Washington, DC just rewrote its car insurance rules for the first time in four decades. The new DC car insurance law 2026 is formally the Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Amendment Act of 2026. It became law on August 14, 2026 after completing congressional review. The law doubles the minimum liability coverage on every DC policy. It also makes enhanced underinsured motorist coverage the default.
For people injured in DC car accidents, this is the biggest insurance change since 1982. Below, we explain what the law does and when it kicks in. We also cover why the gap before October 2027 means you should review your own coverage now. If a crash injured you, our DC car accident lawyers can explain which rules govern your claim.
What Is the New DC Car Insurance Law?
Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced the measure as Council Bill 26-0057 in January 2025. The DC Council passed it on final reading on June 2, 2026 by a 12 to 1 vote. The Mayor returned it unsigned, so it became an act on July 2, 2026 without her signature. It then cleared the 30 day congressional review period for DC legislation. It took effect as DC Law 26-155 on August 14, 2026. We covered the proposal when it first appeared in our earlier analysis of Bill 26-0057.
The act makes four major changes. It doubles the required liability minimums. Enhanced underinsured motorist protection becomes the default coverage. Automatic increases arrive every ten years. Finally, rental car company insurance moves from primary to secondary. Each change sounds technical. Together, however, they reshape how much money is actually available after a serious DC crash.
What Is the Minimum Car Insurance in DC Right Now?
DC still requires what lawyers call 25/50/10 coverage under DC Code § 31-2406. That means $25,000 in bodily injury liability per person, $50,000 per accident, and $10,000 for property damage. Those numbers date back to the 1980s. They have not moved since. Meanwhile, medical costs have roughly quadrupled over the same stretch.
Every DC policy also carries uninsured motorist coverage. Today that coverage sits at the same 25/50 levels, plus $5,000 for property damage. Insurers must offer personal injury protection as well. Our page on PIP coverage in DC explains how those no fault benefits work. Until your policy renews under the new law, these old numbers still control your claim.
Why the Old $25,000 Minimum Left Victims Undercompensated
Here is the practical problem. Suppose a minimally insured driver runs a red light and puts you in the hospital. Their insurer will never pay more than $25,000 for your injuries. One ambulance ride, an emergency room visit, and a few weeks of care can consume that amount. A single night in a hospital often costs more on its own. Anything beyond the limit comes from your own coverage, your health insurance, or your own pocket.
The math gets worse when a crash hurts several people. Everyone shares one $50,000 pool, so each recovery shrinks. Health insurers then claim repayment out of any settlement. As a result, a victim with $80,000 in bills and a $25,000 policy often nets very little. The at fault driver rarely has assets worth chasing. A judgment against them can take years to collect, if it collects at all.
Seriously injured victims also face pressure to delay treatment when coverage runs short. Delayed treatment slows recovery and weakens the injury claim itself. In short, the old minimums shifted the true cost of crashes onto the people least able to bear it. That is the gap the Council set out to close.
What Will the New DC Minimums Be?
Once the law applies, the required minimums double to 50/100/20. Every DC policy will need at least $50,000 in bodily injury coverage per person and $100,000 per accident. Property damage coverage rises to $20,000. Required uninsured motorist coverage climbs to the same 50/100 levels. The property damage portion of that coverage jumps from $5,000 to $20,000.
Consider what that means in real cases. The victim with $80,000 in medical bills now starts with $50,000 in available coverage instead of $25,000. Two injured passengers share $100,000 instead of $50,000. A totaled family car no longer blows past the property damage limit on day one. The new floors will still fall short in catastrophic cases. Even so, they double the starting point for most claims.
Automatic Increases Every Ten Years
The law also fixes the problem that created this gap. Minimums that sit still for 40 years fall further behind every year. Beginning on January 1, 2037, the minimums will rise automatically every ten years. Each increase adds $5,000 per person, $10,000 per accident, and $2,000 for property damage. The 2037 adjustment therefore lifts the floors to 55/110/22. The insurance commissioner must publish notice of each increase at least 12 months in advance. DC drivers will never again wait four decades for an update.
