Car insurance in Maine

What Maine law requires

Maine makes you carry real liability insurance on every registered vehicle, and the state's floor is higher than most. Under Title 29-A §1605, an acceptable policy must provide at least:

• $50,000 bodily injury per person
• $100,000 bodily injury per crash
• $25,000 property damage per crash
• a set amount of medical payments coverage
• a set amount of cover for towing and storage charges

On top of that, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is mandatory at 50/100 limits — so a Maine policy protects you against a driver who hurts you and has no insurance (or not enough), not just the other way around.

Maine does not require personal injury protection (PIP). The small medical payments amount built into every policy is the only no-fault-style piece: it pays medical bills for you and your passengers regardless of who caused the crash, but it is a modest sum that runs out quickly in any serious collision.

These limits are a legal minimum, not a recommendation. A single hospital stay, or a newer vehicle written off in a crash, can blow past $50,000 or $25,000, and whatever a judgment exceeds your limits by is yours to pay out of your own pocket.

Source: 29-A M.R.S. §1605 · Maine Bureau of Insurance

Fault, claims and who actually pays

Maine 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 vehicle damage. There is no no-fault system limiting your right to sue; if someone else's carelessness hurts you, you can pursue them for medical costs, lost income and pain and suffering, subject to their policy limits and their personal assets.

In practice a claim goes one of three ways:

1. Third-party claim. You claim against the at-fault driver's insurer. Nothing comes out of your pocket, but you wait while that insurer investigates and decides fault, and you have no contract with them.
2. First-party claim. You claim on your own collision or comprehensive coverage, pay your deductible, and get the car fixed faster. Your insurer then pursues the other carrier (subrogation) and refunds your deductible if it recovers.
3. UM/UIM claim. The other driver is uninsured, underinsured or never identified — you claim on your own mandatory uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

Fault is rarely all-or-nothing in a real adjuster's file. Insurers apportion responsibility using the police report, statements, damage patterns and any dashcam or scene photos, and a shared-fault finding reduces what you recover. That is why photographing the scene, the other vehicle's plate and insurance card, and the road conditions matters far more than arguing at the roadside. Maine winters also produce a lot of single-vehicle and chain-reaction ice crashes, where the fault question turns on speed for conditions rather than on who hit whom.

If an insurer's fault decision or valuation looks wrong, ask in writing for the specific reason and the evidence relied on, then escalate — see the complaints section below.

Optional cover worth having in Maine

The mandatory limits mostly protect other people. Almost everything that protects your car and your finances is optional:

• Collision — repairs your own vehicle after a crash, whoever was at fault. Required by any lender or lessor.
• Comprehensive — the one Maine drivers quietly rely on: deer and moose strikes, falling limbs, hail, flooding, fire, theft and glass. Animal collisions are claimed under comprehensive, not collision.
• Higher liability limits — raising 50/100/25 is usually the cheapest meaningful upgrade on a policy, and an umbrella policy can sit above it.
• Higher UM/UIM limits — you must carry 50/100, but you can buy more, usually matched to your liability limits. It covers you, your family and your passengers.
• Extra medical payments coverage — worth considering above the mandatory amount if your health plan has a high deductible.
• Rental reimbursement and roadside or towing cover — the statutory towing and storage amount is small, and long repair waits in rural areas are where rental cover earns its keep.
• Gap or new-car replacement — if you owe more on the vehicle than it is worth.

If you drive for a rideshare or delivery app, assume your personal policy has a gap between the moment you switch the app on and the moment a passenger or order is in the car. Ask your insurer for a rideshare endorsement rather than hoping the app's cover fills it.

Rules drivers trip on

• Proof at registration. You must hold the required coverage for each registered vehicle, and Maine law expressly allows evidence of insurance to be shown electronically — including as an image on a phone. Keep a screenshot in case you have no signal.
• Trailers. A trailer, semitrailer, camp trailer or mobile home registered to someone who already carries a qualifying policy on a vehicle does not need separate proof of financial responsibility, provided that policy covers it.
• Self-insuring instead of buying a policy. Maine allows proof of financial responsibility by depositing money or approved securities with the Treasurer of State, or by a certificate filed with the Secretary of State. It is a narrow route with conditions attached, including showing there are no unsatisfied judgments against you — a policy is simpler for almost everyone.
• Credit-based insurance scores are allowed. Maine insurers may use credit-based scoring as a rating factor, so thin or damaged credit can affect what you are offered. Checking your own credit report for errors is free and has no effect on your insurance rating.
• Lapses. Dropping coverage between vehicles, or letting a policy lapse over a winter you do not drive, tends to cost you later: a gap in continuous insurance is itself a rating factor. Ask about a stored-vehicle or comprehensive-only option instead.
• Minimums travel with you. Your Maine limits apply when you drive out of state, but another state's rules can demand more from visiting drivers; higher limits remove the question.
• Named drivers. Make sure everyone who regularly drives the car is listed. An unlisted household driver is a common reason for a disputed claim.

For scale, the NAIC's combined average for liability, collision and comprehensive coverage in Maine was $926 per insured vehicle in 2023. Treat that as a yardstick, not a quote: your own cost depends on your vehicle, town, driving record, limits and deductibles.

Source: 29-A M.R.S. §1605

How to shop without getting burned

Compare like with like. The only honest way to read quotes is to fix the same liability limits, the same UM/UIM limits and the same collision and comprehensive deductibles across every quote, then compare. A cheaper figure almost always means less coverage or a larger deductible somewhere.

A short checklist:

• Decide your liability limit first, then shop. Start above 50/100/25 if you own a home or have savings to protect.
• Set deductibles at a level you could genuinely pay tomorrow.
• Ask which discounts apply: multi-policy, multi-vehicle, low annual mileage, telematics, paid-in-full, good student, safety features, defensive-driving courses.
• Re-shop at renewal, after a move, when a teen driver leaves home, and when a car is paid off — that is often the moment to reconsider collision on an older vehicle.
• Check that the agent or company is licensed using the Bureau's licensee search.
• Read the declarations page when the policy arrives. The vehicle list, driver list, limits and endorsements are where mistakes hide, and they are easiest to fix before a claim.

The Bureau of Insurance publishes consumer guides and auto insurance information for Maine drivers at maine.gov/pfr/insurance/consumers/auto-insurance.

Complaining to the Maine Bureau of Insurance

The regulator is the Maine Bureau of Insurance, part of the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. It licenses insurers and agents, reviews rate filings, and handles consumer complaints and disputes.

Step 1 — exhaust the insurer. Put your complaint in writing to the claims adjuster, then to their supervisor. Ask for the policy language or valuation report relied on. Keep dates, names and copies of everything.

Step 2 — file with the Bureau. Auto complaints go through the Property/Casualty route on the Bureau's File a Complaint/Dispute page, which has a dedicated Property/Casualty complaint form. Include your policy and claim numbers, a dated timeline, what the insurer told you and the outcome you want, and attach the key documents.

Step 3 — talk to a person if you are stuck. The Bureau can be reached toll-free at 800-300-5000 or at 207-624-8475, and lists staff contacts on its site.

What the Bureau can do: require the insurer to respond and explain itself, test its conduct against Maine insurance law, and take action against licensees. What it cannot do: act as your lawyer, or decide a contested question of who caused a crash and what an injury is worth — that can end up in court. Filing a complaint does not stop you from also consulting an attorney, and it costs nothing.

Main site: maine.gov/pfr/insurance