Car insurance in Connecticut

What Connecticut law requires

Connecticut requires every registered vehicle to carry liability insurance from an admitted insurer, plus uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. The state minimums are:

The Connecticut Insurance Department (CID) notes that a combined single limit of $50,000 for bodily injury and property damage together is also acceptable in place of split limits. These numbers have been in place since January 1, 2018, when the state moved up from the old 20/40/10 requirement — so if you have an old policy that has simply rolled over, check that your declarations page shows at least 25/50/25.

Personal injury protection (PIP) is not required in Connecticut. Collision and comprehensive are not required by law either, but a lender or leasing company will insist on them.

Liability limits are a cap on what the insurer pays, not a cap on what you can be sued for. If a judgment exceeds your limits, the balance is yours. CID's own consumer guidance is blunt about this: the minimums may not be enough financial protection, and you should discuss appropriate limits with your agent.

Fault, claims, and how payment actually works

Connecticut is an at-fault (tort) state. The driver who causes a crash — and that driver's liability insurer, up to the policy limits — is responsible for the other side's injuries and property damage. There is no no-fault system and no PIP requirement, so there is no mandatory first-party medical bucket unless you buy one.

In practice that gives you three routes after a crash:

• Third-party claim against the at-fault driver's insurer. You are a claimant, not their customer; they investigate and may dispute fault or the value of your loss.
• First-party claim under your own collision, comprehensive, or medical payments coverage. Faster, subject to your deductible, and your insurer then pursues the other carrier through subrogation. If it recovers, your deductible normally comes back to you in proportion.
• UM/UIM claim under your own policy when the other driver has no insurance or not enough.

Fault in Connecticut is shared under modified comparative negligence: your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame, and you recover nothing if your share is greater than the other party's. Insurers apply the same logic when they split liability between drivers, which is why police reports, photos, and independent witnesses matter so much.

A few claim-handling points CID flags for drivers: you have the right to have your car repaired at the shop of your choice, and if you and the insurer cannot agree on a physical-damage settlement, the Department publishes a guide to the auto arbitration process available to Connecticut consumers. Always read your own policy — it sets out what is covered and what the company owes you after a loss.

Optional coverage worth paying for

• Higher liability limits. The cheapest meaningful upgrade most drivers can make. A single hospital stay or a multi-car pileup can blow through 25/50/25 quickly, and the excess follows you personally.
• Higher UM/UIM limits. Your UM/UIM is the only coverage that protects you from someone else's thin policy. Since it defaults to your liability limits, raising liability raises both.
• Conversion (underinsured motorist conversion) coverage. A Connecticut-specific option that changes how UIM is calculated so the at-fault driver's payment is not simply subtracted from your UIM limit. Ask your agent what it costs and how it applies to your policy.
• Collision and comprehensive. Comprehensive covers theft, fire, flood, falling branches, and the animal strikes common on Connecticut back roads; collision covers your own crash damage regardless of fault.
• Medical payments (MedPay). With no PIP requirement here, MedPay is the simple way to cover deductibles, co-pays, and immediate treatment for you and your passengers without waiting for a fault determination.
• Rental reimbursement and towing, if being without a car for a week would be a genuine problem.
• Gap coverage on a new financed or leased vehicle, where the loan can exceed the car's value for the first few years.
• A personal umbrella policy, which sits above your auto liability and usually requires you to carry higher underlying limits anyway.

Rules and habits Connecticut drivers trip on

• Assuming UM/UIM is a 'nice to have'. It is mandatory here. Your policy carries it automatically at your liability limits. You may reduce it in writing, but never below 25/50. If someone talked you into a written reduction years ago, it is worth revisiting.
• Leaving household drivers off the policy. Insurers generally require every licensed person in the household with access to the car to be listed, unless they can prove separate coverage. CID's consumer FAQ explains that a named driver exclusion may be an option; quietly omitting a driver is not, and can cause a claim dispute.
• Driving for delivery or rideshare on a personal policy. Personal auto policies generally exclude business use. If you deliver food or drive for an app, you need an endorsement or commercial coverage.
• Letting registration and insurance fall out of sync. Insurers report cancellations to the DMV, and lapses lead to fines, registration suspension, and reinstatement fees. Cancel the insurance only after the plates are surrendered.
• Forgetting credit history counts. Connecticut permits insurers to use credit-based insurance scores in rating. Errors on your credit file can quietly raise your rate, so check your report.
• Never re-shopping. CID recommends reviewing coverage at every renewal and comparing prices yearly. For context on what drivers pay overall, the NAIC put the average U.S. expenditure for liability, collision, and comprehensive combined at $1,508 per insured vehicle in 2023 — your own figure depends on your car, record, location, and limits.
• Carrying the minimum on an older, paid-off car while owning a house and savings. Liability limits should reflect what you have to lose, not the value of the vehicle.

If something goes wrong: complaining to the regulator

Auto insurers, agents, and adjusters operating in Connecticut are regulated by the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID), portal.ct.gov/cid. Its Consumer Affairs Division reviews complaints about claim handling, delays, denials, cancellations, nonrenewals, and agent conduct.

Before you file

1. Put the complaint to the insurer in writing and ask for a written response, including the specific policy language it relies on.
2. Request a copy of your full policy if you do not have one.
3. Keep a dated log of calls, adjuster names, estimates, photos, invoices, and the police report.

Then file with CID

• Use the complaint form on the Department's website at portal.ct.gov/cid.
• Or contact the Consumer Affairs Division by phone at (860) 297-3900, toll-free at (800) 203-3447, or by email at insurance@ct.gov.
• CID has relocated its office; beginning September 8, 2026, in-person services are at 280 Trumbull Street, Floor 7, Hartford, CT 06103.

The Department will contact the company for a formal response and tell you what it finds. It cannot act as your lawyer or decide contested questions of fact that belong in court, but regulatory involvement frequently unsticks a stalled file — and complaints feed the Department's oversight of insurer conduct. For disputes purely about the cost of repairing your vehicle, ask CID about its automobile arbitration process, which it describes in a consumer guide on its auto insurance page. Registration, lapse notices, and suspension issues are handled by the CT DMV, not CID.