Auto Insurance Laws

In the United States, auto insurance laws are state-based, with each state determining its own system for regulating the provision of auto owners insurance. There are fundamentally two systems in operation today, the tort liability system and the no-fault system, but the ability to have either or both systems, or parts of each system, has resulted in each state falling within one of the following four principal categories:

Tort states;
No-fault states;
Choice states; and
Add-on states.

Tort States

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Georgia

Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Louisiana
Maine
Mississippi

Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
North Carolina
Ohio

Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vermont
West Virginia
Wyoming

Learn more about auto insurance laws in tort states.

No-Fault States

Florida
Hawaii
Kansas

Massachusetts
Michigan

Minnesota
New York

North Dakota
Utah

Learn more about auto insurance laws in no-fault states.

Choice States

Kentucky

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

Learn more about auto insurance laws in choice states.

Add-On States

Arkansas
Delaware
Maryland

New Hampshire
Oregon
South Dakota

Texas
Virginia

Washington
Wisconsin

Learn more about auto insurance laws in add-on states.

Districts and Territories

The District of Columbia operates under a unique system in which drivers have the option of effecting either a tort or a no-fault insurance policy. However, following a car accident a policyholder who originally chose a no-fault policy has a period of 60 days to decide whether to claim benefits under that policy or to file a suit against the other party under the tort system.

Puerto Rico operates a true no-fault system in similarity with the nine no-fault states detailed above. That is, policyholders may claim compensation for injuries from their own insurance companies, and they have limitations on their right to sue at-fault drivers (through the application of a monetary threshold).