Florida Auto Insurance
Most Florida households carry more auto coverage than the state requires, and for good reason. The two coverages Florida needs to register a car, $10,000 of personal injury protection and $10,000 of property damage liability, do not pay for injuries you cause to someone else and do not repair your own car. Bodily injury liability, uninsured motorist coverage, and collision and comprehensive on the cars you rely on are the coverages that do. We compare 6+ Florida auto carriers side by side, show you what each of those coverages costs, and quote your cars alongside your home so the whole household is priced together, with a licensed agent walking you through it in every county in Florida.
Auto coverage at a glance
Why Florida auto insurance is priced the way it is
Florida is a no-fault state with one of the lowest legal floors in the country, and both facts shape every quote. The floor keeps a car registered: $10,000 of personal injury protection and $10,000 of property damage liability (s. 627.733, s. 324.022). It says nothing about injuries you cause to someone else, and nothing about your own car. Everything that actually protects a household, from bodily injury liability to coverage on your own car, is added above that minimum, and comparing 6+ Florida auto carriers shows what each addition costs before you choose.
The carriers competing for Florida drivers price the same household very differently. National carriers such as Progressive, GEICO, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, and Mercury each weigh driving records, vehicles, ZIP-code loss data, and coverage choices on their own scale, and the gap between the highest and lowest quote for one family often runs to hundreds of dollars a year. That spread is why comparing carriers matters. An agent who represents one company can only show you that company’s rate, while we put 6+ next to each other and explain the differences in plain English. Meet the lineup on our carrier hub, where each auto carrier has its own profile.
Cornerstone Insurance is a family-owned and operated Trusted Choice® independent personal lines agency writing in every county in Florida. We represent many carriers rather than one: your cars, trucks, minivans, and SUVs are quoted across multiple highly rated Florida markets, and every policy your household carries can live in one place.
The legal floor: what Florida requires to register a car
Personal injury protection (PIP) is the no-fault half of the floor, designed to pay 80 percent of reasonable, medically necessary expenses and 60 percent of lost gross income after a crash, regardless of fault, up to a combined $10,000. One deadline matters: initial medical care must begin within 14 days of the crash (s. 627.736), and a visit that starts later can leave the benefit unpaid.
Property damage liability (PDL) is the other half, covering damage your car causes to other people’s property, designed to pay up to its limit, with a $10,000-per-crash floor (s. 324.022). One crash can involve several vehicles, which is why many households carry higher PDL limits. Both coverages must stay in force continuously for as long as the car has a tag (s. 627.733), and a lapse can bring driver-license and registration suspension with reinstatement fees from $150 up to $500 for repeat lapses (s. 324.0221). Everything else on an auto policy is optional, and those optional coverages are what actually protect you.
Coverage built above the floor
Nothing in the floor pays for injuries you cause or repairs your own car. Those jobs belong to the coverages below, each subject to your policy’s terms and each worth choosing deliberately with your agent.
Bodily injury liability (BI) is the first coverage to add. It is not required to register a car for most drivers, but under the financial responsibility law (chapter 324), an at-fault crash with injuries and no BI can mean a suspended license, tag, and registration, with the damages still yours to pay (s. 324.051). BI is designed to pay, up to its limit, for injuries you cause to other people, and it usually includes a legal defense. A practical starting point for quoting is 100/300, the limits most vehicle leases require, with higher limits where they fit the household and an umbrella policy above them; we show each step and its price rather than pushing any one number.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) is the one we recommend on every Florida auto policy. Because BI isn’t required for registration, roughly 15 to 20 percent of Florida drivers carry no coverage at all, per the Insurance Research Council, and more carry only the floor. UM/UIM is designed to step in for you and resident family members when an at-fault driver has no coverage or not enough, for medical costs and lost income beyond what PIP handles. Carriers must include it with any BI policy unless you reject it in writing (s. 627.727), and the FAQ below compares its stacked and non-stacked forms.
The rest protects the car and the trip. Medical payments (MedPay) is designed to help with the share of medical bills PIP leaves behind, for you and your passengers, no fault required. Collision is designed to repair or replace your own car after a crash, whoever caused it, minus your deductible; no statute requires it, but on a financed or leased car the lender typically does. Comprehensive is the non-collision side: theft, vandalism, broken glass, fire, falling limbs, animal strikes, and storm damage including flooding, subject to your deductible. GAP coverage is designed to help with the difference when a financed or leased car is totaled and the loan balance and the car’s actual cash value turn out to be different numbers. Rental reimbursement and roadside are the optional pieces designed to help with a rental car while yours is repaired after a covered loss, and with a tow when a trip ends on the shoulder.
Each one has a price, and each of our 6+ Florida auto carriers prices cars, drivers, and coverage choices differently, so comparing them shows what raising a limit really costs. The result is coverage that fits your cars and your drivers.
