The state of Florida is considered a “No fault” state which requires that drivers be covered with property damage liability coverage and personal injury protection coverage. So, in short, no you cannot drive a car without insurance in Florida. It is actually completely illegal to drive in the state of Florida without any car insurance. One of the reasons you can’t and should not want to be caught driving without insurance in Florida is in the event that you are involved in a car accident. If you are involved in a car accident in the state of Florida and the vehicle you were driving is not insured, you can run into a plethora of legal and financial issues. One example of this is If you cause serious injury to another person or cause serious property damage. If you are not insured, you could be held personally responsible for those damages. Imagine causing $10,000.00 in damages and someone filing a lawsuit against you personally because you didn’t carry insurance. In the state of Florida that is a very real possibility. On top of the financial responsibility you could also lose your driving privileges for an extended period of time. In many situations’ drivers will lose their driving privileges until the entire cost of the damages are paid to the injured parties involved. Which could turn out to be a lengthy amount of time and a large chunk of money.
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Another reason you cannot drive without insurance in Florida is If a driver that is driving uninsured is found at fault for a serious accident, they could be required to carry a special SR 22 certificate. This obligates the uninsured driver to carry higher than the minimal coverage under their insurance premiums. Typically, this is done because insurances consider these types of drivers to be very high risk to insure. Often times these drivers are required to carry those coverages for roughly 3 years. Outside of car accidents, drivers that drive without car insurance can also face penalties and fees that can range up to $500.00. Once the state is made aware that there has been a lapse in your insurance coverage it may become quite difficult to reinstate your insurance and you could also face all different kinds of fee’s when looking to reinstate your insurance.
There’s no work around in the state of Florida either. In fact, the minute your insurance policy is cancelled the insurance is required to notify the state department of motor vehicles that the policy has been terminated. If you drop your insurance, it’s mandatory for you to return your plates to the department of motor vehicles or immediately provide them with proof of new insurance on that vehicle. Not to mention how difficult it becomes to get reinstated with other insurance companies after they are notified that you have had lapses in coverage with other insurances. Most of these reinstatements and insurance premiums can also grow to become very expensive and unaffordable. You also run the risk of having your driver’s license and registration suspended by the state if they are notified of a lapse in insurance coverage.
Remember that although insurance coverages can be pricey the state of Florida has a large variety of insurance companies to choose from for insurance premiums. Many of these companies offer competitive rates that work with each driver’s budget. As I mentioned previously, the state of Florida requires you to carry property damage liability coverage and personal injury protection coverage. To understand why you cannot and again, frankly, should not drive without insurance in Florida it is important to understand what types of different coverages exist and which ones are highly recommended to select in your own auto policy. The state of Florida requires a minimum of $10,000.00 in property damage liability coverage. This property damage liability coverage is in place to cover the cost of damage to property that is caused by you in an accident. In other words, if you are deemed at fault for an accident where there was damage to the other persons property that persons damages will be covered with your property damage liability coverage. I think we can all agree that we rather our insurances pay for $10,000.00 in damages than having to pay that out of our own pockets. The other mandatory coverage in the state of Florida is personal injury protection coverage. The state requires you to carry $10,000.00 in personal injury protection coverage that is allocated to pay your accident related medical bills at 80%. This coverage is important if you have serious injuries arise as a result of a motor vehicle accident. I know we’ve stressed the importance of having coverage if you cause someone damage, but it is just as important to have coverage to help yourself in the event that you also suffer serious injuries.
Another coverage that is not required in Florida but is very important and can be beneficial to have is bodily injury liability coverage. This coverage ranges from a minimum of $10,000.00 to a high of $1 million or more. This coverage is in place to protect drivers who have been seriously injured as a result of the negligence of another driver. Although the state of Florida is a “No Fault” state drivers that cause serious injury to other drivers can be deemed at fault for those collisions. Bodily injury liability coverage prevents a driver from being held personally responsible for the cost of seriously bodily injury caused to another driver. As I mentioned before, we can all agree that our insurance is better equipped to pay up than we are. Ultimately, we can understand that insurance can be expensive at times and it can be a timely process to shop around and get different rates while trying to understand different coverages. However, the repercussions that can be had by driving a car in Florida with no insurance can turn out to be much more costly than the cost of a month to month plan for car insurance coverage. Choose wisely!