How the Doubled Limits Change Real DC Injury Claims
Higher floors change how claims actually resolve. Today, serious cases against minimum policies often end with a quick tender of $25,000. The insurer pays its limit and closes the file. The victim absorbs everything else. Under the new law, the same case starts with twice the coverage. More settlements will reflect the real harm instead of an arbitrary cap from the 1980s.
Fewer victims will need to sue the driver personally, too. Personal judgments are hard to collect. Wage garnishment takes years and often yields little. Adequate insurance resolves the claim faster and with less fighting. Passengers gain the most from the change. When two or more people share one policy, the doubled per accident limit leaves far more room for each claim.
Enhanced Underinsured Motorist Coverage Becomes the Default
The quieter change may matter even more for seriously injured victims. It concerns underinsured motorist coverage, which lawyers call UIM. This coverage steps in when the at fault driver’s policy is too small for your losses. The new law makes the stronger version of it the default on every DC policy.
How Traditional UIM Works
Traditional underinsured motorist coverage contains an offset. Whatever the at fault driver’s insurer pays comes off your own UIM limit. Say you carry $100,000 in UIM and the other insurer pays its $25,000 limit. Only $75,000 of your own coverage remains. In effect, you paid premiums for protection that shrinks exactly when you need it. Insurers could also write these policies with terms that block stacking of coverage.
How Enhanced UIM Changes the Math
Enhanced UIM works differently. Your full UIM limit sits on top of the liability recovery. You lose nothing for what the at fault insurer paid. In the same example, you would collect the $25,000 liability limit plus up to $100,000 more from your own policy. Total available coverage: $125,000 instead of $100,000. For a spinal injury or brain injury case, that difference can fund a year of rehabilitation. The amount of enhanced UIM on a policy can equal, but not exceed, the uninsured motorist coverage on that policy.
The New Waiver Rules
Under the new law, insurers must include enhanced UIM on every DC policy unless the named insured waives it. The waiver must be affirmative and in writing, on a form the insurance commissioner approves. Before you sign, the insurer must explain the nature, benefit, and cost of what you are giving up. If you never sign a waiver, you keep the coverage. Insurers can no longer quietly leave it off the policy. They also cannot refuse to insure you because you decline to waive it. Your election carries forward automatically at each renewal unless you change it in writing. The law also bans policy clauses that push UIM disputes into binding arbitration.
Maryland adopted a similar enhanced option several years ago. The Maryland Insurance Administration’s consumer advisory explains the difference in plain language. The combination should help anyone hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver in DC. Doubled liability minimums plus default enhanced UIM improve recovery prospects in serious injury cases.
Rental Car Insurance Moves From Primary to Secondary
The act also changes who pays first when a rented vehicle causes a crash. For a rental under a written agreement, the renter’s own auto insurance now pays first. The rental company’s coverage becomes secondary unless the company agrees in writing to stay primary. That reverses the old DC rule, which put the rental company’s coverage first. The change aligns DC with the approach most states already follow under federal law.
Rental companies must still carry the insurance District law requires. The change does not shield a rental company from its own negligence, either. Renting out a car with bad brakes remains its problem. If a driver in a rental car injures you, insurer priority becomes an early and important question. Claims adjusters sometimes point at each other while the medical bills pile up. That is one more reason these claims benefit from early legal review. Renters should also check how their own policy treats rental vehicles before declining coverage at the counter.
When Does the New DC Car Insurance Law Take Effect?
Here is where drivers need to pay close attention. The statute is already law. By its own terms, though, it applies as of October 1, 2027. The new minimums and the enhanced UIM default reach each driver at policy issuance or renewal starting that month. Your first renewal after that date triggers the new requirements. At that point, your insurer must present enhanced UIM and the waiver options on the required form.
The Gap Period Before October 2027
That timeline creates a gap period of more than a year. A crash before your renewal still falls under the old 25/50/10 framework. A minimally insured driver who hurts someone in early 2027 leaves that victim facing the old shortfall. The Council has already voted to fix the problem. The fix simply has not reached the road yet. Because policies renew on rolling dates, some drivers will not see the new limits until well into 2028.
