District of Columbia Car Insurance Minimum Requirements

District of Columbia 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→ 50/100/20 from October 1, 2027
These limits have stood since the Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act of 1982 took effect. They rise to 50/100/20 on October 1, 2027. From January 1, 2037 the same law steps some of those figures up every ten years — $5,000 more per person and $10,000 more per accident on the liability side, and the same on uninsured motorist coverage plus $2,000 more of uninsured motorist property damage — with the Commissioner publishing notice at least 12 months ahead. The $20,000 of property damage liability is not on that escalator: the act's title says it is, but the section it enacted (§ 31-2406(i)) lists only subsections (c) and (f).
Bodily injury — per person: $25,000→ $50,000 from October 1, 2027
Third-party personal liability, per person injured in any one accident. The figure doubles to $50,000 on October 1, 2027 under D.C. Law 26-155.
Bodily injury — per accident: $50,000→ $100,000 from October 1, 2027
For all persons injured in any one accident. Rises to $100,000 on October 1, 2027.
Property damage: $10,000→ $20,000 from October 1, 2027
Property damage liability in any one accident. Rises to $20,000 on October 1, 2027.
Uninsured / underinsured motorist: Uninsured motorist required (25/50 plus $5,000 property damage); underinsured must be offered→ Uninsured motorist required (50/100 plus $20,000 property damage); enhanced underinsured motorist included unless waived in writing from October 1, 2027
Every policy on a vehicle registered or principally garaged in the District must include uninsured motorist coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury or death, plus $5,000 for property damage subject to a $200 deductible. You may require higher limits, up to $100,000 / $300,000 and $25,000. Motorcycles and motor-driven cycles are outside the offer requirement. Underinsured motorist coverage is optional: the insurer must offer it in amounts up to your uninsured motorist limits, and once you reject it the insurer need not offer it again and need not keep a written rejection.
Personal injury protection (PIP): Optional — the insurer must offer it
Personal injury protection is not mandatory in the District. Every insurer must offer it to anyone required to carry insurance, and you may buy any one or any combination of its three benefits: medical and rehabilitation expenses, work loss, and funeral benefits. It pays without regard to fault, but only to the insured and to occupants of the insured's vehicle or of a vehicle the insured is driving. Taxicab insurers and self-insurers are exempt from the duty to offer it.
PIP minimum limit: $50,000
The lowest medical and rehabilitation limit an insurer may sell is $50,000 per victim, and a $100,000 option must also be offered. Work loss coverage must be offered at $12,000 and $24,000 per accident, and funeral benefits are actual costs up to $4,000. Personal injury protection cannot be claimed for a loss another insurer already covers until those benefits are exhausted.

Property damage minimum — where District of Columbia sits

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

How District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia drivers actually spend. The average premium written per insured vehicle here was $664 in 2023, 1st 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 District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia?

Uninsured motorist required (25/50 plus $5,000 property damage); underinsured must be offered.

Is PIP required in District of Columbia?

Optional — the insurer must offer it.

Is full coverage required in District of Columbia?

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

Every statute cited for District of Columbia

What changed

October 1, 2027
Minimum liability goes from 25/50/10 to 50/100/20 (enacted, not yet in force)
The Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Amendment Act of 2026 doubles the District's mandatory limits: third-party personal liability from $25,000 / $50,000 to $50,000 / $100,000, and property damage liability from $10,000 to $20,000. Mandatory uninsured motorist coverage moves the same way, from 25/50 and $5,000 of property damage to 50/100 and $20,000. The limits had not moved since the Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act of 1982 took effect. The act cleared the 30-day period of Congressional review and became effective August 14, 2026, but by its own terms it applies only as of October 1, 2027, so a policy written today still carries 25/50/10. From January 1, 2037 the limits step up again every ten years — $5,000 more per person, $10,000 more per accident and $2,000 more for property damage each time — with the Commissioner publishing notice at least 12 months ahead, and the Commissioner must report to the Council on the effect on premiums by December 31, 2030 and again by December 31, 2032.
D.C. Law 26-155 — Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Amendment Act of 2026
October 1, 2027
Enhanced underinsured motorist coverage becomes the default (enacted, not yet in force)
The same 2026 act adds enhanced underinsured motorist protection to every private passenger policy unless the first named insured signs an affirmative written waiver on a form the Commissioner prescribes, which must explain the coverage's nature, extent, benefit and cost in at least 12-point boldface. Enhanced coverage pays its full limit without being reduced by what the at-fault driver's insurer already paid, unlike the traditional underinsured motorist coverage the District has offered as an option. An insured may not hold both at once, the enhanced limit cannot exceed the policy's uninsured motorist limit, and a policy issued on or after the applicability date may not force an underinsured motorist dispute into binding arbitration. The act also drops the existing carve-out that excused insurers from offering underinsured coverage on motorcycles and motor-driven cycles.
D.C. Law 26-155 § 2(a)(6) — new D.C. Code § 31-2406(f-1)

Why the rule looks like this

More on District of Columbia

Checked against the primary sources above on September 30, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.