Florida and New Hampshire are the only two states in the Union that do not require all drivers to carry BI coverage.
What Florida does require is personal injury protection or PIP and property damage (PD) liability coverage in the amount of $10,000 because of damage or destruction to the property of others in a crash.
Three years ago, Florida’s Legislature passed a bipartisan bill that would have required BI coverage. Pressured by the insurance industry, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the bill. This year’s proposed bills addressed some of the concerns expressed by Gov. DeSantis when he vetoed the bill. Nevertheless, the insurance industry kept the bills from gaining traction.
Florida’s auto insurance premiums are among the highest in the country. Last year, HB 837 was sold by the insurance industry as a solution to the premium crisis. It was passed into law. The law compromises the rights of individuals harmed by the negligence of others. Meanwhile, insurance rates continue to skyrocket.
According to an analysis by Forbes, Florida drivers pay twice the national average for full coverage. A 2016 report commissioned by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation found that moving from PIP to mandatory BI would reduce insurance premiums on average from 5.6 to 9.6 percent, and up to 24 percent in Miami-Dade County.
Mostly because of Florida’s prohibitively high insurance rates, more than 20% of at-fault drivers will not have sufficient BI insurance to cover the losses suffered by the accident victim. See Insurance Information Institute, “Facts + Statistics: Uninsured Motorists.”
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