Michigan Car Insurance Minimum Requirements
What Michigan law requires you to carry, and what your insurer must offer you on top of it.
- Shorthand
- 250/500/10
Default limits since July 2, 2020. The lowest a Michigan driver may buy down to is 50/100/10, and only on a signed form. Guides still listing 20/40/10 are quoting the pre-2020 minimum.
- Bodily injury — per person
- $250,000
This is what your policy carries unless you sign a director-approved form choosing less. The floor is $50,000 per person.
- Bodily injury — per accident
- $500,000
Default limit. The floor is $100,000 per accident.
- Property damage
- $10,000
Residual property damage liability covers property you damage in another state. Damage done inside Michigan is paid by Property Protection Insurance instead — see the row below.
- Uninsured / underinsured motorist
- Not required
Michigan law requires only three coverages: personal injury protection, property protection insurance, and residual bodily injury and property damage liability. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is sold as an optional add-on.
- Personal injury protection (PIP)
- Required, but the driver chooses the medical limit from six options
PIP medical is mandatory, yet since July 2, 2020 the insured picks the ceiling: (1) unlimited; (2) $500,000 per person per accident; (3) $250,000; (4) $250,000 with PIP-medical exclusions for household members who hold qualified health coverage; (5) $50,000, available only if the named insured is enrolled in Medicaid and every spouse and resident relative has qualified health coverage, Medicaid, or PIP under another auto policy; (6) opt out of PIP medical entirely, available only if the named insured has Medicare Parts A and B and every spouse and resident relative has qualified health coverage or PIP under another auto policy. If no valid selection is made, the policy defaults to unlimited. Wage loss, replacement services, and survivor's and funeral benefits stay on the policy even under an opt-out.
- PIP minimum limit
- $50,000 floor for Medicaid enrollees; $250,000 for everyone else who buys down; unlimited by default
There is no single statutory PIP number in Michigan. $250,000 is the lowest limit a driver with ordinary health coverage may select, $50,000 is reachable only by a Medicaid enrollee, and a Medicare Parts A and B enrollee may carry no PIP medical at all. Qualified health coverage means a plan that does not exclude or limit auto accident injuries and whose annual individual deductible is at or below a figure DIFS indexes each July 1 — $6,579 for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.
- Property protection (PPI)
- $1,000,000
Property Protection Insurance is mandatory and unique to Michigan. It pays, without regard to fault, for damage your car does to buildings, fences and properly parked vehicles inside Michigan. It does not pay for damage to another moving car.
What changed
July 1, 2021
56-hour weekly cap on family-provided in-home attendant care
From July 1, 2021 insurers are only required to pay for 56 hours per week of in-home attendant care provided by someone related to the injured person, living in their household, or who had a business or social relationship with them before the injury. The insurer must still cover all medically necessary care up to the selected PIP medical limit, and may contract beyond 56 hours. The Michigan Court of Appeals held the limit does not apply to people injured before June 11, 2019. Insurers must also offer a rider extending attendant care above the chosen PIP limit to anyone selecting $50,000, $250,000 or $500,000.
Michigan DIFS — Auto insurance FAQJuly 2, 2020
Unlimited PIP is no longer mandatory — drivers now choose from six coverage levels
For policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, 2019 PA 21 and 22 ended Michigan's single mandatory unlimited PIP medical benefit. The insured now selects one of six levels: unlimited; $500,000; $250,000; $250,000 with PIP-medical exclusions for household members holding qualified health coverage; $50,000, available only to a named insured enrolled in Medicaid whose spouse and resident relatives have qualified health coverage, Medicaid or PIP elsewhere; or no PIP medical at all, available only to a named insured with Medicare Parts A and B whose spouse and resident relatives have qualified health coverage or PIP elsewhere. A policy with no valid selection defaults to unlimited. This is the single most misreported fact about Michigan auto insurance — guides that describe Michigan as a mandatory unlimited-PIP state are six years out of date.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.3107cJuly 2, 2020
Default bodily injury limits raised from 20/40 to 250/500
The same reform rewrote MCL 500.3009. Before July 2, 2020 the statutory minimum was $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident. After that date a policy carries $250,000 and $500,000 unless the insured signs a director-approved form buying down, and the lowest permitted buy-down is $50,000 and $100,000. Residual property damage liability stayed at $10,000 and still applies only to property damaged in another state. Sources still quoting 20/40/10 as Michigan's minimum are citing repealed limits.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.3009