Car-insurance requirements in District of Columbia (2026)
The District of Columbia requires 25/50/10 in the usual shorthand and is the one genuine hybrid in the country: the injured party elects the fault system after the accident rather than when buying the policy.
- Minimum liability limits
- 25/50/10
- Fault system
- Hybrid — elected after the accident
- Tort threshold
- not applicable
- Restricted rating factors
- none found
What the statute requires
| Coverage | Amount | Status | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability, per person | $25,000 | required | D.C. Code §31-2406 |
| Bodily injury liability, per accident | $50,000 | required | D.C. Code §31-2406 |
| Property damage liability | $10,000 | required | D.C. Code §31-2406 |
Source of record: the legislature’s own statute text, corroborated against the state insurance department or motor-vehicle agency. Verification status: primary text confirmed.
The part most published tables get wrong
The election runs within a statutory window after the collision, and a separate impairment test applies where the injury is continuous over a defined period. That is a different structure from both a no-fault state and an opt-in choice state, and it is why the District cannot be filed under either label.
How old is this minimum?
Our committed statutory record for District of Columbia does not carry the date its current limits took effect, so no real-terms restatement is shown. We will not deflate from a year we have not read in the statute or its enacting bill. The limits themselves are confirmed against primary text; only the commencement date is missing.
What the property-damage minimum leaves exposed
A $42,000 property-damage claim against District of Columbia’s minimum of $10,000 leaves $32,000 above the limit. That difference is the at-fault driver’s own exposure. The claim figure is an illustration; the limit is the statute.
Rating rules in District of Columbia
| Factor | Status | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Credit information | No restriction found | — |
| Gender | No restriction found | — |
| ZIP code | No restriction found | — |
| Rating territory | No restriction found | — |
| Age | No restriction found | — |
| Marital status | No restriction found | — |
| Occupation | No restriction found | — |
| Education | No restriction found | — |
The same factor across every jurisdiction: credit-based rating by state, gender rating by state, age rating by state, marital-status rating by state, occupation and education rating by state, zip code and territory rating by state.
Premium data for District of Columbia
District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking publishes filed sample rates for 9 driver profiles across 1 jurisdiction, quoted as six-month premiums. We compute the distribution of those filed rates — 261 of them — and publish the count, the lowest, the quartiles, the median and the highest for every published combination.
Coverage requirement checker
Pick a jurisdiction to see every coverage its statute requires, with the amount, the citation and whether it can be rejected.
District of Columbia — minimum limits 25/50/10
| Coverage | Amount | Status | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability, per person | $25,000 | required | D.C. Code §31-2406 |
| Bodily injury liability, per accident | $50,000 | required | D.C. Code §31-2406 |
| Property damage liability | $10,000 | required | D.C. Code §31-2406 |
Fault system: Hybrid — elected after the accident.
General information, not insurance, financial or legal advice. Requirements change; verify with your state insurance department or the statute before acting.
Questions about District of Columbia
- What is the minimum car insurance required in District of Columbia?
- District of Columbia requires liability limits of 25/50/10 under D.C. Code §31-2406.
- Is District of Columbia a no-fault state?
- District of Columbia operates hybrid — elected after the accident.
- Where can I see what drivers in District of Columbia actually pay?
- District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking publishes filed sample rates for the driver profiles it defines. We compute the distribution of those filed rates and publish it, with the count behind every figure.
Statutory records for District of Columbia last verified against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Price level for the real-terms restatement: June 2026, all-items index 333.952. Every figure on this page is recomputed from committed data at build time.