Delaware Car Insurance Minimum Requirements

Delaware requires at least 25/50/10 liability coverage. That is $25,000 for injuries to one person, $50,000 per accident and $10,000 for property damage.

Shorthand: 25/50/10
Liability alone does not make a Delaware policy legal. Personal injury protection of $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident is mandatory on top of it, so the statutory package is 25/50/10 plus 15/30 PIP. The 25/50/10 figures come from the Financial Responsibility Law, which § 2118(a)(1) incorporates by reference; a combined single limit of $60,000 also satisfies the definition of proof of financial responsibility in § 101(63). Section 2118 additionally requires $10,000 of coverage for damage to property other than vehicles and coverage for damage to the insured vehicle itself, though the owner may cut the latter back with deductibles or exclusions.
Bodily injury — per person: $25,000
Bodily injury — per accident: $50,000
Property damage: $10,000
Uninsured / underinsured motorist: Required unless you reject it in writing — at least 25/50/10
Uninsured motorist coverage for bodily injury and property damage must be in every policy at no less than the financial responsibility minimums, and it drops out only if a named insured signs the insurer's rejection form. Property damage carries a $250 deductible unless you and the insurer agree in writing to a different one. Underinsured motorist coverage is different: the insurer must offer it up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, and you get it only by buying that additional coverage. The Department of Insurance's own Auto Insurance Guide lists uninsured motorist coverage under "Optional Coverage," which reads as though it were an extra; 18 Del. C. § 3902(a) makes it standard unless rejected.
Personal injury protection (PIP): Required; cannot be declined
Delaware settles crash claims on fault and still makes personal injury protection mandatory on every registered vehicle. There is no rejection form. The owner may elect deductibles, waiting periods, sublimits or percentage reductions on the PIP that covers the owner and household members, but only in writing and only from options the insurer has filed with the Department of Insurance.
PIP minimum limit: $15,000
$15,000 for any one person and $30,000 for everyone injured in one accident, for expenses incurred within 2 years of the crash: medical, hospital, dental, surgical, ambulance and nursing care, the net amount of lost earnings, and substitute household services. Funeral expenses are capped at $5,000. PIP reaches everyone in the insured vehicle and anyone else hurt in the crash who is not in another vehicle.

Property damage minimum — where Delaware sits

Delaware sets $10,000 — higher than 1 of the 51 jurisdictions on this site. The range runs from $5,000 to $50,000.

How Delaware compares with every other state

What these numbers buy you

Those first two numbers are two different walls, and drivers regularly mistake them for one. $25,000 is the most the policy pays for any single person's injuries. $50,000 is the ceiling for everyone hurt in the same crash put together. Injure one person badly and $25,000 is all your insurer owes, however large the bill. Injure three people and they divide $50,000 between them. Anything a court awards above those lines is yours to pay, and it does not go away when the policy runs out.

The $10,000 of property damage cover is the figure drivers look at last and need first. It pays for what you hit — the other car, a guardrail, a storefront — and nothing else. Only 1 state on this site sets a lower floor. Whatever the repair or replacement actually costs above $10,000 is not covered by this policy, and the difference is a debt in your name rather than your insurer's.

None of this is what Delaware drivers actually spend. The average premium written per insured vehicle here was $423 in 2023, 25th highest of 51 states and DC — and that average covers policies far above the legal floor, not the bare minimum on this page.

Carrying the minimum is legal, not safe. It is the line below which Delaware will not let you drive — and the penalties for falling under it are on the driving uninsured page.

Common questions

Is uninsured motorist coverage required in Delaware?

Required unless you reject it in writing — at least 25/50/10.

Is PIP required in Delaware?

Required; cannot be declined.

Is full coverage required in Delaware?

No. Collision and comprehensive — the two coverages people usually mean by "full coverage" — are not part of what Delaware law requires. A lender or leasing company will usually require them until the car is paid off.

Every statute cited for Delaware

What changed

December 13, 2017
Minimum liability limits raised from 15/30/5 to 25/50/10
House Bill 114 of the 149th General Assembly rewrote 21 Del. C. § 2902(b)(2), lifting bodily injury coverage from $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident to $25,000 and $50,000, and property damage from $5,000 to $10,000. Because § 2118(a)(1) ties the required liability coverage to the Financial Responsibility Law, the change flowed straight through to every registered vehicle. It was approved on June 13, 2017 and took effect 6 months later, applying to policies written or renewed after that date rather than to policies already in force. Sites that still print 15/30/5 or 15/30/10 for Delaware are quoting the pre-2017 law; the old $15,000 / $30,000 / $10,000 figures do survive in 21 Del. C. § 2944, which governs when a crash judgment counts as satisfied, and that is a different rule.
81 Del. Laws, c. 39 (House Bill 114 as amended by House Amendment 1)

Why the rule looks like this

More on Delaware

Checked against the primary sources above on September 29, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.