What drives a Florida auto insurance quote
The drivers come first: ages, driving records, years licensed, and how many people in the household drive. The vehicles come next, since a carrier prices the cost of repairing a particular model, its safety equipment, its theft history, and whether it is financed. How the cars are used matters too, from annual mileage and commuting distance to whether a car ever drives for a rideshare platform, which most personal policies exclude unless a rideshare endorsement is added. Then the carrier layers in its own loss data for your area, an insurance score where Florida law allows one, and the coverage choices and deductibles you make.
Discounts sit on top of all of that, and they vary by carrier more than people expect: multi-car, multi-policy with the home, good student, defensive-driving course completion, paid-in-full, paperless billing, safety features, and usage-based programs that price how a car is actually driven. Because each of our carriers builds the list differently, a household that looks expensive to one company can be a preferred risk to another, which is why it pays to get quotes from several carriers instead of renewing without looking.
Florida’s weather shows up in the comprehensive line. A car parked in a garage that takes on water in a tropical storm, a windshield cracked by debris, or a tree limb through the roof are all comprehensive claims, subject to the deductible you choose, and a flooded car is one of the more common Florida claims after a named storm. Whether to keep comprehensive on an older, paid-off car is a judgment call, and we price it both ways so you can see the difference.
Multi-car households, bundles, and the layer above
Multi-car households have the most to compare. Several cars and drivers on one policy multiply every rating decision, and each carrier weighs the mix its own way, so the spread between quotes widens as a household grows. Multi-car discounts may apply, and the stacked UM/UIM choice carries more weight with several vehicles. A teen driver is the classic example: adding one to the household moves every carrier’s number, but not by the same amount, and the good-student and driver-training credits differ carrier to carrier.
Home and auto is the classic pairing. Placing your Florida homeowners insurance and auto through one agency keeps everything in one place, and pairing them with the same carrier may qualify you for multi-policy credits on both sides. Some of our carriers add their own bundle perks; Progressive, where the agency holds Platinum standing, can offer a 12-month auto policy term when the home is bundled, which locks the auto rate for a full year instead of six months. We quote the bundle and the split side by side, because the cheapest bundle isn’t always the best-protected household, and our bundling guide explains when separate carriers protect you better.
An umbrella adds a layer above both. A personal umbrella policy is designed to add liability protection in one-million-dollar layers above your auto and home limits, quoted across 5+ umbrella carriers in the same conversation. There is no formula for the right limit; working with your agent, the aim is as much as you qualify for and can afford, at a limit protecting the earnings you have now and the earnings still ahead of you. Ask about the umbrella’s uninsured-motorist endorsement as well, since it extends the one coverage that protects your own household.
Motorcycles live outside this policy. Florida’s no-fault law defines a motor vehicle as having four or more wheels (s. 627.732), so PIP doesn’t apply to motorcycles, and a bike needs its own motorcycle policy with its own medical and liability decisions. Collector cars are their own market too: a garaged classic that comes out on its own schedule is usually written on an agreed-value collector policy through a specialist such as Hagerty, alongside the regular policy on your daily drivers.
Switching, renewals, and staying covered
Auto policies switch cleanly. With an admitted carrier the unused premium comes back pro rata, so a mid-term move rarely costs anything by itself, and proof of insurance for the new policy is typically issued the same day it binds. If you already have a policy, the fastest start is sharing it through Canopy Connect, our secure policy-sharing tool that pulls your current coverage and declarations into the quote in about a minute, or uploading your declarations page with the quote request. New Florida residents have their own clock: our moving to Florida guide covers the registration and insurance deadlines new arrivals most often miss.
Renewal is the natural time for a policy review. We re-shop a policy when a rate increase or a service problem goes outside the norm, rather than on a fixed schedule, and the review itself often captures discounts a household added since the policy was written, such as a bundled home, a completed driving course, or a car that was paid off. Six-month terms are common in auto, so the comparison comes around more often than it does on a home.
Claims are filed with the carrier, online or through its app or claims line, and the agency’s value comes before the loss: knowing which coverages you carry, where the deductibles sit, and what a rental reimbursement limit actually buys. Our claims information hub lists every carrier’s claims contact, and our guide to rental cars and your auto policy answers the question that comes up on every vacation.
How an auto quote works here
Tell us about your cars and drivers once. Our one-entry quote request runs the household across the auto carriers we represent, and a licensed agent works with you as a team from the first question to the bound policy.
Step 1
Get a quote
A licensed Florida agent asks about your cars, your drivers, and how you use them. Those are the details that move an auto quote, and the discounts start with what you tell us.
Step 2
Review your options
Because we’re independent, your quote is priced across 6+ Florida auto carriers, with the options side by side and the price of each step up in coverage shown in plain English.
