West Virginia Car Insurance Minimum Requirements
West Virginia 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
In force for policies written or renewed on or after January 1, 2016. The old 20/40/10 limits stayed valid only until a policy in effect on December 31, 2015 expired or renewed, so nothing is written at those limits today. A 2026 bill to change the figures again, HB 5505, died in committee.
- Bodily injury — per person
- $25,000
- Bodily injury — per accident
- $50,000
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Uninsured / underinsured motorist
- Uninsured motorist required; underinsured motorist must be offered
Every motor vehicle liability policy issued in West Virginia must carry uninsured motorist coverage at no less than the 25/50/25 minimums, and it cannot be waived down below them. The UM property damage coverage may exclude the first $300 of damage caused by an uninsured driver. Underinsured motorist coverage is different: the insurer has to offer it, up to the liability limits you bought, but you may decline it. The insurer must also offer optional higher UM limits of $100,000/$300,000/$50,000 (§ 33-6-31(b)).
- Personal injury protection (PIP)
- Not required
West Virginia has no personal injury protection requirement. § 17D-4-2 sets bodily injury and property damage liability limits only, and the one coverage § 33-6-31 adds on top is uninsured and underinsured motorist. No provision of Chapter 17D or § 33-6-31 requires first-party medical coverage.
West Virginia sets $25,000 — higher than 23 of the 51 jurisdictions on this site. The range runs from $5,000 to $50,000.
How West Virginia 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 West Virginia drivers actually spend. The average premium written per insured vehicle here was $402 in 2023, 30th 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 West Virginia 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 West Virginia?
Uninsured motorist required; underinsured motorist must be offered.
Is PIP required in West Virginia?
Not required.
Is full coverage required in West Virginia?
No. Collision and comprehensive — the two coverages people usually mean by "full coverage" — are not part of what West Virginia law requires. A lender or leasing company will usually require them until the car is paid off.
Every statute cited for West Virginia
What changed
January 1, 2016
Minimum liability limits raised to 25/50/25
Committee Substitute for HB 2790 (2015 Regular Session) rewrote § 17D-4-2 so that, beginning January 1, 2016, proof of financial responsibility means $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage, up from 20/40/10. A policy in force on December 31, 2015 at the old limits stayed good only until it expired or renewed, so no West Virginia policy carries 20/40/10 today. The same act relieved insurers of having to make a fresh uninsured or underinsured motorist offer when limits rose only to meet the new minimum.
Enrolled Committee Substitute for HB 2790, 2015 Regular Session (West Virginia Legislature)
Why the rule looks like this
- What Changed in 2026Liability minimums doubled in Hawaii, two states dropped pure comparative fault, New Hampshire stopped inspecting cars, and three crash reporting thresholds moved — a dated account of the 2026 changes, and the ones already signed for 2027 and beyond.
- Fifteen Thousand Dollars, or Two Hundred and Fifty ThousandThe legal minimum for injuring one person in a crash ranges from $15,000 in Pennsylvania to $250,000 in Michigan — and in Florida there is no bodily injury requirement at all.
More on West Virginia
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.