The short answer: 25/50/25 liability, and nothing else
Mississippi requires every motor vehicle operated in the state to be covered by a liability insurance policy meeting the state’s minimum limits: $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 bodily injury per accident, and $25,000 property damage per accident. Those three numbers are usually written as 25/50/25, and they have been the state’s minimums since January 1, 2006. The Mississippi Insurance Department states the same limits on its “Auto Insurance” page, and they are set in Mississippi Code § 63-15-3(j), by way of § 63-15-4.
Liability is the only cover Mississippi requires. No personal injury protection, no medical payments cover and no uninsured motorist cover is required by law: the Department lists uninsured and underinsured motorist cover and medical payments as optional add-ons you may choose, not as requirements. Collision and comprehensive cover are not required by the state either — though a lender or leasing company may require them on a financed or leased vehicle, which is a contract requirement, not a state one.
That makes Mississippi a straightforward state to understand and a risky one to under-insure. The legal floor is low and easy to meet, and it is also easy to exceed in a single serious crash: the limits are caps on what the policy pays, not a promise that the damage will stop at those amounts. Everything above your limits is your personal responsibility, which is why the Department recommends buying higher limits. The rest of this guide takes the three numbers apart, then covers the alternatives to a policy, proof of insurance, and what happens if you drive without cover.
What the three numbers mean
The first number, $25,000, is the bodily injury liability limit for one person in one accident: the most the policy pays for injuries to, or the death of, a single person when you are legally responsible for the crash. The second number, $50,000, is the bodily injury limit for the whole accident: the most the policy pays in total for injuries to two or more people in the same crash. The third number, $25,000, is the property damage limit: the most the policy pays for damage you cause to other people’s vehicles and property in one accident.
Mississippi is an at-fault, or tort, state: the driver responsible for a crash, through their liability insurance, pays for the other party’s injuries and property damage. Your liability cover pays other people, not you. It does not pay your own medical bills, your own lost wages, or repairs to your own car — those need other cover (medical payments, personal injury protection, collision) that Mississippi does not require, or they come out of your own pocket. That is the practical meaning of “liability only”: the state requires you to be able to pay the people you hurt, and says nothing about your own losses.
The minimums are a legal floor, not a recommendation. The Mississippi Insurance Department recommends that drivers buy liability cover with higher limits, because the state-mandated minimums may not be enough when medical expenses or vehicle repair costs are significant. A single hospital stay or a multi-vehicle crash can pass $25,000 per person or $25,000 in property damage quickly, and the gap between the damage and your limits is yours to pay. No higher limit is recommended on this page as a figure, because the right limit depends on your assets, your vehicle and your risk — but the direction is the Department’s own: higher than the minimum.
What Mississippi does not require
Mississippi does not require personal injury protection (PIP). PIP pays your own medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault, and several states require it; Mississippi is not one of them. It does not require medical payments cover either, which is the smaller, optional cover for your own and your passengers’ medical bills after a crash. If you want either, you buy it as an add-on — the Department lists medical payments among the optional add-ons — and the decision is yours, not the law’s.
Mississippi does not require uninsured motorist cover. Insurers must include uninsured motorist cover in auto policies, but you may reject it in writing, so it is offered rather than required. That matters more in Mississippi than in most states, because a driver with no cover at all is the person your uninsured motorist cover protects you against: if the at-fault driver has no insurance and no assets, your own uninsured motorist cover is what pays your injuries. The uninsured motorist guide on this site explains how that cover works and when it pays.
Mississippi does not require collision or comprehensive cover. Collision pays for damage to your own car in a crash; comprehensive pays for theft, fire, flood, hail and similar non-crash losses. The state never requires either, because neither pays other people. But a bank or leasing company usually does require both while a loan or lease is outstanding, so check your finance agreement before dropping them — and remember that dropping them means paying for your own car’s repair or replacement yourself. California is different: it requires an offer of UM cover, as uninsured motorist coverage in California explains.
Other ways to satisfy the law
A liability policy is the way almost every Mississippi driver meets the law, but it is not the only way. Mississippi law also accepts other forms of financial responsibility in place of a liability policy: a bond, or a certificate of deposit of money or securities, in at least the minimum amounts required for proof of financial responsibility, on file with the Department of Public Safety. Self-insurance is also possible under Mississippi Code § 63-15-53. These alternatives are listed as exemptions from the insurance-card requirement in Mississippi Code § 63-15-4(1).
For most drivers these alternatives are not practical. A bond or a deposit ties up at least the minimum amounts — the same $25,000 / $50,000 / $25,000 figures — in a form you cannot spend, and it provides no insurer to handle a claim, negotiate a settlement or defend you. Self-insurance is designed for fleets and large operators, not for a single household car. A policy does all of that work for a premium, which is why the alternatives are used by very few private drivers.
