Auto insurance minimums in Washington
Washington requires drivers to carry auto liability insurance, and the minimum limits are 25/50/10. Written out, that is $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident, and $10,000 property damage. 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. Most experts suggest carrying more than the minimum, and the site's guide to collision and liability explains what the three numbers mean and why the minimum is often not enough.
Washington's minimums are lower than the most common pattern in the country: $25,000 bodily injury per person and $50,000 per accident match the common figures, but the property damage minimum is $10,000 rather than $25,000. The mandatory liability requirement sits in RCW 46.30, with financial responsibility in RCW 46.29, and the minimum is a floor: a serious crash can exceed it, and the insurer pays only up to the limit. Since 15 January 2026, the requirement no longer applies to mopeds, motor-driven cycles or wheeled all-terrain vehicles.
The minimums are for private passenger vehicles, and they are not the only cover the state requires. Washington requires personal injury protection to be offered: basic PIP of $10,000 medical expenses per person, up to $200 a week in lost wages where the injury disables the driver for at least 14 consecutive days, and $2,000 for funeral expenses, with higher PIP of up to $35,000 medical to be offered on request, under RCW 48.22.085 and RCW 48.22.095. If PIP is not rejected in writing it is added automatically. Uninsured and underinsured motorist cover must also be offered and can only be rejected in writing, under RCW 48.22.030. Washington also uses the SR-22 system: a driver must keep an SR-22 on file for 3 years from the date they are eligible to reinstate their licence, or show a $60,000 certificate of deposit or liability bond instead. 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. The site's guide to full coverage versus liability works through the decision, including what a lender counts as full coverage.
Fault, PIP and uninsured motorist cover in Washington
Washington is an at-fault, or tort, state. After a crash, the driver who caused it — or rather that driver's insurer — pays for the other driver's injuries, and the injured driver has to show the other driver was at fault. Washington is still a fault state even though PIP is offered: PIP pays first regardless of fault. Washington uses pure comparative fault under RCW 4.22.005, so a claimant's recovery is reduced by their own share of fault, however large that share is, rather than being barred at a fixed percentage.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist cover is the protection against the other driver's lack of cover, and its position in Washington is offer-and-rejection: uninsured and underinsured motorist cover is not required, but it must be offered, and it can only be rejected in writing under RCW 48.22.030. By default, underinsured motorist bodily injury cover matches the liability limits, so 25/50 at the minimum. A driver hit by an uninsured driver claims on their own uninsured motorist cover. The site's uninsured motorist guide explains how the cover works. 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. Washington is not a no-fault state, so there is no threshold on suing, even though PIP is offered and pays first. The at-fault driver's liability pays for injuries, once fault is established, with recovery reduced by the claimant's own share of fault. 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 Washington
No state law in Washington 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, and the best homeowners guide explains how to judge a policy for the house rather than by a ranking. The site's home insurance page for Washington explains the Washington FAIR Plan in full.
A standard homeowners policy in Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington
Health cover in Washington runs through the marketplace: Washington runs its own marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder. Enroll through Washington Healthplanfinder for marketplace cover and premium tax credits. The site's enrollment and subsidies guide walks through the ACA route. Losing other cover is the common trigger for a special enrollment period, and a marketplace plan bought through it covers pre-existing conditions, covers essential health benefits, and can be bought with a tax credit — the three things a short-term plan does not offer.
Medicaid in Washington: Washington has expanded Medicaid since 1 January 2014, so adults can qualify on income up to 138% of the poverty level. The site's Medicaid eligibility guide and its checker explain the income rules, and they are the place to test eligibility rather than assuming it. Because Washington expanded Medicaid in 2014, the coverage gap that exists in non-expansion states does not apply here in the same way: adults with income up to 138% of the poverty level can qualify.
Short-term health insurance in Washington: Short-term health plans are not sold in Washington: state rules are strict enough that no insurer offers them there, and Washington is one of the 14 states plus DC where no short-term plans are available. A Washingtonian who needs cover for a gap should use the marketplace, COBRA or Medicaid — there is no short-term plan to buy. 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 — an ACA plan through a special enrollment period, COBRA continuation of an employer's plan, or Medicaid if income qualifies.
The regulator, complaints and how to check a quote
Insurance in Washington is regulated by the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner. 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, or if an insurer's behaviour seems wrong, the regulator is the place to complain — and the complaint should be made with the policy, the declarations page and the claim correspondence in hand, because the regulator decides on the record.
Before buying any policy in Washington, run the checks in this order. First, the licence: is the insurer licensed in Washington, 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, is there a cosmetic-damage exclusion. 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.
Keep the documents together after buying: the policy, the declarations page, the insurer's claims number, and the regulator's contact details, in a place you can reach 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 Washington buying a first policy. She starts with the state minimums — 25/50/10 — and asks whether they are enough: a serious crash can produce medical bills above the per-person limit and property damage above the property-damage limit, so she compares quotes at higher limits as well as at the minimum, on identical deductibles, and checks what the extra cover costs. She reads the fault section above and notes that her own PIP pays first unless she rejected it in writing, and that any recovery is reduced by her own share of fault. She checks the home policy for the same household against the rebuild cost, confirms the roof's settlement method, and reads both deductibles on the declarations page. She checks the health position — the marketplace route, the Medicaid position, and whether a short-term plan is even sold in Washington — 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.