Car insurance in Utah

What Utah law requires you to carry

Every car registered in Utah has to carry liability insurance, and the required amounts went up for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025:

You'll see this written as 30/65/25. The floor used to be lower, so a policy you bought before 2025 may have quietly been brought up to the current numbers at renewal — check your declarations page. Utah also lets a qualifying combined single limit policy satisfy the requirement instead of the split limits above; ask your agent what the required single-limit amount is for your policy. The Utah Insurance Department points to Utah Code 31A-22-304 for the rule.

Two more pieces come standard:

• Personal injury protection (PIP) — $3,000 per person. This is your own no-fault medical coverage and it is part of every Utah auto policy.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM). Utah does not force you to buy it, but the Insurance Department says it is included in your policy unless you waive it in writing. So in practice you have it unless you signed it away.

Liability pays other people for harm you cause. It pays nothing toward your own car — that's what collision and comprehensive are for, and lenders and lessors will require them.

Source: Utah Insurance Department — Auto Insurance and Filing an Auto Claim.

No-fault, comparative negligence, and how a claim actually moves

Utah is a no-fault state for injuries — but only up front. Here's the sequence the Insurance Department describes:

1. Your own PIP goes first. Anyone injured in your vehicle submits their medical bills to the insurer covering that vehicle. The first $3,000 of each person's medical expenses is paid under PIP, regardless of who caused the crash, before a claim can be made against the responsible driver's insurer.
2. Then fault matters. Once you're past that first layer, you can pursue the at-fault driver's liability insurance for injuries and for vehicle damage. (Property damage is never "no-fault" — that always runs on fault.)
3. Fault can be shared. Utah uses comparative negligence: more than one driver can be at fault, you can only recover if you are less than 50% at fault, and whatever you recover is cut by your own share. Found 20% responsible? Expect an offer of about 80% of your damages.

First-party vs. third-party. A claim on your own policy is first-party: you have a contract and the insurer owes you the duties in it. A claim against the other driver's insurer is third-party: you have no contract with them, and their first loyalty is to their policyholder. You can usually choose either route if you carry the right coverages.

Timing. Utah insurance rules (R590-190, R590-191, R590-192) require a substantive response to a claimant within 15 days of a request and an accept-or-deny decision within 30 days, with more time allowed if the investigation genuinely can't be finished. Separately, you must settle or sue within the statute of limitations: 4 years for bodily injury and 3 years for property damage from the date of the crash, with different deadlines when a government entity is involved.

If the other insurer denies you or lowballs you, there is no mandatory appraisal step on a third-party claim. Your options are to claim on your own policy, sue in small claims court if your damages fall under its dollar cap, or get a lawyer. Only a judge or jury can finally decide fault.

Source: Utah Insurance Department — Filing an Auto Claim.

Coverage worth buying beyond the minimum

• Keep your UM/UIM — don't sign the waiver. It is already in your Utah policy unless you waive it in writing. Uninsured motorist steps in when the at-fault driver has no insurance or flees; underinsured motorist tops up when their minimum limits aren't enough for a serious hospital stay. These are typically among the least expensive coverages on the policy relative to what they do.
• Higher liability limits. A single ICU admission or a totalled late-model truck can blow through the per-person bodily injury minimum or the property damage minimum. Anything above the floor is there to protect your savings and wages.
• Collision and comprehensive. Utah drivers hit deer and elk on canyon roads, park under hail, and crack windshields on I-15 and gravelled winter highways. Comprehensive covers theft, animal strikes, hail, fire, and glass; collision covers the crash itself.
• More PIP than the required $3,000. The required amount is a first layer, not a health plan. Extra PIP smooths things over while a liability claim grinds on.
• Rental reimbursement / loss of use on your own policy. An at-fault insurer must pay reasonable transportation or substitute-vehicle costs when it accepts liability, but only once it accepts liability. Your own coverage doesn't wait for that argument.
• GAP, if you're upside down on a loan or lease. The Department has a page on GAP waivers worth reading before you buy one at the dealership.
• Business or delivery use. If you drive for a rideshare or delivery app, or run errands for work, a personal policy may not cover it. See the Department's Business Use of Your Auto page and ask your agent about an endorsement.

