MD DC VA Insurance Rules

Posted on September 22, 2009 by Greenberg & Bederman

 

Insurance Rules in the Metropolitan D.C. Area

Life in Washington, D.C. is different than other parts of the country, and that’s not just because of our proximity to Government. What’s different about our area is that there are essentially three different states within a ten minute drive of each other. There is Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, each separated by a few miles and each with separate governments, rules, regulations and requirements. We know that it doesn’t seem that way sometimes, but things are actually done differently in Maryland than they are in Virginia and vice-versa. And the District is essentially an enclave under the auspices of the U.S. Government. So if you decide to move across the Potomac at the 14th Street Bridge the rules governing your car insurance requirements change, just as they do when you cross the Woodrow Wilson Bridge or the Cabin John Bridge. This doesn’t happen to people who live in, say, Central Illinois or Wyoming.

One of the main differences in the rules is the insurance minimums. These are the amounts that all drivers are required to have by law in Maryland and the District, but not necessarily Virginia (more on this later.)

In Maryland, drivers are required to have $20,000 worth of coverage to handle the bodily injury or death of another driver. They are also required to have $40,000 worth of coverage for the bodily injury or death of multiple people, be it the other driver and/or passengers. There is also a property damage requirement of $15,000, which is supposed to cover any damages to other cars or buildings or anything else that happens to be damaged in the event of an accident.

 

Washington, D.C. has a minimum of $25,000 for one bodily injury or death and $50,000 for multiple bodily injuries or deaths, but the property damage minimum is only $10,000. (Here’s hoping you don’t run into a Bentley.)

Virginia also has insurance minimums, which are $25,000 for bodily/death, $50,000 for multiple bodily injuries or deaths, and a $20,000 minimum for property damage. But there is also another aspect of Virginia law that very much renders the term “minimum” meaningless.

Virginia is one of the few states in the Union which allows for people to drive with no insurance whatsoever. You can drive all year long with no coverage of any sort. Not for single bodily injury, not for multiple bodily injury, not for property damage, not for anything. All you have to do is go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and pay what is called an Uninsured Drivers Fee.

And how much will it cost for you to drive around an area with some of the heaviest traffic in the country with no financial backing in the event that you cause an accident? A mere $500. That’s certainly cheaper than what it would cost to insure yourself over the course of a year. It makes the “money that you could be saving with GEICO” look like chump change.

Which is absolutely fine for those Virginians who are foolish enough to forego insurance, but not so great for the drivers and passengers in Virginia (and also Maryland and D.C.) who get hit by these people.

Although it is technically illegal for uninsured people to drive with Maryland or D.C. licenses, that isn’t necessarily keeping uninsured drivers off the road. Aside from those in Virginia who pay the uninsured fee, there are also plenty of home grown drivers without insurance to contend with. It isn’t as if the D.C. or Maryland State Police are actively confiscating the automobiles of the uninsured. And with the economy being as bad as it is as of late, the number of drivers on the road without insurance has increased.

According to the Insurance Research Council, the number of uninsured drivers in the United States is expected to reach 16% by 2010. This means that just about 1 in 6 of the folks on the road are driving with no coverage whatsoever.

As disconcerting as these numbers are, you shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that if you get hit by an uninsured driver that you have no options whatsoever. This is especially true if the accident was more than just a fender bender, but rather was one that resulted in serious physical injuries. Don’t just assume you are out of luck. The law doesn’t stop working for lack of an insurance policy.

At Greenberg and Bederman, we help people in the Washington D.C. area who have been injured in car accidents due to no fault of their own or the negligence of others, and that includes those who have been hit by uninsured drivers. If you have been in a car accident in Maryland, Washington, D.C. or Virginia, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.

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