Florida doesn't require bodily injury liability: why UM/UIM is the most important coverage you own

Most people assume that when a careless driver hurts them, that driver's insurance pays. In Florida, that is often not true, because Florida does not make drivers buy the coverage that would pay.

This post explains the gap, the one coverage that closes it, and how to find out in five minutes whether you have it.

What Florida actually requires

According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, to register a vehicle in Florida you must carry a minimum of $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 in Property Damage Liability (PDL). That is the whole list for ordinary private cars.

PIP pays your own medical bills and part of your wages, regardless of fault. PDL pays for damage the driver does to other people's property.

What is missing is bodily injury liability (BI), the coverage that pays for the injuries a driver causes to other people. Florida does not require it for general registration. A separate law, the Financial Responsibility Law in Fla. Stat. § 324.021(7), requires $10,000 per person and $20,000 per crash in BI coverage only after certain crashes or convictions. Taxis and some commercial vehicles have their own rules.

So the driver who ran the light at SR-52 and US-19 may be driving with the state's full blessing and no coverage at all for what they did to you.

How common uninsured drivers are in Florida

According to the Insurance Research Council, as reported by the Insurance Information Institute, an estimated 20.6 percent of Florida drivers were uninsured in 2023, the seventh highest rate in the country. The national figure was 15.4 percent. Roughly one in five cars on US-19 has no liability coverage of any kind. Many more carry only the state minimum, with no BI.

Pasco sees a lot of crashes for those drivers to be in. According to FLHSMV Crash Dashboard figures reported by Neighborhood News in November 2025, Pasco County recorded 5,866 crashes from January 1 through November 14, 2025, including 68 with fatalities and 3,173 with injuries, plus 1,107 hit-and-run crashes.

What UM/UIM coverage does

Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is governed by Fla. Stat. § 627.727. It is coverage you buy on your own policy, and it steps into the shoes of the at-fault driver. It pays when:

• the at-fault driver has no bodily injury coverage (uninsured);
• the at-fault driver has BI coverage, but the limits are less than your total damages (underinsured);
• the at-fault driver's insurer is insolvent; or
• in many cases, the driver fled and cannot be identified.

The statute describes UM as paying the difference between what the at-fault driver's coverage provides and the damages you sustained. It is "over and above" the other coverage and is not reduced by it. If the other driver has $10,000 in BI and your damages are $150,000, a $100,000 UM policy pays up to $100,000 on top of the $10,000.

UM claims are measured by what you could legally recover from the at-fault driver. That means the rest of Florida law still applies: the permanent-injury threshold in Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2) for pain and suffering, and the 51% comparative-negligence bar in Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6). If you were more than 50 percent at fault, UM pays nothing, the same as the other driver would.

Not sure whether you have UM? Send us your declarations page. Call (240) 421-5511 and we will read it with you for free.

Why you may already have it, or may have signed it away

Florida takes UM seriously enough that insurers cannot quietly leave it off. Under § 627.727, any policy that includes bodily injury liability coverage must include UM coverage at limits equal to the BI limits, unless the named insured rejects it in writing or selects lower limits in writing on a state-approved form. The insurer also has to notify you of these options at least once a year.

That means two things:

1. If you bought BI coverage and never signed a rejection form, you likely have UM at the same limits.
2. If your agent handed you a stack of papers at signing and one of them was a UM rejection, you may have given up the most valuable coverage on the policy to save a few dollars a month.

Many people have no idea which one happened. Your declarations page will show a line for "Uninsured Motorist" or "UM/UIM" with a limit, or it will say rejected. If you only carry PIP and PDL, the state minimum, you have no BI and therefore no UM.

Stacked versus non-stacked

Florida allows insurers to sell a "non-stacked" version of UM at a discount. Under § 627.727(8), non-stacked coverage on a multi-car policy cannot be added together across vehicles, and the insurer must price it at least 20 percent lower. Non-stacked coverage also comes with additional restrictions, including when you are hurt in a vehicle you do not own.

Stacked coverage combines limits across vehicles. A household with three cars and $100,000 per person in stacked UM has $300,000 available for one injured person. For a family on Pasco roads, that difference can be the difference between a claim that covers a spinal surgery and one that does not.

What a UM claim looks like in practice

A UM claim is a claim against your own insurer, but your insurer does not simply write a check. It evaluates the claim the way the at-fault driver's company would, and it is entitled to the same defenses. The claimant and insurer both owe a duty of good faith under Fla. Stat. § 624.155.

A typical Pasco County UM case runs like this:

1. PIP pays the first bills: 80 percent of medical expenses and 60 percent of lost wages, up to $10,000, as long as you got care within 14 days. The 14-day rule explained.
2. The at-fault driver's BI coverage, if any, is identified. If the insurer tenders its limits, your UM carrier must be notified in writing before you accept, so it can decide whether to pay the limits itself and pursue the at-fault driver. § 627.727(6) governs that process.
3. A demand goes to the UM carrier with medical records, bills and documentation of the permanent injury.
4. If the carrier will not pay fair value, suit is filed against the carrier. Claims on a written contract carry a five-year limitation period under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b), but the underlying negligence claim against the driver must be filed within two years under § 95.11(5)(a), so we work every UM case on the two-year clock.

If you have already been hurt and the other driver had nothing, call (240) 421-5511. We open the UM claim and handle your own insurer for you.

What to do before you ever need it

• Pull your declarations page tonight. Look for UM/UIM and whether it is stacked.
• If you rejected it, call your agent and add it. Ask for quotes at $100,000, $250,000 and $500,000 per person.
• Add it to every vehicle, including motorcycles. Riders have no PIP, so UM is often the only coverage a rider has.
• Make sure every licensed driver in the household is listed.

Then, if you are hurt by a driver on US-19 who has nothing, you will have something.

Talk to a Port Richey car accident lawyer today

Conde-Huggins Accident Injury Lawyers handles UM and UIM claims for people hurt in Port Richey, Hudson, New Port Richey, Land O' Lakes, Wesley Chapel and across Pasco County. We identify every policy that applies and pursue each one. Our attorney, Clementine Conde, has practiced in Florida since 1992. Call (240) 421-5511 any time for a free consultation. No attorney's fee unless we win. Read more about car accident claims and what to do if an uninsured driver hit you.