What Every Driver Needs to Know About Maryland Car Insurance
Every Maryland driver has to have auto insurance. In fact, Maryland requires to carry not just one but three different kinds of insurance coverage.
Every Maryland driver has to buy auto liability insurance with at least 20/40/15 coverage. That means the policy will pay up to $20,000 for bodily injury to any one person in the other car in a crash with you, up to $40,000 for bodily injury for two more people in the other car in a crash with you, and up to $15,000 for damage to the other driver’s property.
Maryland also requires drivers to carry 20/40/15 uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage pays for bodily injury for you or up to two people in your car when you are involved in a crash, up to $20,000 for one person and up to $40,000 for two or more people, and up to $15,000 for damage to your own car.
And Maryland requires drivers to carry insurance that pays up to $2,500 in personal injury protection (sometimes abbreviated PIP) to offset doctor bills and hospital costs resulting from a crash. Full personal injury protection covers you, your family members in the car with you at the time of an accident, and any other non-family passengers in your car who may experience medical bills as the result of the incident. It is also possible to buy limited personal injury protection that pays up to $2,500 for the medical bills of yourself or family members over the age of 16 who may be involved in an accident in your car.
New residents of Maryland have 60 days to get Maryland auto insurance. If you wait longer than 60 days to buy your insurance, you will lose any credit against your Maryland registration or license plate fees for money you paid in your previous state.
What Is the Penalty for Not Keeping My Car Insured in Maryland?
If the State of Maryland receives a notice that your auto insurance has been canceled any reason, and you have not turned in your license plates to the DMV, then you are liable for an immediate fine of $150 plus $7 a day until you return your license plates to the state. You cannot cancel a Maryland insurance policy (even if you are moving out of Maryland to another state) without returning your plates without being fined. This means you have to maintain your Maryland auto insurance until you you have registered and insured your car in the next state, and only cancel Maryland coverage when you have a return receipt for your old plates from the Maryland DMV.
Get Quotes and Find Agents in These Maryland Cities
Baltimore, Columbia, Germantown, Silver Spring, Waldorf, Glen Burnie, Ellicott City, Frederick, Dundalk, and Rockville
