What Is 100/300 Car Insurance?

100/300 refers to the amount of bodily injury liability coverage you have on your car insurance policy. The two numbers represent the following insurance coverage limits:

• $100,000 per person for bodily injury liability coverage
• $300,000 per accident for bodily injury liability coverage

These coverages apply when you’re at fault for an accident. Your insurance policy will cover up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident for bodily injuries to other parties. Bodily injury coverage pays for other parties’ medical bills, lost wages, funeral expenses, physical therapy, legal expenses, and more.

To help you understand the meaning of a 100/300 insurance limit, we should first explain liability insurance. Liability insurance coverage, which most states require, covers damages to other people and property when you’re at fault for an accident.

Types of Liability Insurance

Liability insurance is broken down into two separate components: bodily injury coverage and property damage coverage.

• Bodily injury coverage: As we discussed previously, bodily injury liability insurance covers the expenses for injuries to other parties, whether they were a driver in another vehicle, a passenger in your vehicle, a pedestrian, etc. Bodily injury liability insurance doesn’t cover the cost of injuries to you or other individuals listed on your insurance policy.
• Property damage coverage: Property damage liability insurance covers expenses to physical property. This insurance coverage pays for damage to other vehicles in accidents you’re at fault for. It also covers other items that could sustain damage, such as signposts, light poles, and fences. Similar to bodily injury liability coverage, property damage liability coverage doesn’t pay for damage to your vehicle or your other property.

What Is the Purpose of Liability Car Insurance?

Liability car insurance is required in most states to protect individuals from financial losses at the hands of another driver. Depending on whether it’s bodily injury or property damage coverage, it ensures that if someone is injured or has their vehicle damaged in an accident someone else caused, the driver who caused the accident will be responsible for those damages.

Depending on your state’s fault laws, it may be only your property damage liability coverage that applies. In an at-fault state, the driver who caused the accident is responsible for both bodily injury and property damage. But in a no-fault state, each driver’s insurance covers their own bodily injuries. And if you are the driver who causes an accident, liability insurance passes the cost of damages onto your insurance company so you aren’t responsible for them out of pocket.

At least some level of liability insurance is required in all but two states. (New Hampshire and Virginia are the states with no car insurance requirement, while Florida and New Jersey require property damage coverage only.) The amount and type of liability coverage you’ll need varies from one state to the next. And while nearly every state requires liability coverage, no state requires 100/300 bodily injury liability coverage limits. In fact, the limits in most states are considerably lower.

State Minimum Bodily Injury Coverages

The table below shows the bodily injury and property damage liability coverage for each state. As you can see, most states require just $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident.

When it comes time to sign up for your next car insurance policy, you’ll have to decide just how much bodily injury liability coverage you need. While 100/300 may not be required in any state, there are still some arguments for purchasing that much coverage.

Why Carry 100/300 Insurance Limits?

The purpose of bodily injury liability coverage is to pay for other parties’ injuries resulting from an accident you caused. And while 48 states require a minimum amount of coverage, the cost of damages could certainly exceed those liability limits. If the cost exceeds your insurance limits, you’ll have to pay the remaining amount out of pocket.

Healthcare costs have risen dramatically in recent decades. In fact, from 1979 to 2020, healthcare costs in the U.S. rose nearly 669 percent, which comes out to more than 16 percent of the inflation rate per year¹.

For example, a single surgery to treat a serious spinal injury can approach $100,000, and that doesn’t even include other medical bills, physical therapy, and lost wages². As a result, a serious accident could easily result in $100,000 of healthcare costs for a single person. Purchasing higher insurance limits ensures that in the case of a serious accident, your insurance will cover it.

Is 100/300 Insurance Enough?

While you might worry that 100/300 is too much coverage, we feel it’s not enough. As we mentioned, a serious accident could easily result in serious injuries with medical expenses and lost wages of $100,000. In fact, the total could exceed that.

Many auto insurance policies offer coverage up to 250/500, meaning $300,000 per person and $500,000 per accident of bodily injury liability coverage. No matter your financial situation, it makes sense to purchase as much coverage as you can afford.

Liability coverage is required in almost every state, but it’s not the only car insurance coverage available. Many drivers should consider purchasing full coverage insurance, which includes collision and comprehensive insurance in addition to liability coverage. You can learn more about collision and comprehensive coverage below, as well as a couple of other common types of car insurance coverage.

What Are the Different Types of Car Insurance?

When you sign up for car insurance, you’ll have the choice of many different types of coverages. Here are a few of the most common options:

• Collision insurance covers damages to your vehicle in the case of a collision with a stationary object or another vehicle in an accident you’ve caused.
• Comprehensive insurance covers damages to your vehicle when the cause is something other than a collision, such as theft, vandalism, or inclement weather.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance covers damages if you’re in an accident where the driver at fault is uninsured or underinsured.
• Personal injury protection (PIP) is a type of coverage required in states with no-fault insurance laws. This coverage pays for your medical expenses after an accident, regardless of who is at fault, as well as medical bills, lost wages, and other financial losses.
• Medical payments coverage is similar to PIP and is required in some states with at-fault insurance laws. While PIP covers medical bills, lost wages, and other financial losses caused by injuries, medical payments coverage is for you and your passengers only.

Who Should Purchase More Coverage?

You should purchase full coverage auto insurance if you have a valuable vehicle and it would be cost-prohibitive to repair or replace it out of pocket. Even the most careful drivers can find themselves in situations outside of their control, and in those situations, collision and comprehensive insurance can save you a lot of money.

You may also be required to carry full coverage insurance if you are financing or leasing your vehicle. Lenders generally require proof of insurance — including collision and comprehensive insurance — for anyone with an auto loan. In this case, insurance protects not only you, but also the bank that’s financing the vehicle. According to the Insurance Information Institute, about three-quarters of drivers purchase comprehensive and collision insurance in addition to liability insurance³.

Another decision you’ll have to make when you sign up for auto insurance is choosing a deductible. The deductible is the amount you’ll pay out of pocket before your insurance coverage kicks in. Deductibles on auto insurance often range from $250 to $1,000, and the average is $500⁴.

An important consideration when choosing your deductible is cost. The lower your deductible is, the higher your premium will be. However, you still want to choose a deductible low enough that you can pay it comfortably if you have to file a claim.

It’s important to note that your deductible doesn’t apply to liability claims. If you cause an accident and there are injuries or property damage, your insurance will cover those up to your policy limits without you having to pay the deductible. The deductible applies to comprehensive and collision claims only.

Another optional car insurance coverage that’s less common is gap insurance. Gap insurance is a popular option for those who have financed their cars. If you’re in an accident and your vehicle is totaled, gap insurance will pay the difference between what your insurance company will pay you for your totaled car and what you owe the bank on the car loan.

Gap insurance isn’t for everyone. You should strongly consider it if you are financing or leasing your vehicle. It’s not necessary if the amount you owe on your car is considerably less than its total value. However, if your car’s value is less than what you owe on the loan, gap insurance may be a good idea.

Understanding the different types and coverage limits of auto insurance is critical, as it helps you build the right policy for your needs. Bodily injury liability coverage is required in almost all states. While your state may not require limits as high as 100/300, it may be in your best interest to go that route. To learn more about auto insurance, visit our auto insurance frequently asked questions.