Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Required in Florida?

Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Required in Florida?

No. Florida does not require drivers to buy uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, but insurers must offer it, and a driver who declines it has to reject it in writing. A bodily injury liability policy without a signed rejection includes UM coverage.

The stakes are high because roughly one in five Florida drivers carries no liability insurance. Insurance Research Council data reported by MoneyGeek put the figure at 20.6 percent in 2023, the seventh highest among the states.

At Louis Berk Law, we handle injury claims where the at-fault driver has no insurance or too little, and the first question we ask is what the policy page says. This guide explains what Florida requires, what UM coverage pays, how limits and stacking work, and what to do if an uninsured driver hurts you.

Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage Required by Florida Law?

No, UM coverage is optional in Florida, and the law places the duty to offer it on the insurer. Under §627.727(1), a bodily injury liability policy covering a vehicle registered or garaged in Florida must include UM coverage unless the named insured rejects it in writing for all insureds.

The Florida Bar's consumer guidance confirms the point, noting UM is not required by law. Many drivers buy it anyway, and many more skip it without understanding the risk.

Insurers must also notify the named insured at least annually of the UM options. Receiving the notice does not waive your rights if you never signed a selection or rejection form.

What Florida Requires Instead

Florida requires personal injury protection and property damage liability, and it leaves most other coverage optional. The table below shows what the law demands and what it leaves to you.

The $10,000 property damage minimum comes from §324.022. The PIP benefit limits come from §627.736, and the financial responsibility amounts come from §324.021(7).

The gap in this table is the reason UM matters. Florida does not require most drivers to carry coverage for the injuries they cause, so an at-fault driver with only the required coverage leaves your injury bills uninsured.

What Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Cover?

UM coverage pays your injury losses when an at-fault driver has no liability insurance, has too little, or flees the scene. It covers medical expenses, lost wages beyond your PIP benefits, and, when your injury qualifies, pain and suffering.

The Florida Bar notes UM protects you, your passengers, and your family members whether you are riding in your car, riding in someone else's car, or struck as a pedestrian. The Bar's guidance also says UM applies in hit-and-run and phantom vehicle crashes, so read your policy terms on how to report and prove a hit-and-run vehicle.

Florida treats a vehicle as uninsured in three situations under §627.727(3).

• The driver's insurer is insolvent and cannot pay within policy limits
• The driver's limits are too low to cover your total damages, which is the underinsured motorist situation
• The driver's policy excludes coverage for a nonfamily member who injures the named insured or a household relative

UM does not repair your vehicle. Collision coverage or the at-fault driver's property damage coverage handles vehicle damage.

When UM Pays for Pain and Suffering

UM pays for pain and suffering only when your injury meets one of Florida's four injury thresholds. Section 627.727(7) ties the UM insurer's liability for those damages to the thresholds in §627.737(2).

• Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function
• Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement
• Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement
• Death

A minor injury with a full recovery usually produces economic damages only, such as medical bills and lost income. Serious injuries, including spinal and brain injuries, are more likely to meet a threshold, and a treating physician's opinion on permanency carries real weight.

How UM Limits and Stacking Work

UM limits equal your bodily injury liability limits unless you choose lower ones. A driver with $50,000 in bodily injury coverage carries $50,000 of UM coverage by default under §627.727(2).

UM benefits fill the gap above your PIP, medical payments, disability, and liability benefits, up to the UM maximum. They do not duplicate what those coverages already paid.

Stacking vs. Non-Stacking Coverage

Stacking lets you combine the UM limits from more than one vehicle on your policy, while non-stacking coverage does not. Insurers offer non-stacking UM at a reduced premium, and the law requires rates for those policies to drop at least 20 percent.

Under non-stacking coverage, a person hurt in an insured vehicle receives the limit for the insured vehicle only. A person hurt in a vehicle the household does not own receives the highest single-vehicle limit held, and a person hurt outside a vehicle selects one limit from one policy. The election made on the application decides how much coverage sits behind the claim.

