Auto insurance minimums in Maryland
Maryland requires drivers to carry auto liability insurance, and the minimum limits are 30/60/15. Written out, that is $30,000 of bodily injury liability per person, $60,000 of bodily injury liability per accident, and $15,000 of property damage liability per accident, under Md. Code, Transportation section 17-103(b). The three numbers are always in that order, and they are the legal floor, not a coverage recommendation: a serious crash can produce losses far above the minimum, and the minimum is the most the insurer will pay, not the most the crash will cost.
Maryland's minimums are higher than the most common pattern in the country on bodily injury: $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident, rather than $25,000 and $50,000, with property damage at $15,000. Older sources citing 20/40/15 are out of date and should not be relied on. The figures are still a floor, and the property damage figure of $15,000 is lower than the common $25,000, so a crash that damages a newer car can exceed it on its own.
The minimums are for private passenger vehicles, and they are not the only cover the state requires. Maryland also requires $2,500 of personal injury protection, though the named insured may waive it in writing on the Commissioner's form under Insurance sections 19-505 and 19-506; PIP pays medical expenses, 85% of lost income and essential services regardless of fault. Uninsured and underinsured motorist cover is required equal to the liability limits — $30,000 and $60,000 for bodily injury and $15,000 for property damage — unless the excess above the state minimum is waived in writing. Maryland does not use SR-22 filings: it uses the FR-19, a certificate the insurer files with the Motor Vehicle Administration to verify cover on specific dates. Drivers who cannot get voluntary cover can turn to the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, the insurer of last resort. Lenders and leasing companies require more again: a financed or leased car usually has to carry collision and comprehensive cover, and often higher liability limits, because the lender's interest in the car has to be protected. A driver who buys only the state minimum and skips collision cover has no cover for their own car at all, and the state minimum does not change that.
Fault, PIP and uninsured motorist cover in Maryland
Maryland is an at-fault state, and one of the last with pure contributory negligence: a driver found even 1% at fault is generally barred from recovering anything, with only a narrow last clear chance exception, a position reaffirmed in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia in 2013. Maryland is one of only four states plus the District of Columbia that still applies the rule. After a crash, the injured driver's claim runs against the at-fault driver's liability cover, and fault has to be established before it is paid — and in Maryland the fault question is unusually sharp, because a small share of fault can remove the whole claim. There is PIP in Maryland, but it is not the no-fault kind: the $2,500 minimum pays medical expenses, 85% of lost income and essential services regardless of fault, and the named insured may waive it in writing.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist cover is the protection against the other driver's lack of cover, and its position in Maryland is: it is required equal to the liability limits, unless the excess above the state minimum is waived in writing under Insurance sections 19-509 and 19-510. Since 1 July 2024 there is also enhanced underinsured motorist cover: enhanced UIM is the default on new private-passenger policies issued on or after that date unless the first named insured affirmatively waives it in writing, under section 19-509.1, and it is non-reducing — the limits are not offset by the at-fault driver's payment. The enhanced cover is an opt-out, not an opt-in, and it reverts to opt-in on 30 June 2029. A driver who is hit by an uninsured driver claims on their own uninsured motorist cover, and a driver hit by a driver whose limits are too low claims on underinsured motorist cover. The practical point is the same in every state: the minimum liability limits say what the other driver must carry, and uninsured motorist cover says what happens when they do not carry it — and the two together decide whether a crash with an uninsured driver leaves you paying out of pocket.
No-fault is the system most often confused with the minimums, and it is worth separating the two. The minimums say how much liability cover you must carry. No-fault says who pays for injuries after a crash. Maryland is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash pays for the other driver's injuries, and there is no PIP paying first in the no-fault sense while fault is decided, and no threshold gates lawsuits for pain and suffering. What Maryland has instead is pure contributory negligence, under which even 1% of fault can bar recovery entirely. Damage to cars is still handled by fault, as in every state. The site's no-fault guide explains the twelve no-fault states, the choice states, and the thresholds that limit lawsuits for pain and suffering. Read the page for your own state before relying on the general description, because the general description is a map and the state page is the road.
