New Mexico Car Insurance Minimum Requirements

New Mexico 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
These figures have not moved since the Mandatory Financial Responsibility Act was rewritten in 1983. New Mexico's $10,000 property damage floor is among the lowest in the country, and bills to change the required coverage have failed in the 2025 session.
Bodily injury — per person: $25,000
Bodily injury — per accident: $50,000
Property damage: $10,000
Uninsured / underinsured motorist: Included at your liability limits unless you reject it in writing
Every policy issued for a vehicle registered or principally garaged in New Mexico must carry uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, at least at the 25/50/10 limits and up to the liability limits you bought, unless the named insured rejects it (NMSA 1978, § 66-5-301). Under Jordan v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2010-NMSC-051, a rejection counts only if it is in writing and made part of the policy; if it is not, UM/UIM coverage is read into the policy at the liability limits. Sources saying UM/UIM became mandatory in New Mexico on January 1, 2026 are wrong: SB 319 and HB 97 of the 2025 session would have done that, and neither passed.
Personal injury protection (PIP): Not required
New Mexico is an at-fault state. The Mandatory Financial Responsibility Act requires only bodily injury and property damage liability coverage; there is no personal injury protection requirement.

Property damage minimum — where New Mexico sits

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

How New Mexico 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 New Mexico drivers actually spend. The average premium written per insured vehicle here was $418 in 2023, 27th 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 New Mexico 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 New Mexico?

Included at your liability limits unless you reject it in writing.

Is PIP required in New Mexico?

Not required.

Is full coverage required in New Mexico?

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

Every statute cited for New Mexico

Why the rule looks like this

More on New Mexico

Checked against the primary sources above on September 28, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.