Step 3
Switch with ease
We handle the paperwork with you, help wrap up your previous coverage cleanly, and stay one call or text away as cars and drivers change.
Frequently Asked Questions About Florida Auto Insurance
Do I really need car insurance in Florida?
To keep a car registered, yes: $10,000 of personal injury protection and $10,000 of property damage liability, in force continuously (s. 627.733). A lapse can bring driver-license and registration suspension, with reinstatement fees from $150 up to $500 for repeat lapses (s. 324.0221), and a financed or leased car usually adds the lender’s requirements for collision and comprehensive. Beyond the legal side, a crash can total a car you still owe money on, and injuries you cause are yours to answer for.
Is bodily injury liability coverage required in Florida?
Not for registration, for most drivers, which makes Florida unusual. Responsibility for the injuries you cause remains: an at-fault crash without BI can bring license, tag, and registration suspension under the financial responsibility law (ch. 324, s. 324.051) unless claims are released, security is deposited, or judgments are satisfied, with the damages still yours to pay. That is why BI is the coverage responsible Florida households carry anyway, at limits chosen deliberately with an agent.
How much auto insurance coverage do I need?
There is no formula. The decisions to make deliberately with your agent are your bodily injury and property damage limits, your UM/UIM limits and whether they stack, and how you protect the cars themselves through collision, comprehensive, and GAP on anything financed. A practical starting point for liability is 100/300, the limits most leases require, with higher limits where they fit, and a useful frame is as much protection as you qualify for and can comfortably afford, remembering a judgment can reach future earnings as well as current savings. Seeing what each step costs across 6+ Florida auto carriers usually makes the choice easier.
Should I carry uninsured motorist coverage in Florida?
We recommend it on every Florida auto policy. Roughly 15 to 20 percent of Florida drivers carry no coverage, per the Insurance Research Council, and many more carry only the legal floor, which includes no bodily injury liability at all. UM/UIM is designed to cover you and resident family members for medical costs and lost income beyond PIP when the at-fault driver has nothing or not enough. It is the one auto coverage that protects your own household rather than someone else’s.
What is stacked vs. non-stacked UM/UIM coverage in Florida?
With stacked UM/UIM, the limits on the vehicles you insure combine: two cars with $100,000 of UM each means up to $200,000 of protection in a covered claim. Non-stacked keeps the single per-vehicle limit however many cars share the policy, and the signed election that sets it up permits certain coverage limitations the stacked form doesn’t carry (s. 627.727). Neither is right for every household; they are two ways of buying the same protection, priced differently, and the law requires non-stacked premiums to run at least 20 percent lower. We price your quote both ways so you see the difference in dollars.
Does my auto policy cover flood or hurricane damage to my car?
Storm damage to a vehicle, including flooding, falls under comprehensive coverage, subject to the deductible you chose, and comprehensive is optional under Florida law. A car with only the legal floor, or with collision alone, has no coverage for water damage. If a storm is in the forecast, the time to add comprehensive has usually passed, because carriers commonly suspend changes once a named storm approaches, so the decision belongs at renewal.
Does bundling home and auto really save money in Florida?
Often, but not always, and the only way to know is to see both numbers. Pairing home and auto with one carrier may qualify you for multi-policy credits on both policies, and some carriers add perks such as a 12-month auto term. Because Florida home carriers and auto carriers are often different companies, the best-protected household sometimes uses two carriers through one agency. We quote the bundle and the split side by side.
How do I file an auto claim?
Claims are filed directly with your carrier, online, through its app, or by calling its claims line, and the carrier’s adjuster handles the claim from there. Before a loss is when to bring questions to your agent: which coverages you carry, where your deductibles sit, and whether rental reimbursement is on the policy. Our claims information hub lists every carrier’s claims contact in one place.
Which car insurance carriers do you work with?
We quote across 6+ Florida auto carriers, including:
- Progressive
- GEICO
- Travelers
- Liberty Mutual
- Mercury
- Foremost
- Hagerty, for collector cars
The lineup moves with the market, so we run your actual cars and drivers through every auto market we hold and show you the results side by side.
What other types of insurance do you offer?
Most of what a Florida household insures, through one independent agency:
Related Florida auto insurance guides
Florida’s largest auto writer, the Platinum agency standing, and the bundle perks that come with it.
Read the profile →What the direct brand looks like through an independent agent, and where it prices best.
Read the profile →The independent-agent brand, and how it writes auto and umbrella for Florida households.
Read the profile →A carrier with a home-and-auto bundle built for Florida households.
Read the profile →When one carrier saves money, and when separate carriers protect you better.
See how bundling works →The registration and insurance deadlines new residents most often miss.
Plan the move →The layer above your auto and home limits, quoted across 5+ carriers.
Umbrella insurance →What your own auto policy does and doesn’t do at the rental counter.
Read the guide →
