Car insurance in Montana

What Montana law requires

Montana requires every registered vehicle to carry liability insurance, and the law sets the floor in dollars. Under MCA 61-6-103, a motor vehicle liability policy must provide at least:

• $25,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident
• $50,000 for bodily injury or death when two or more people are hurt in one accident
• $20,000 for damage to or destruction of other people's property in any one accident

You will see this written as 25/50/20. The property damage floor used to be lower than it is today before the legislature raised it, so an old policy you have never re-shopped may be worth a second look.

A few details in the statute matter in real life:

• The policy has to cover the named insured and anyone else driving the car with permission, express or implied — so lending the keys generally lends the coverage.
• An operator's policy (a non-owner policy, for someone who drives but doesn't own a car) must carry the same minimum limits.
• An insurer may not attach a "reduced limits" endorsement to a policy issued to meet these requirements. You can buy more than the minimum; you cannot buy less.
• If the insurer settles a claim in good faith, the settlement amount comes out of those limits — the limits are a ceiling on what the policy pays, not a payment made on top of a settlement.

Personal injury protection (PIP) is not required in Montana. Uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage are not mandatory either — but insurers must offer them to you, and if you don't want them you have to reject them in writing. Keep a copy of whatever you sign.

For context on what drivers pay overall: the NAIC put the 2023 average Montana premium at $1,184 per insured vehicle for liability, collision and comprehensive combined. That is a statewide average across all drivers and coverage choices, not a quote — your own cost depends on your car, your record, where you park it and the limits you choose.

Fault and claims: who pays, and how it actually goes

Montana is an at-fault (tort) state. The driver who caused the crash — through their liability insurance — is responsible for the other party's injuries and property damage. There is no no-fault system and no mandatory PIP, so after a crash the question "who was at fault?" drives everything.

That gives you two basic routes after a collision:

1. A third-party (liability) claim against the other driver's insurer, if they were at fault. You're not their customer, so they owe you nothing until fault and damages are established, and their payout is capped by their limits — possibly just the 25/50/20 minimum.
2. A first-party claim on your own policy, if you bought collision, comprehensive, medical payments or UM/UIM. This is usually faster, you pay your deductible, and your insurer may then pursue the at-fault driver's carrier to get its money (and often your deductible) back.

Practical habits that make claims go smoothly:

• Call law enforcement and get the report number; exchange names, insurers and policy numbers.
• Photograph both vehicles, the scene, skid marks, road conditions and any damage to property.
• Write down witness names and phone numbers at the scene — they vanish afterwards.
• Report the crash to your own insurer even if you believe the other driver was at fault. Your policy requires prompt notice, and your carrier can protect you if the other side later blames you.
• Keep a log of every call: date, who you spoke to, what they said.

One thing to be clear about: the state insurance regulator does not decide who caused the crash. The Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance (CSI) says plainly that making liability decisions, determining fault, establishing the facts of a disputed claim, or valuing your claim is outside its authority. It regulates how insurers behave; fault disputes are settled between the parties, or in court.

Optional coverage that's worth having in Montana

The legal minimum is a floor, not a plan. Coverages to weigh seriously here:

Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM). Your insurer has to offer both, and you must say no in writing. UM pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance or flees; UIM pays when they have insurance but not enough. Since Montana's minimum is $25,000 per injured person, a serious injury can blow through an at-fault driver's limits quickly — UIM is what fills that gap, and it covers you, your household and your passengers.

Collision. Pays to repair or replace your car when you hit something, regardless of fault. Required by any lender or lessor.

Comprehensive. The non-collision stuff Montana specialises in: hitting wildlife, hail, falling objects, windshield chips from gravel and winter sanding, fire, flood and theft. On rural roads this is often the coverage that actually gets used.

Medical payments (MedPay). Because PIP isn't part of Montana's system, MedPay is the simple no-fault-style option — it pays your and your passengers' medical bills up to the limit no matter who caused the crash, with no deductible and no need to wait for a liability decision.

Higher liability limits. Minimum limits protect the other person only up to the cap; anything above it is your personal problem, including your wages and assets. Moving up a tier of liability limits is typically the cheapest meaningful protection on the policy, and you generally can't buy UM/UIM above your liability limits.

Towing/roadside assistance and rental reimbursement. Distances between towns are long and body shops can be booked out; both are small add-ons that matter more here than in a dense metro.

Gap coverage if you owe more on the vehicle than it's worth, since comprehensive and collision pay actual cash value, not your loan balance.

Rules and habits Montana drivers trip on

Assuming the minimum is "enough." 25/50/20 is a legal threshold, not an estimate of what a crash costs. Hospital care and a late-model truck can exceed it easily; once limits are exhausted, the injured party can come after the at-fault driver personally.

