Pennsylvania Minimum Motor Vehicle Insurance Limits Behind the Times
You are driving home from work at 7 p.m. on a nice clear fall evening, excited to get home to see your spouse and children before they go to sleep. You are only two minutes away from your house, and you stop at the red traffic light that you always seem to miss just before arriving home.
November 28, 2017 at 09:00 AM
5 minute read
You are driving home from work at 7 p.m. on a nice clear fall evening, excited to get home to see your spouse and children before they go to sleep. You are only two minutes away from your house, and you stop at the red traffic light that you always seem to miss just before arriving home.
After a long day at the office, having a home cooked meal with your family is the perfect remedy. Unfortunately, the person operating his car behind you went out drinking after work, had too many drinks, and crashes at full speed into the back of your vehicle. You sustain neck and low back injuries that eventually require surgery, and your entire life is turned upside down. At least the person that rear-ended you had car insurance, so you should be fairly compensated for your injuries, right? Not necessarily.
Pennsylvania remains behind the majority of states regarding bodily injury and uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance minimums. Despite efforts for several years to raise these minimum insurance limits (which have been in place since 1974), the minimum bodily injury liability limits are $15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident. Most states have at least $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident of bodily injury insurance minimums, including New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Ohio. In 2011, Maryland passed a law raising their minimum bodily injury liability requirements to $30,000 per person/$60,000 per accident. In April of 2017, I testified in Delaware in front of the full Senate and committee in the House of Representatives (testimony in front of the full House of Representatives was not necessary) regarding House Bill 114, which sought to increase the bodily injury limits from $15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident to $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident. The bill passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, and was signed by Gov. John Carney on July 13. This new law allows 6 months for insurance companies to change their policies, and by Dec. 13, all motor vehicle insurance policies written in Delaware will have minimum bodily injury policy limits of $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident. Consequently, because Delaware requires that uninsured/underinsured motorist policy limits be offered at the minimum level of the bodily injury policy limits, all uninsured/underinsured motorist policy limit minimums will also start at $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident as of Dec. 13.
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