Car insurance in Indiana

What Indiana law requires

Indiana is a financial responsibility state: if you register and drive a car here, you must be able to show you can pay for the damage you cause. Almost everyone does that with a standard auto liability policy.

The minimum liability limits are 25/50/25:

• $25,000 for bodily injury to one person in a crash
• $50,000 for bodily injury to everyone hurt in one crash
• $25,000 for property damage in one crash

Those numbers are the floor, not a recommendation. They are what your insurer pays to other people when you are at fault — they do nothing for your own injuries or your own car. A single hospital stay or a newer vehicle written off can run past $25,000 without much effort, and anything above your limit is your personal problem: your savings, your wages, your house.

Indiana does not require personal injury protection (PIP), so there is no no-fault medical pot attached to your policy by default. Medical payments coverage is sold here, but it is optional.

For context on what people actually spend: the NAIC put the average Indiana premium for liability, collision and comprehensive combined at $1,032 per insured vehicle in 2023. That is a statewide average across all drivers and vehicles, not a quote — your own number depends on where you park at night, your record, your car and your coverage choices.

Source: Indiana Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance Facts (in.gov/idoi).

Fault, claims and who pays

Indiana is an at-fault state. The driver who caused the crash — through their insurer — pays for the other side's injuries and property damage. There is no automatic first-party medical benefit the way there is in no-fault states.

In practice that gives you three routes after a crash someone else caused:

1. Third-party claim against the other driver's liability insurer. You get paid once, usually at the end, and only up to their limits.
2. First-party claim on your own policy — collision for your car, comprehensive for non-crash damage, medical payments for early medical bills, uninsured/underinsured motorist if the other driver has no cover or not enough. Your insurer pays faster, then chases the other carrier (subrogation) and normally refunds your deductible if it recovers.
3. Lawsuit, if the claim does not settle.

Fault is rarely all-or-nothing. Indiana apportions fault between the parties, and a driver who carries the larger share of the blame can be cut off from recovering anything from the other side — the rules sit in Indiana's comparative fault law (Ind. Code art. 34-51), and a lawyer is the right person to apply them to a specific crash. Percentages assigned by an adjuster are an opening position, not a verdict; you can dispute them with photos, the police report, dashcam footage and witness statements.

Two practical habits make claims go better: call the police so there is a report, and photograph everything at the scene — both vehicles, positions, skid marks, signage, the other driver's insurance card and plate.

A note on repairs: your insurer can estimate and recommend shops, but the choice of repairer is yours. If the insurer's estimate and your shop's estimate differ, ask them to speak to each other in writing and keep copies.

Optional coverage worth having

Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM). This is the big one in Indiana. Every newly written Indiana auto liability policy must include UM and UIM coverage unless you reject it in writing — so it is technically optional, but you only lose it by signing it away. The minimums the Department sets are $25,000/$50,000 for uninsured motorist bodily injury, $25,000 for uninsured motorist property damage on policies issued on or after 1 July 2017, and $50,000 for underinsured motorist bodily injury. UM/UIM is what pays you when the at-fault driver is uninsured, unidentified (a hit-and-run) or carrying only 25/50/25 against serious injuries. Think hard before rejecting it, and check your declarations page to see whether a past rejection is still sitting on your policy.

Collision and comprehensive. Neither is required by Indiana law, but your lender or lessor will require both. Collision covers your car in a crash or rollover regardless of fault, subject to your deductible; comprehensive covers theft, fire, hail, flood, falling objects, animal strikes and glass. In a state with real hail and deer seasons, comprehensive is usually the cheaper and more frequently used of the two.

Medical payments (MedPay). Pays medical bills for you and your passengers no matter who caused the crash. Because Indiana has no PIP, MedPay is the simplest way to get deductibles and early bills covered without waiting out a liability fight.

Higher liability limits. Moving above 25/50/25 is typically the best value in the whole policy — the first dollars of coverage cost the most, and the extra layers are comparatively cheap. An umbrella policy sits on top of both auto and home liability.

Rental reimbursement and roadside assistance. Small add-ons that save arguments; the Department lists towing and car rental among the extras insurers offer here.

Gap coverage. If you financed a new car with little down, the loan can outlast the car's value after a total loss.

