Quick answer: Every Maryland auto policy must carry at least $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident in bodily injury liability plus $15,000 in property damage under Md. Code, Transp. § 17-103(b). It also automatically includes PIP and uninsured motorist coverage — with the UM limit equal to your liability limit — unless the first named insured signed a waiver on the Insurance Commissioner’s form. The coverages that pay you are the ones people give away without realizing it.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve read a lot of Maryland declarations pages with clients who were finding out, after the crash, what they had actually bought.
What Every Maryland Auto Policy Must Contain
Two of these are in your policy by operation of law: you do not opt in, you only get out by signing something.
| Coverage | What it pays | Statutory minimum | Can you waive it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability | Injury and death claims made against you by other people | $30,000 per person / $60,000 per accident (Transp. § 17-103(b)(1)) | No. It is the price of a registration. |
| Property damage liability | Other people’s damaged property, including their car | $15,000 (Transp. § 17-103(b)(2)) | No. |
| PIP | Your medical bills, 85% of your lost income, essential services — regardless of fault | $2,500 (Ins. § 19-505(b)(2)) | Yes, by affirmative written waiver on the Commissioner’s form (Ins. § 19-506) |
| Uninsured / underinsured motorist | Your injuries when the at-fault driver has no coverage or not enough | Equal to your liability limits unless waived down (Ins. § 19-509(e)(2)) | The excess above the state minimum can be waived in writing (Ins. § 19-510). The coverage itself cannot be dropped. |
| Enhanced UIM | The same, but paid on top of the at-fault driver’s payment instead of being offset | Equal to your liability limits (Ins. § 19-509.1(f)(2)) | Yes, by affirmative written waiver (Ins. § 19-509.1(c)(2)) |
Liability Limits Are 30/60/15 — and They Do Not Protect You
If you learned Maryland’s minimums as 20/40/15, update that. The current figures in Md. Code, Transp. § 17-103 are:
“The payment of claims for bodily injury or death arising from an accident of up to $30,000 for any one person and up to $60,000 for any two or more persons, in addition to interest and costs; [and] the payment of claims for property of others damaged or destroyed in an accident of up to $15,000.”
Read the words “for others.” Liability coverage pays damages when someone sues you. It pays nothing toward your own broken wrist, totaled car or missed paychecks. Every dollar that pays you personally comes from a different, waivable part of the policy. And these are a floor: when the at-fault driver carries the minimum, the shortfall comes from your own uninsured motorist coverage or nowhere.
PIP Pays You Regardless of Who Caused the Crash
Personal injury protection is the fastest money in a Maryland car accident because nobody has to prove fault first. Under Md. Code, Ins. § 19-505 the minimum benefit is $2,500, covering three things: medical, hospital, dental, surgical, ambulance and funeral expenses incurred within three years of the accident; 85% of the income you lose in those three years if you were working when it happened; and reimbursement for essential household services if you were not.
§ 19-505(a) reaches further than people assume: household family members hurt in any motor vehicle accident, permitted drivers, guests and passengers, and a pedestrian or bicyclist your car hits. Higher limits cost very little more. See how Maryland PIP works.
A PIP Waiver Binds People Who Never Signed It
PIP is the one required benefit you can genuinely throw away, and Ins. § 19-506 makes the throw wider than the signature. A waiver must be affirmative, in writing, on the Commissioner’s form, after written notice of the coverage’s nature, extent and cost. No signature, no waiver.
Once signed, § 19-506(b)(2) makes it binding on each named insured, each listed driver, and each family member in the first named insured’s household who is at least 16 years old. Your 17-year-old signed nothing and has no PIP. Under (b)(1) the benefits are gone whether they would have come from your policy or any other Maryland policy, with a narrow carve-out for someone who is first named insured on a separate unwaived policy. And § 19-506(e) keeps a waiver in force until withdrawn in writing; it does not reset at renewal.
Your Uninsured Motorist Limit Is Your Liability Limit by Default
This provision is worth real money and almost nobody knows it. Ins. § 19-509(e)(2) says that unless waived under § 19-510, uninsured motorist coverage on a private passenger policy shall equal the liability coverage. Carry $250,000 in liability and your UM is $250,000 too, automatically.
Myth: “My uninsured motorist coverage is $30,000, because that’s the state minimum.” Very often it is not. Under Ins. § 19-509(e)(2) your UM equals your liability limits unless somebody signed a § 19-510 waiver reducing it — and that waiver is valid only if the insurer first gave written notice of the nature, extent, benefit and cost of what was being given up, on the Commissioner’s form. I have opened files where the client was certain they had minimum UM and the declarations page said $300,000. Pull your declarations page and read the UM line before you let an adjuster tell you what your case is worth.