If you do use an alternative, the proof rule still applies in its own form: the bond or certificate of deposit must be on file with the department, and a vehicle covered by one is exempt from carrying an insurance card. Do not assume a bond from another state, or a deposit held anywhere else, satisfies Mississippi — confirm with the Department of Public Safety that the filing is on record before you drive on it.
Proof of insurance: paper or on your phone
Every motor vehicle operated in Mississippi must have an insurance card in the vehicle as proof of liability insurance that meets the minimum limits, and the owner or operator must show it when asked. The card is the proof: it is the document your insurer issues when the policy takes effect, and it is what a police officer asks for at a traffic stop or after a crash. Keep it in the vehicle, not at home.
An electronic image counts. Since July 1, 2013, Mississippi has allowed the insurance card to be shown as an electronic image on a cellular phone or other electronic device: Senate Bill 2593, passed in the 2013 regular session, amended Mississippi Code § 63-15-4 so that an insurer must furnish the card in either paper or electronic format, as the insured chooses, and so that displaying the card by electronic image satisfies the requirement. A photo or PDF of your current card on your phone is proof; a screenshot of an expired card is not.
Two practical points follow. First, make sure the card on your phone is the current one: a card for a lapsed or cancelled policy proves nothing, and a policy that has ended leaves you uninsured whatever the card says. Second, keep a paper card in the vehicle as well if you can — a dead phone battery is not a defence, and the paper card costs nothing to carry. If your insurer offers a digital card in its app, download it before you need it, not at the roadside.
Penalties for driving without insurance
Driving without the required cover in Mississippi is a misdemeanor, and the penalty is a fine plus suspension of your driving privilege until you show proof of liability insurance. But there are two different offences, with two different fines, and they are easy to confuse — so read which one applies to you.
The first offence is not having the card: failure to have the insurance card in the vehicle, or to display it by electronic image on a phone or other device, is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $100 and suspension of driving privilege for one year, or until the owner shows proof of liability insurance meeting the minimum limits and has paid the fines and assessments imposed and the driver’s license reinstatement fees imposed by the Department of Public Safety. That is Mississippi Code § 63-15-4(4). Note the fine is not the whole cost: fines and assessments and reinstatement fees are all payable before the suspension lifts, and a judge may authorise reinstatement on a payment plan where indigence is found.
The second offence is not having the insurance itself: operating a motor vehicle without mandatory liability insurance in at least the minimum amounts is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $500 and suspension of driving privilege for one year, or until the owner shows proof of liability insurance meeting the minimum limits and has paid the fines and assessments imposed and the driver’s license reinstatement fees. That is Mississippi Code § 63-16-13(1), as amended by Senate Bill 2073, effective July 1, 2026. A person convicted under that section for one incident is not also convicted under § 63-15-4(4) for the same incident.
Reinstatement after driving uninsured brings a further requirement: an SR-22 filing, imposed for three years. An SR-22 is a certificate your insurer files with the Department of Public Safety proving you carry at least the required cover, and it must stay active for the full three years — a lapse can restart the clock. The guide to how much SR-22 insurance costs on this site takes the filing fee and the premium increase apart, and shows how long you pay more. And the fine and the suspension are only the state’s penalties: if you cause a crash while uninsured in an at-fault state, the other party’s injuries and property damage are your personal liability, with no insurer to pay or defend you.
Buying cover above the minimum
Start from the minimums, then decide what to add on your own facts. The question is not whether 25/50/25 is legal — it is — but whether it is enough for the crash you might cause: the value of the cars around you, the medical costs of the people in them, and the assets you would have to pay from if your limits ran out. The Department’s own advice points the same way: buy higher limits. No premium figure is stated on this page, because no average premium for Mississippi is verified on the sources this site cites — compare quotes, not averages.
Compare identical cover. The guide to the cheapest car insurance by state on this site explains how to compare quotes so the comparison means something: the same liability limits, the same deductible, and the same collision and comprehensive choices across quotes, so that price differences reflect insurer pricing rather than different products. A quote for minimum liability is not comparable with a quote for higher limits, however close the headline premiums look.
Finally, re-check the requirement when your situation changes. Moving to Mississippi from another state, buying a second car, adding a teenage driver, or letting a policy lapse and restarting it are all moments when the minimums, the proof rule and the SR-22 rule can catch you out. Check the Mississippi Insurance Department’s pages and your Department of Public Safety correspondence for the rule that applies to you, and keep the current insurance card — paper or electronic — in every vehicle you drive.