Arizona Minimum Auto Insurance Requirements (2024)

Are you looking to find affordable car insurance in Arizona? If so, you’ll want to begin by learning about Arizona’s mandatory insurance coverage minimums.

You can always buy more insurance than the state requires, but you will need to purchase at least minimal levels of coverage to be in compliance with state insurance laws. Make sure to compare rates with our free quote tool above!

Exploring the Bare Minimum Auto Insurance Coverage in Arizona

So then, what are the state minimums for car insurance in Arizona? To begin, it is necessary to understand that Arizona is a tort state.

In layman’s terms, the person found responsible for the accident is held to be at fault. Therefore, No-Fault, Uninsured Motorist (UI) and Underinsured Motorist (UIM) are not legally required insurance coverage in Arizona.

In Arizona, you will need a bare minimum car insurance coverage of:

• Bodily Injury (BI) in a single accident $15,000 minimum for one person; $30,000 per accident for multiple people claiming injuries.
• Property Damage (PD) Liability in a single accident – $10,000.

OR

• A $40,000 Certificate of Deposit held by the Arizona State Treasurer’s Office.

According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, this is the minimum coverage required by law. Unfortunately, being a tort (fault) state, these minimums may not be sufficient coverage if you are found to be all, or at least partially, at-fault.

 

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The Importance of Understanding Basic Car Insurance Coverage

When you are comparing insurance quotes online, you may not understand exactly what each coverage entails.

For example, you may be offered Medical Payments as an optional coverage, but do you understand the difference between Bodily Injury and Medical Payments? They may sound the same but they cover two very different things.

Arizona defines ‘Vehicle Insurance‘ as “protection against damage to, or loss of, a land or air vehicle.” Accidental injury and/or death is also included within their regulatory definition of what vehicle insurance constitutes.

BI covers the driver and passengers in another vehicle if you are found at-fault. Med Pay, as it is commonly referred to, covers the listed driver of your vehicle and may cover any passengers within your insured vehicle.

Med Pay may also help with funeral expenses. Med Pay can kick in regardless of fault, so keep this in mind when choosing important optional coverage.

Summing it up, you should, at the very least, be familiar with:

• Bodily Injury – Covers injuries to driver and passengers in the other vehicle; pedestrians in at-fault accidents.
• Property Damage – Covers replacement costs for vehicles and/or property damaged when at fault.
• Medical Payments – Injuries to driver of insured vehicle and/or passengers within the insured vehicle.
• Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist – This category covers UMBI, UMPD, UIMBI and UIMPD. In other words, it kicks in when the other driver is uninsured, or underinsured, and found to be all, or partially, at-fault. These options are great in states like Arizona where no-fault insurance isn’t required.
• Collision – Usually carries a deductible and covers repairs/replacement to your car if at-fault.
• Comprehensive – Covers acts of nature and animal damage to your vehicle or covered property.
• Umbrella Insurance – Provides extra financial coverage above and beyond your policy limits to help guard against substantial losses if you have personal assets to protect.

Again, these are just the fundamentals of key insurance terms you will want to consider when comparing rates between insurance providers.

Although you are not required to carry anything but the minimum coverage listed above, you may need the extra protection against financial loss if you have much to lose.

A Look at Arizona’s Comparative Fault Legislation

Here is where the whole concept of being at-fault can get a little tricky. Although Arizona is a tort state, it is actually a Comparative Negligence State. The easiest way to understand the concept of Comparative Fault is to look at fault as a pie cut into slices.

How much of that pie (fault) belongs to you? If the other driver is found to be 60% at-fault, you may be financially and legally responsible for the remaining 40 percent.

However, what happens when you are involved in a multi-vehicle collision? That 40 percent could be quite costly! Perhaps one driver is found to be 50 percent at-fault while other drivers are 30 percent and 20 percent respectively.

In a Comparative Fault state, it pays to carry more than the bare minimum of coverage because you may need to call on your insurance to pay for legal defense if the claim goes to litigation.

How Much Protection Do You Need?

What all this boils down to is having the ability to weigh risk against cost. In fact, insurance actuaries calculate the cost of insurance based on the amount of risk they will be carrying. Meeting only Arizona state minimums may leave you with lower premiums, but it will also leave you exposed to greater financial risk.

Arizona insurance minimums meet legal requirements, but do they meet yours? Make sure you are getting the best rate with our free insurance comparison tool below now! 

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