What should you do during the gap? First, find your renewal date on your declarations page. Then decide whether to raise your limits before the law reaches you. Insurers will generally let you increase UM and UIM coverage mid term. A short call today can close the same gap the Council spent a year and a half closing by statute.
Why You Should Review Your UM/UIM Coverage Now
Because of that gap, waiting until October 2027 is a mistake. The new DC car insurance law will not protect you until your policy renews under it. Nothing stops you from raising your own uninsured and underinsured motorist limits today. UM and UIM coverage is usually among the cheapest protection on your policy. It protects you and your passengers when the at fault driver carries the bare minimum or nothing at all. It also protects you when a driver flees the scene in a hit and run. You cannot control what coverage the other driver buys. You can control what protection your own family carries.
Pull out your declarations page this week. Ask your insurer three questions. What are my current UM and UIM limits? How much would higher limits cost? And what will enhanced UIM cost at my next renewal? That 15 minute exercise can change the outcome of the worst day of your life. Our guide on what to do after a car accident in DC covers how these questions surface early in a claim.
Will DC Car Insurance Premiums Go Up?
Premiums drew most of the debate over the new DC car insurance law. The Consumer Federation of America opposed the measure, warning that higher required limits would raise costs for drivers who carry the minimum. Supporters answered that crash victims currently absorb those costs through unpaid bills. Drivers who already carry more than 50/100/20 should see little change from the new floors.
The Council built a check into the law as well. The Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking must study the law’s impact on premiums, on out of pocket costs, and on the number of uninsured drivers. An interim report is due to the Council by the end of 2030. A final report with recommendations follows by the end of 2032. In other words, the District will measure whether the modernization worked as intended.
Does the New Law Change Anything in Maryland?
No. The act applies to DC policies, meaning vehicles registered or principally garaged in the District. Maryland’s minimums remain $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, and $15,000 in property damage, per the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. Maryland drivers already choose between traditional and enhanced UIM. Our Maryland car accident attorneys handle underinsured motorist claims in Maryland every week. That single coverage choice often decides how much of the harm the policy covers. Many of our clients live in one jurisdiction and crash in the other. Which rules apply is often the first question in the case.
Quick Answers About the New DC Car Insurance Law
Is the new DC car insurance law in effect now? Yes and no. It became law on August 14, 2026. Its coverage requirements, however, apply to policies issued or renewed on or after October 1, 2027.
Do I need to do anything? Not legally. Your insurer will apply the new minimums at renewal. Still, we recommend reviewing your UM and UIM limits now rather than waiting.
What if I already carry high limits? The new floors will not change your liability coverage. Watch for the enhanced UIM election at renewal, though. It is a meaningful upgrade, and you keep it unless you waive it in writing.
Does the law help me if my crash happened before my renewal? No. Your claim runs under the coverage in place on the crash date. A lawyer can walk you through the options that exist under the old framework.
Questions About the New DC Car Insurance Law? Talk to Us
Gelb & Gelb has represented injured people in Washington, DC and Maryland since 1954. Coverage questions sit at the center of nearly every serious car accident case we handle. Maybe a crash injured you and you want to know what insurance applies. Maybe you want a second opinion on your UM and UIM limits before the new law reaches your policy. Either way, contact us or call (202) 331-7227 for a free case consultation.
About the author: Brian A. Gelb is an Associate Attorney at Gelb & Gelb, P.C. He holds law licenses in Washington, DC, Maryland, and South Carolina.
This article is general information about DC law, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Gelb & Gelb, P.C. Statutes, case law, and insurance practices change, and every claim turns on its own facts. No particular outcome is promised or guaranteed. Our attorneys practice in the District of Columbia, and individual attorneys hold additional licenses in other jurisdictions. We do not seek clients in any jurisdiction where this article would not comply with local rules. If a crash injured you, talk with a licensed attorney about your own situation. Attorney advertising.