Two more points rarely made at the point of sale: subsection (j) voids any clause forcing a UM dispute into binding arbitration, and subsection (h)(2) makes your own UM primary over MAIF’s Uninsured Division. Collecting has its own procedure, including a certified-mail consent-to-settle step under § 19-511 that people wreck good claims by skipping — see UM and UIM claims.
Enhanced UIM: The Default on New Policies Since July 1, 2024
Standard UM is an offset coverage. Under § 19-509(g) the insurer’s limit is the UM amount less what the at-fault carrier already paid, so $100,000 of UM against a driver carrying the $30,000 minimum leaves $70,000, not $130,000. Enhanced underinsured motorist coverage under Ins. § 19-509.1 removes the offset: § 19-509.1(h)(2) sets the limit at the full coverage amount “without any reduction for the amount paid to the insured.” Same facts — $30,000 plus up to $100,000 on top.
Check which version you have. On a new private passenger policy or binder issued on or after July 1, 2024, EUIM is the default: § 19-509.1(c)(1) requires the insurer to provide it unless the first named insured signs an affirmative written waiver on the Commissioner’s form, in 14 point boldface type, after written notice of its nature, extent, benefit and cost. On a renewal policy issued before that date, EUIM applies only if elected. Either way the choice carries forward until you change it in writing.
When Your Own UM Coverage Will Not Help You
One exclusion matters before you rely on “I’ll just claim on my own UM.” Section 19-509(f)(1) lets an insurer exclude UM benefits for the insured or a household family member injured while occupying, or struck as a pedestrian by, an uninsured vehicle owned by the insured or an immediate family member in the household. If the uninsured car is yours or your spouse’s, your UM can pay nothing — and § 19-509.1(g)(1) repeats that for EUIM, § 19-505(c)(1)(ii) for PIP.
MAIF Is the Market of Last Resort — Two Different Things
People use “MAIF” for two separate operations, and conflating them causes real mistakes. The insurance side, Title 20, Subtitle 5, sells policies to drivers who cannot get covered in the ordinary market after a cancellation or rejection. Covered vehicles include mopeds and motor scooters.
The Uninsured Division, Title 20, Subtitle 6, is a claims fund for people injured by an uninsured or unidentified driver when no policy covers them. Limits mirror the state minimums — $30,000 one person, $60,000 more than one, $15,000 property damage with a $250 deductible — and anything received from another source is deducted. Section 20-601(b) bars a claim if you were in your own uninsured car or a household member’s, or driving on a suspended, canceled or revoked license or registration. Hit-and-run claims survive under § 20-601(c) only after all reasonable efforts to identify the vehicle, driver and owner fail, which is why the hit-and-run police report matters.
If Your Coverage Has Already Lapsed
Then this is not your page. A lapse triggers automatic registration suspension plus an MVA penalty fee starting at $200 per vehicle and climbing $7 a day: see driving without insurance in Maryland and insurance lapse and license suspension. If you have been charged, Transp. § 17-107 is a must-appear offense carrying 5 points and up to a year in jail — see the defense page and the point system.
Maryland Auto Insurance Questions I Get Most
Md. Code, Transp. 17-103(b) requires at least $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury or death, plus $15,000 for property damage. Older sources saying 20/40/15 are out of date. Your policy must also include the PIP benefits under Ins. 19-505 and the uninsured motorist benefits under Ins. 19-509 or 19-509.1 unless the first named insured signed a written waiver.
Almost never. PIP pays your medical bills, 85% of your lost income and essential services regardless of who caused the crash, with a $2,500 statutory minimum under Ins. 19-505. A waiver under Ins. 19-506 is binding on every named insured, every listed driver and every family member in the household who is at least 16 years old, and it stays in effect until it is withdrawn in writing. The premium savings are small compared to what you give up.
Standard uninsured motorist coverage is offset. Under Ins. 19-509(g) the insurer owes the coverage amount minus what the at-fault driver’s liability carrier already paid, so $100,000 of UM against a $30,000 policy leaves $70,000. Enhanced underinsured motorist coverage under Ins. 19-509.1 pays on top of the liability recovery with no reduction, so the same facts leave $100,000 available. For new private passenger policies issued on or after July 1, 2024, enhanced coverage is the default unless the first named insured signed an affirmative written waiver.
Law Offices of David R. Waranch — 301-563-9575 · toll-free 1-877-566-2408. Hablamos Español.
Last updated: August 2026. Statutory references: Md. Code, Transp. § 17-103; Md. Code, Ins. §§ 19-505, 19-506, 19-509, 19-509.1, 19-510, 19-511, 20-501, 20-601, 20-602. This page is general information about Maryland coverage requirements; policy language and endorsements vary, so read your own declarations page.