Signing away UM/UIM without reading. Because the rejection is in writing, it's easy to tick a box at the counter and discover later that an uninsured driver left you with nothing but your own collision deductible and medical bills.

Thinking "full coverage" is a defined product. It isn't. It's a sales phrase. Read the declarations page and check each line: liability limits, UM/UIM, collision deductible, comprehensive deductible, MedPay.

Forgetting credit matters. Montana permits insurers to use credit-based insurance scores as a rating factor. Keeping credit in good shape can affect what you're charged, and a significant change is a reason to re-shop.

Not knowing the cancellation and surcharge rule. MCA 61-6-103(6) says a motor vehicle policy is not subject to cancellation, termination, nonrenewal or premium increase because of injury or damage the insured or operator incurred unless the insured or operator violated a traffic law or ordinance, was found negligent or contributorily negligent in court or in arbitration, or paid damages to another party by settlement or otherwise. The same subsection says a premium may not be increased during the policy term unless there is a change in exposure — so a mid-term increase out of nowhere is worth questioning.

Letting coverage lapse between cars or during storage. Driving without the required liability insurance is an offence in Montana and is enforced through the state's insurance verification system; a lapse also makes your next policy harder and costlier to buy. If a vehicle is truly off the road for the season, talk to your insurer about the right way to handle it before you drop coverage.

Carrying no proof. Your policy must state the named insured, the coverage, the premium, the policy period and the limits — keep current proof with you or on your phone, and swap in the new card as soon as it arrives.

Not shopping. Insurers weigh the same driver differently, and Montana's statewide NAIC average of $1,184 in 2023 says nothing about which carrier will treat your profile kindly. Compare identical limits and deductibles side by side, not just a bottom-line number.

How to complain to the Montana regulator

Auto insurers in Montana are regulated by the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance (CSI), the Office of the Montana State Auditor — csimt.gov. CSI Consumer Advocates handle claim disputes, coverage problems, premium issues, cancellations, refunds and misrepresentation by companies, agents and adjusters.

Before you file

• Read your policy, then raise the problem directly with the insurer or your agent and give them a chance to fix it.
• Keep records: dates of calls, who you spoke with, notes on each conversation, and copies of all written communication.
• If you just have a question, CSI advocates answer general questions by phone at 800-332-6148 or 406-444-2040.

Filing

All complaints must be in writing or submitted online. CSI offers an online complaint form and a printable paper form. Complete it fully, attach supporting documents (policy, letters, phone logs, estimates), and sign it if you're filing on paper. Paper forms can be mailed to the Montana Insurance Department, Attn: ICS, 840 Helena Avenue, Helena, Montana 59601, emailed, or faxed to 406-444-1980. If you're complaining on someone else's behalf, include the signed third-party disclosure authorization.

What happens next

CSI sends an acknowledgment letter with your complaint file number and the name of your assigned Consumer Advocate. The office then asks the company or producer for a detailed explanation, reviews the response against Montana insurance law and your policy terms, and discusses it with you. If the insurer isn't complying with the policy or has broken Montana law, CSI will request corrective action; if the matter is resolved, the file is closed.

What CSI won't do: act as your lawyer or your adjuster, decide who was at fault, settle conflicting accounts of what happened, or set the value of your claim. For those, you need the other driver's insurer, a mediator, or a lawyer. CSI also takes reports of suspected insurance fraud through its website.

Putting a Montana policy together

A sensible build, in order:

1. Start with liability above the minimum. The 25/50/20 floor is where the law starts, not where sound protection starts. Price a step or two higher before you look at anything else.
2. Keep UM/UIM, at limits matching your liability. This is the coverage that pays when the other driver has nothing — a real risk on rural roads.
3. Add MedPay. With no PIP in Montana, it's the simplest way to get medical bills paid without waiting on a fault decision.
4. Choose collision and comprehensive deductibles you could actually pay tomorrow. A high deductible lowers the premium only if you can fund it when a hailstorm or a deer arrives.
5. Re-shop when life changes — a move, a new vehicle, a teen driver, a change in annual mileage, a ticket falling off your record or a credit improvement all change how carriers rate you.
6. Check the declarations page every renewal. Confirm the drivers, vehicles, limits and deductibles are what you asked for, and that nothing was quietly dropped.

When you compare, compare like with like: identical liability limits, identical UM/UIM, identical deductibles. The statewide NAIC average for Montana in 2023 was $1,184 per insured vehicle for liability, collision and comprehensive together — useful as a yardstick for the market, useless as a prediction for any one driver.