Car insurance in Arizona

What Arizona law requires you to carry

Arizona requires every registered vehicle to be covered by liability insurance (or another approved form of financial responsibility, such as a certificate of self-insurance). The minimum limits set by A.R.S. § 28-4009 are:

• $25,000 bodily injury per person
• $50,000 bodily injury per crash (for two or more people)
• $15,000 property damage per crash

These limits are usually written as 25/50/15. They are relatively recent: policies issued or renewed on or before June 30, 2020 only had to meet 15/30/10, and the higher limits apply to policies issued or renewed from July 1, 2020 onward.

What the minimum does not do is protect you. Liability coverage pays other people for injuries and damage you cause. It pays nothing toward your own car, your own medical bills, or your losses if the other driver has no insurance.

Arizona does not require personal injury protection (PIP), and it does not require you to buy uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Collision and comprehensive are not required by law either, though a lender or lessor will normally insist on them as a condition of the loan or lease.

Fault, claims, and who pays

Arizona is an at-fault (tort) state. The driver who caused the crash — through their liability insurer — is responsible for the other side's injuries and property damage. There is no no-fault system and no mandatory PIP, so after a crash someone has to establish who was to blame before the money moves.

In practice that means:

• You can claim against the other driver's insurer (a third-party claim) if they were at fault, or against your own policy (a first-party claim) if you carry collision, comprehensive, medical payments, or UM/UIM.
• Insurers investigate and assign responsibility based on the police report, statements, photos, damage patterns, and any dashcam or surveillance footage. Fault is not always all-or-nothing; adjusters frequently split it between drivers.
• Documentation decides close calls. Photograph the scene and both vehicles, get the other driver's policy details, collect witness contact information, and report the claim promptly.
• Third-party claims are slower. The other insurer owes a duty to its own policyholder, not to you, and it will not pay until its investigation points to its driver. If your own collision coverage applies, using it gets your car fixed sooner; your insurer can then pursue the at-fault carrier for reimbursement, including your deductible.

If an adjuster's fault decision or valuation looks wrong, ask in writing for the basis of the decision and the policy language or data it relies on.

Optional coverage that is worth the money in Arizona

Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM). Under A.R.S. § 20-259.01, every auto insurer must make UM and UIM available and must offer them to you by written notice, in limits at least equal to your own bodily injury limits. Buying them is your choice. UM covers you and your passengers when the at-fault driver has no insurance (or flees); UIM fills the gap when the at-fault driver's limits are too small for your injuries. Given how many drivers carry only the state minimum — and how many out-of-state vehicles pass through — UM/UIM is the coverage most Arizona drivers underestimate. The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions notes that if you elect UM or UIM, 25/50 is the smallest amount you can put on the policy.

Higher liability limits. 25/50/15 goes quickly in a modern multi-vehicle crash. Once limits are exhausted, the injured party can pursue you personally. Raising liability limits is generally the cheapest meaningful upgrade on a policy.

Collision and comprehensive. Collision pays for your car in a crash regardless of fault; comprehensive covers theft, fire, hail, flooding from monsoon storms, animal strikes, and the cracked windshields that Arizona's highway gravel produces. Consider how a glass claim is handled and whether a separate glass deductible applies.

Medical payments (MedPay). A small, no-fault-style pot of money for your own and your passengers' medical bills, usable immediately rather than waiting for a liability settlement.

Rental reimbursement and roadside assistance. Low-cost add-ons that matter in a state with long distances between towns and extreme summer heat.

Rules Arizona drivers trip on

• You must carry evidence of coverage in the vehicle. A.R.S. § 28-4135 allows that evidence to be displayed on a wireless device; showing it that way is not consent for an officer to look at anything else on the phone.
• A no-proof citation can be dismissed. If you were actually insured at the time, producing acceptable proof to the court by the date and time on the citation, in the manner the court specifies, results in dismissal.
• Driving uninsured escalates fast. A first violation brings a civil penalty and a three-month suspension or restriction of driving privileges. A second within 36 months means a larger penalty and a six-month suspension of the licence plus the vehicle's registration and plates; a third within 36 months brings a one-year suspension, and reinstatement requires filing proof of future financial responsibility with the department.
• Your declarations page is the record of your UM/UIM decision. The statute treats the declarations page sent to you as the final expression of whether you bought or rejected UM and UIM — so read it. The written offer is not required again on renewal, reinstatement, substitution or modification of an existing policy, or when the state's minimum limits change, which is how drivers end up without coverage they thought they had.
• Household (intra-family) exclusions are permitted. DIFI warns that some policies limit bodily injury liability for injured family or household members to the state minimum, even if you bought much higher limits. Ask about this if family members regularly ride with you.
• Credit history can affect your price. Arizona insurers may use credit-based insurance scores in rating. Errors on a credit file can cost you, so it is worth checking your report before you shop.
• Minimum limits changed in 2020. If you have not reshaped your policy since then, confirm it reflects 25/50/15 and not the old 15/30/10.

What Arizona drivers pay, and what moves the number

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners puts the average Arizona expenditure for liability, collision, and comprehensive combined at $1,505 per insured vehicle in 2023 (precisely $1,504.59). That is an average across every kind of driver and vehicle in the state — not a quote, and not what any particular person will pay.

What drives an individual price in Arizona:

• Where you garage the car — urban Phoenix and Tucson ZIP codes rate differently from rural ones
• Annual mileage and commute distance
• Driving record: at-fault crashes, speeding, and especially DUI
• Vehicle make, model, age, repair cost, and theft rate
• Your chosen limits and deductibles
• Credit-based insurance score, where the insurer uses one
• Continuous coverage history — a lapse normally raises the price

Because insurers weight these factors differently, the same driver can see very different prices from different carriers. Compare identical limits and deductibles side by side, and re-shop after a move, a vehicle change, a birthday milestone, or when a violation ages off your record.

How to complain to the Arizona regulator

Auto insurers in Arizona are regulated by the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI), difi.az.gov.

Before you escalate:

1. Raise it with the insurer first. Ask for the adjuster's decision and the reason for it in writing, including the policy provision relied on.
2. Use the insurer's internal complaint or supervisor review process, and keep a dated log of calls, names, and what was said.
3. Gather your paperwork: policy number, declarations page, claim number, the denial or valuation letter, estimates, photos, and your correspondence.

If that does not resolve it, DIFI's Consumer Protection / Consumer Services Division handles complaints about licensed insurers and suspected violations of Arizona insurance law. You can file a consumer complaint through the department's website, or contact Consumer Services at (602) 364-2499 or the consumer email address published on the DIFI site for help getting started.

DIFI will ask the insurer to respond and will review the handling against the policy and Arizona law. The department does not act as your lawyer and cannot decide a contested question of fact or award damages — a disputed injury claim or a bad-faith allegation may still need an attorney — but a regulator inquiry often unsticks a claim that has stalled, and complaints feed into the department's oversight of the company.