We tell clients to check the declarations page for the words "stacked" or "non-stacked" and for the per-person and per-accident UM limits. Those items decide what is available before any claim begins.

What a Written Rejection Means

A signed rejection form ends your UM coverage, and Florida treats a signed form as an informed and knowing choice. Under §627.727(1), a rejection or a lower-limits form signed by the named insured is conclusively presumed informed and knowing, so a later claim of confusion rarely succeeds.

Several rules shape how the rejection works in practice.

• The rejection must appear on an approved form with a bold warning heading
• One signature by the named insured rejects coverage for all insureds on the policy
• A renewal with the same bodily injury limits does not have to bring back coverage you rejected earlier, unless you request it in writing
• A lessee of a vehicle leased for one year or more, where the lessor provides liability coverage, alone decides whether to reject UM or choose lower limits

If you never signed a rejection form, tell us immediately. A bodily injury liability policy without a signed rejection form includes UM coverage by law, and the question needs a lawyer's review.

What Happens When the At-Fault Driver Has Some Insurance

When the at-fault driver has insurance but too little, your UM coverage pays the shortfall, and the UM insurer receives a credit for the driver's liability limits. Under §627.727(6), the credit equals the driver's limits against your total damages, even if you settled for less.

Florida also sets a procedure before you accept a settlement from the at-fault driver's insurer for less than your full damages. You must send written notice by certified or registered mail to every underinsured motorist insurer on your policies, and each has 30 days to authorize the settlement or preserve its subrogation rights.

If the UM insurer authorizes the settlement or fails to respond properly, you are free to sign a full release and keep your UM claim. If it preserves its rights, it must pay you the amount of the settlement offer within 30 days. Skipping this step risks your UM claim, so we handle it before any release is signed.

An Illustration of the Credit

Suppose an at-fault driver carries $10,000 in bodily injury coverage, your total damages are $60,000, and your UM limit is $50,000. The driver's insurer pays its $10,000, and your UM insurer receives a $10,000 credit against the $60,000, so UM pays the remaining $50,000 up to your limit.

This is a simplified example, not a prediction. Real claims involve PIP payments, disputed damages, and shared fault, and each one changes the math.

What to Do After a Crash With an Uninsured Driver

Report the crash, get medical care, and notify your own insurer in writing before you speak with anyone about fault. These steps protect both your PIP benefits and your UM claim.

1. Call 911 and get a crash report. Police documentation proves the crash happened and records the other driver's insurance status.
2. Seek medical care within 14 days. PIP pays 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses only when initial treatment starts within 14 days under §627.736.
3. Collect evidence. Photographs, witness names, the other driver's plate number, and any vehicle description for a hit-and-run all matter.
4. Notify your insurer in writing. Report the crash and state you are making a UM claim.
5. Give no recorded statement and sign no release until an attorney reviews your options.
6. Send the certified notice before any settlement with an underinsured driver's insurer.

Our uninsured motorist page explains how we handle these claims, and our hit-and-run accident page covers crashes where the other driver never stops.

Evidence to Strengthen a UM Claim

The strongest UM claims rest on documents proving fault, the other driver's lack of insurance, and the link between the crash and your injuries. Gather these early, because the insurer will ask for them.

• The crash report and any citation issued to the other driver
• Proof of the other driver's lack of insurance or low limits, such as a letter from the driver's insurer
• Photographs of the scene, the vehicles, and your injuries
• Medical records and bills from the first visit forward, including gaps in treatment and the reasons for them
• Pay stubs or tax records showing missed work
• A copy of your own declarations page and any selection or rejection forms

Gaps in treatment give the insurer an argument you recovered. A short note from your doctor explaining a delay often answers it.