Rules Indiana drivers trip on

The Certificate of Compliance. After a crash or certain traffic violations, the BMV can require your insurer or agent to file a Certificate of Compliance confirming you had coverage on the date in question. If that proof is not filed by the deadline in the notice you receive, your driving privileges can be suspended — even though you were insured. Read any BMV letter the day it arrives and forward it straight to your agent.

Lapses are tracked electronically. Letting a policy cancel for non-payment, even briefly, is the most common route to a suspension and the reinstatement fees and filing requirements that follow. Never cancel the old policy before the new one is in force.

Cancellation and non-renewal rules. An insurer may cancel a brand-new policy within the first 60 days. After 60 days it can only cancel for stated reasons, such as non-payment of premium or loss of your driving licence. It can still decline to renew at the end of the policy term, but must give you 20 days' advance notice — use that window to shop, not to panic.

Credit history is a rating factor. Indiana permits credit-based insurance scores, and the Department lists credit history among the things that move your price, alongside age, marital status, driving record, where you live, your vehicle and the limits and deductibles you pick. Fixing errors on your credit file can therefore change what you are quoted.

The Department does not set rates. Insurers file rates with IDOI; if the filings are supported and are not inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory, the company may use them. Filed rates are open to public inspection. The practical consequence: identical coverage can be priced very differently by different companies, and IDOI will not recommend a company to you — comparing like-for-like limits and deductibles across several insurers is the only way to find your price.

Household members and permissive drivers. Insurers expect every licensed driver in the house to be listed or formally excluded. A teenager or partner left off the policy is a classic claim dispute.

Your own words after a crash. Do not guess at fault or injuries at the roadside, and be careful with recorded statements to the other driver's insurer — you are obliged to cooperate with your own carrier, not theirs.

Shopping and saving without cutting corners

The Department's own advice is to compare quotes on the same basis — same limits, same deductibles, same drivers and vehicles — because a cheaper figure usually means less coverage rather than a better deal.

Things that genuinely move the number without stripping protection:

• Raise deductibles, not limits. A higher collision or comprehensive deductible lowers the premium; lowering liability limits just moves risk onto your own assets.
• Bundle auto with renters or home cover, and ask what multi-car, good-student, defensive-driving, paperless, pay-in-full and low-mileage discounts apply.
• Re-shop every year or two, and always after a move, a marriage, a new job with a shorter commute, or when a ticket or at-fault crash drops off your record.
• Drop collision thoughtfully on an older car — but keep comprehensive, which is usually inexpensive and covers theft, hail and deer.
• Check telematics programmes if your driving is genuinely gentle and your mileage low; read the terms, because some programmes can increase a renewal price.
• Verify the insurer is licensed in Indiana before you buy. IDOI publishes lists of licensed companies and its enforcement actions. An unlicensed "policy" is not protected by state law or the guaranty fund.

Finally, read the declarations page when it arrives rather than filing it. It is the only place that shows your actual limits, your deductibles, who is listed as a driver, and whether UM/UIM is on or has been rejected.

How to complain to the Indiana Department of Insurance

If an insurer or agent stalls, underpays, misrepresents your cover or simply stops answering, the Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI) Consumer Services Division takes consumer complaints about auto, home, health and life insurance. Its role is to enforce Indiana insurance law against companies and producers doing business here.

Before you file: put your request to the insurer in writing, give them a reasonable deadline, and collect your policy number, claim number, the adjuster's name, the dates things happened, and copies of estimates, letters and emails.

How to file:

• Online complaint form: in.gov/idoi/consumer-services/complaints
• Consumer Services landing page: in.gov/idoi/consumer-services
• Phone: 1-800-622-4461
• Email: consumerservices@idoi.in.gov
• Post: Indiana Department of Insurance, 311 W. Washington Street, Suite 103, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2787

What to expect. IDOI contacts the company, requires a written response, and checks whether the policy and Indiana law were applied correctly. It can push a carrier to pay what the contract owes and can act against licensees who break the rules. It cannot act as your lawyer, decide who was at fault in a crash, or force a payment that is a genuine factual dispute — for those, small claims court or a lawyer is the route. Filing a complaint is free and does not stop you going to court later.

Separately, suspected insurance fraud goes to IDOI's enforcement/fraud reporting area, and licence suspension or reinstatement questions go to the BMV, not to IDOI.