward with it.”
When someone gets car insurance, the cost is based on a lot of different factors, such as their driving record, traffic tickets, and the type and make of car they cover. A study by Bankrate in March showed that “full coverage” costs $4,210 a year on average in Florida, which is more than any other state. The bill is based on a customer who is 40 years old, has good credit, and has never been in an accident. They drive to work five days a week in a 2023 Toyota Camry.
That policy would cover a lot more than what the state needs as a minimum. Each year, that $4,210 insurance payment would cover $100,000 for personal injury in the event of an accident. It would also cover $100,000 for bodily injury risk per person and $300,000 per accident, as well as $100,000 for bodily injury coverage for uninsured motorists. After the $500 fee is paid, it would also pay up to $50,000 for damage to property.