Home insurance in Maryland
No state law in Maryland requires a homeowner to carry homeowners insurance. The requirement, where it exists, comes from the lender: a mortgage lender almost always requires homeowners cover as a condition of the loan, and the lender sets the dwelling limit it will accept. A homeowner without a mortgage is not legally required to insure the house, but an uninsured house is an uninsured asset — a fire, a storm or a burst pipe can destroy the largest asset most people own, and there is no cover to rebuild it. The site's guide to whether homeowners insurance is required explains the lender position in full.
A standard homeowners policy in Maryland has the same six parts as everywhere in the country: dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, personal liability and medical payments, as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners describes them. The dwelling limit is set by the estimated rebuild cost, not the market value, and the site's homeowners cost calculator works that figure out from the living area and a rebuild cost per square foot. Flood and earthquake are excluded from a standard policy and need separate cover — flood through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer, earthquake through a separate earthquake policy — and the site's flood and earthquake guides explain the routes. Your flood zone is an address-level fact, not a state-level one, so check the zone for the address, not for the state.
The deductible deserves the same attention in Maryland as anywhere else. The minimum deductible offered by most insurers is $500 or $1,000, according to the Insurance Information Institute, and for wind, hail and hurricane damage the deductible is often a percentage of the home's insured value, typically 1% to 5% according to the III. On a home insured for $300,000, a 2% wind and hail deductible is $6,000. The site's tornado and hail guides explain the percentage deductible and the cosmetic-damage rule in full, and the declarations page should show both deductibles — the flat all-other-perils amount and the percentage wind and hail amount — before the policy is bought.
Health insurance in Maryland
Health cover in Maryland runs through the marketplace: Maryland runs its own marketplace, Maryland Health Connection. Enroll through Maryland Health Connection for marketplace cover and premium tax credits.
Medicaid in Maryland: Maryland has expanded Medicaid since 1 January 2014, so adults can qualify on income up to 138% of the poverty level. Because Maryland expanded Medicaid in 2014, the coverage gap that exists in non-expansion states does not apply here.
Short-term health insurance in Maryland: Short-term health plans are sold in Maryland, but capped at 3 months, with no renewal or extension under the state limit. A Marylander who needs cover for a gap should still check the marketplace first. The site's short-term hub guide explains the federal duration rule, the August 2025 pause on enforcing it, and the alternatives that cover more.
The regulator, complaints and how to check a quote
Insurance in Maryland is regulated by the Maryland Insurance Administration. The regulator licenses insurers, approves the rating plans that set premiums and discounts, and handles complaints when an insurer's conduct is in question. If a claim is denied or underpaid, complain to the regulator with the policy, the declarations page and the claim correspondence in hand, because the regulator decides on the record.
Before buying any policy in Maryland, run the checks in this order. First, the licence: is the insurer licensed in Maryland, under the name on the policy. Second, the cover: do the limits match the need — the auto minimums above are the floor, not the recommendation, and the home dwelling limit should match the rebuild cost. Third, the settlement method and the exclusions: is the roof settled at replacement cost or actual cash value, is flood covered or excluded. Fourth, the deductible: what is the flat deductible, is there a percentage wind and hail deductible, and can you pay it from savings on the day of a loss. Fifth, the price: compare like with like, on identical limits, identical deductibles and identical cover types, and compare the total cost, not the premium alone.
Keep the policy, the declarations page, the insurer's claims number, and the regulator's contact details together where you can reach them after a loss. The site's editorial policy explains how this site reviews its guides, and the contact page gives the address for questions about the site itself — but for a question about a policy, the insurer and the regulator are the authorities, not this site.
Worked example
Consider an ILLUSTRATIVE driver in Maryland buying a first policy. She starts with the state minimums — 30/60/15 — and asks whether they are enough: a serious crash can produce medical bills above the per-person limit and property damage above the $15,000 limit, so she compares quotes at higher limits as well as at the minimum, on identical deductibles. She reads the fault section above and notes that Maryland applies pure contributory negligence, so even 1% of fault could bar her recovery entirely, and that her $2,500 PIP pays medical expenses and 85% of lost income regardless of fault unless she waived it in writing. She checks the home policy against the rebuild cost and reads both deductibles on the declarations page. She checks the health position — the marketplace route through Maryland Health Connection, the Medicaid position, and whether a short-term plan is even sold in Maryland — before assuming that a short-term plan is an option. The example's value is the method, not any figure in it: no premium is stated, because premiums vary by insurer and by driver. What it shows is that the state rules are the starting point for every quote, and a quote judged against another state's rules is a quote misjudged.