Iowa bill HF 6 in the 2025 state legislative session proposes increasing state auto insurance minimum liability amounts.
Every state requires a minimum amount of auto liability insurance, which you buy in case you are held responsible for damages in an auto collision.
There are three components to car insurance liability coverage:
- Bodily injury coverage per person
- Bodily injury coverage per accident
- Property damage coverage per accident
These limits are usually expressed as a series of numbers, such as the current Iowa minimum coverage of 20/40/15. With these limits, your liability coverage would pay up to $20,000 per person for bodily injuries, but no more than $40,000 total for all persons injured in the collision. You’d also be covered for up to $15,000 in property damage to the other vehicle or other property.
The proposed bill would increase those limits to 50/100/25, or
- $50,000 bodily injury liability per person
- $100,000 bodily injury liability per accident
- $25,000 property damage liability per accident.
With rising medical costs, the new limits would reflect the reality of settling an auto claim in 2025. With ambulance, ER bills, follow up provider visits, and physical therapy – not to mention damages such as lost wages – $20,000 per person seems woefully inadequate for many auto collision injuries. Here at Putnam Law, we have seen bills for spinal surgeries from just one provider exceed $150,000.00. If insurance plus underinsurance plus the assets of the victim cannot pay these bills – we all pay.
Auto repair costs also keep increasing – 10% from 2023 to 2024 alone. This is due to the advanced technology in cars, a lack of experienced auto repair specialists, and supply chain issues.
According to the website Injury Claim Coach, average injury settlements for auto collisions in Iowa is $36,513 with most payouts ranging between $6,100 and $215,000. Of course, some catastrophic jury awards exceed $1,000,000.
Of course, auto insurance rates would rise for individuals with an increase in minimum liability insurance. It is difficult to assess how much they would rise, as rates are based on so many factors, such as:
Location of driver
- Primary use of vehicle (for example, business, commute, pleasure)
- Age of driver
- Type of car
- Age of car
- Driving history, any violations, collisions, DUIs
- Previous insurance information
- Whether you own or rent
- Marital status
According to a January 2025 Newsweek article about recent minimum liability raises in California, Utah and Virginia, “… raising a policy’s liability limits from 25/50/25 to 50/100/50 costs an average of $78 more per year, or $6.50 per month based on November 2024 data.” This might give some insight to the possible impact of an increase in rates for Iowans.
Increasing the minimum auto insurance liability would protect Iowans from inadequate insurance and would also help victims faced with underinsurance.
