Tennessee Car Insurance Minimum Requirements

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

Shorthand: 25/50/25
A $65,000 single-limit policy, or a $65,000 cash deposit or bond, also satisfies the law (Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-102(12)(D)). The state's official online code is hosted by LexisNexis, so the statute is cited to two independent reproductions of the Tennessee Code instead.
Bodily injury — per person: $25,000
Bodily injury — per accident: $50,000
Property damage: $25,000
Raised from $15,000 for proof required after December 31, 2022 (Public Chapter 860 of 2022). Guides that still say 25/50/15 are out of date.
Uninsured / underinsured motorist: Included by default; rejectable in writing
Every auto liability policy must include uninsured motorist coverage equal to the bodily injury limits. A named insured may reject it in writing or choose lower limits, but not below the state minimums (§ 56-7-1201(a)).
Personal injury protection (PIP): Not required
Tennessee requires liability coverage only; there is no personal injury protection requirement.

Property damage minimum — where Tennessee sits

Tennessee sets $25,000 — higher than 23 of the 51 jurisdictions on this site. The range runs from $5,000 to $50,000.

How Tennessee 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 $25,000 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 2 states on this site set a higher one. Whatever the repair or replacement actually costs above $25,000 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 Tennessee drivers actually spend. The average premium written per insured vehicle here was $441 in 2023, 20th 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee?

Included by default; rejectable in writing.

Is PIP required in Tennessee?

Not required.

Is full coverage required in Tennessee?

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

Every statute cited for Tennessee

What changed

January 1, 2023
Property damage minimum raised from $15,000 to $25,000
Public Chapter 860 (2022, SB 504) set the minimum liability limits at 25/50/25 for proof required after December 31, 2022, up from 25/50/15. A policy that complied on December 31, 2022 had until its first renewal after that date to meet the new limits.
Tennessee Public Chapter 860 (2022)

Why the rule looks like this

More on Tennessee

Checked against the primary sources above on September 22, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.