Deadlines for Uninsured Motorist Claims in Florida

Florida sets three deadlines in a UM case, and the shortest one controls how fast you act. Medical treatment must start within 14 days for PIP, a negligence claim against the at-fault driver carries a two-year deadline under §95.11(5)(a) for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023, and a contract claim on a written policy carries five years under §95.11(2)(b).

A UM claim against your own insurer is a contract claim, but sources differ on when the five years begins. We do not rely on the longer period. We build the case on the two-year negligence timeline so the claim against the uninsured driver stays alive while the UM claim proceeds.

Shared fault also matters. Under §768.81(6), a person found greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm recovers nothing in a negligence action, and a smaller share lowers the recovery by the same percentage.

Common Misunderstandings About UM Coverage

Three misunderstandings cost Florida crash victims money, and each one is easy to correct before a crash.

• "PIP is enough." PIP pays up to $10,000, and it stops there no matter how serious the injury.
• "My health insurance covers everything." Health insurance pays under its own rules and often seeks repayment from any recovery, so it does not replace UM coverage.
• "An uninsured driver means no recovery." Your UM coverage, other household policies, and sometimes the driver's own assets or an employer provide a path to payment.

We review each of these sources early, because the order of recovery affects how much of the money you keep.

Why Your Own Insurer Fights UM Claims

Your UM insurer stands in the position of the uninsured driver, so it defends the claim as an adversary. People expect their own company to be on their side, and the surprise is the first thing our clients mention.

• Disputing fault to reduce the claim or push it past the 50 percent bar
• Disputing the injury, especially permanency, to avoid pain and suffering damages
• Challenging the hit-and-run facts when no other vehicle was identified
• Requesting recorded statements and broad medical authorizations
• Delaying payment of the undisputed amount while the dispute continues

Florida law gives UM claimants remedies when an insurer acts in bad faith. In an action under §624.155, §627.727(9) allows recovery of full damages, interest, reasonable attorney's fees, and costs. We document every request and response from the first day.

Should You Buy Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

For most Florida drivers, yes, because the odds of meeting an uninsured or underinsured driver are high and PIP stops at $10,000. A serious injury produces medical bills far above the PIP limit within days.

We cannot give insurance or financial advice, but we point drivers to a few questions for their agent.

• What are the current UM limits, and do they match the bodily injury limits?
• Is the coverage stacked or non-stacked?
• Was a rejection form signed, and where is the copy?
• What would higher limits cost per month?

A policy reviewed before a crash costs only a phone call. A policy reviewed after a crash usually cannot change.

Passengers, Pedestrians, and Cyclists

Passengers and pedestrians often have UM protection through their own policy or a household member's policy, even when they did not own the vehicle involved. The Florida Bar guidance describes UM as following you in someone else's car and as a pedestrian.

The applicable policy depends on who owns the vehicle, who lives in your household, and which coverage selections were made. We review every policy in the household, because a family often has more than one source of recovery.

When to Call a Lawyer

Call a lawyer when an uninsured or underinsured driver injured you, a hit-and-run left you without a defendant, or your own insurer is delaying or denying a UM claim.

• You have medical bills above your PIP benefits
• The at-fault driver has no insurance, or limits too low for your injuries
• Your insurer asks for a recorded statement or broad medical releases
• You are not sure whether you signed a UM rejection form

Before you sign anything, let an attorney review the paperwork. Our guides to a car accident settlement and a car accident lawsuit explain what comes next, and our car accident team handles the claim from the first call.

How Louis Berk Law Helps With UM Claims

We handle UM claims by locating every policy, securing the evidence early, and presenting your damages to the insurer with the proof behind them. Attorney Louis Berk reviews every case personally.

We read the declarations page, the selection and rejection forms, and the stacking election before we negotiate. We take injury cases on a contingency fee, which means no fee unless we win.

Our bilingual team, including our Spanish-speaking attorney services, represents Central Florida's Spanish-speaking families as well.

Disclaimer: This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is different. For advice about your specific situation, contact a licensed attorney. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.