Rules and habits Utah drivers trip on

• Assuming your old policy still meets the law. If you haven't looked since 2024, confirm your limits are at least 30/65/25, or that your combined single limit policy meets the current requirement.
• Waiving UM/UIM to shave the bill. It's a written waiver, it's easy to sign without noticing, and it's the coverage you most regret losing after a hit-and-run.
• Treating PIP as the whole answer. The $3,000 is per person and is spent fast; it also runs before any claim against the at-fault driver, which delays, rather than replaces, the liability claim.
• Forgetting the 50% bar. Shared blame doesn't just shrink a settlement — at 50% or more you recover nothing. Document the scene, get the police report, and don't casually admit fault.
• Signing the release too early. Once you accept a final bodily injury settlement and sign the "release for damages," that's the end of it. Most insurers won't settle injuries until treatment is finished — don't rush to beat them to it.
• Letting a car claim be held hostage. An insurer may not refuse to pay an agreed property damage amount just because your injury claim is still open.
• Paying a deductible you don't owe. On a third-party claim against the other driver's insurer, you don't pay a deductible. (You do on your own collision claim, though your insurer may chase it back for you.)
• Not knowing the repair rules. You may choose your own shop, though you may owe the difference if it charges more than the insurer's suggested shop. Insurers may deduct for betterment and for pre-existing damage or rust, but those deductions must be itemized in writing. Non-OEM/aftermarket parts are allowed, but their use must be disclosed in writing on the estimate, part by part.
• Credit. Utah permits insurers to use credit-based insurance scores in pricing, so cleaning up your credit file can matter as much as a clean driving record.

Source: Utah Insurance Department — Filing an Auto Claim.

What Utah drivers pay, and how to shop without guessing

The only price benchmark worth anchoring on is the industry-wide one: the NAIC average expenditure for liability, collision, and comprehensive combined was $1,285 per insured vehicle in 2023 (precisely $1,284.60). That's a national average across all insured cars, not a Utah quote and not anyone's rate — your own number depends on your ZIP code, vehicle, mileage, driving record, chosen limits and deductibles, and, in Utah, your credit-based insurance score.

Practical ways to shop:

• Compare identical limits. A cheap-looking policy is often a bare 30/65/25 with UM/UIM waived. Price the same limits and deductibles everywhere before you judge.
• Use the regulator's own material. The Department publishes insurance comparison reports — see Forms & Reports — plus a plain-language 10 Things To Know guide and an auto glossary.
• Check the licence. Verify any agent or company through the Department's licensee search before you hand over money.
• Re-shop at renewal, not mid-panic. Costs move; so do your mileage, your car's value, and your credit.

If something goes wrong: complaining to the Utah Insurance Department

Start with the insurer — put your dispute in writing, keep the claim number, and ask for the reason for denial in writing. If that fails, the Utah Insurance Department will take it up.

How to file

1. Go to the Department's Complaints page and use the Complaint Portal. You create an account first — note your password, since you'll need it to check the status of your complaint.
2. If you can't file online, download the PDF complaint form from the same page and send it in.
3. Attach the evidence: policy declarations, the claim number, estimates and photos, letters and emails, and the denial.

What happens next. The Department forwards your complaint to the company or agent you're complaining about, reviews the response, and gives you its findings. The process usually takes about three to four weeks.

Prefer to talk first? Consumer service staff answer questions 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 801-957-9200 in the Salt Lake City area or 1-800-439-3805 toll-free in state. They can explain coverage and rules even if you never file a formal complaint.

The Department can press an insurer on claim-handling conduct and enforce Utah's insurance rules. It can't declare who was at fault in a crash or order a settlement amount — that's for a judge or jury, through small claims court or a lawsuit filed within the statute of limitations.