Why Ohio's 25/50/25 Minimum Auto Insurance Limits Are Not Enough in 2022

Published January 5, 2022 · Injury Law Basics

Every January, people make resolutions about their health and their budgets. Here is one that takes ten minutes and may matter more than either: pull out your auto insurance declarations page and look at your limits. If the numbers say 25/50/25, the policy satisfies Ohio law, and it will almost certainly fail you, or the person you hurt, after a serious crash.

I see minimum-limits policies cap injury recoveries all the time. The injured person did nothing wrong, the at-fault driver admits fault, and the case still ends at $25,000 because that is all the insurance there is. This post explains what Ohio's minimums are, why they are so low compared with the real cost of an injury, and what you can buy to protect your own family.

What "25/50/25" means

Ohio requires every owner's auto liability policy to cover at least:

• $25,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in any one crash;
• $50,000 for bodily injury to or death of two or more people in any one crash; and
• $25,000 for damage to other people's property in any one crash.

Those figures come from R.C. 4509.51(B), and the same amounts define "proof of financial responsibility" under Ohio's financial-responsibility law, R.C. 4509.01. They were last raised in December 2013, when the state raised them from $12,500 / $25,000 / $7,500. We wrote about that change in our 2013 post on the increase, and we said then what is still true now: doubling a very small number still leaves a small number.

Two features of these limits surprise people. First, the "per person" cap applies no matter how badly that one person is hurt. Second, the "per accident" cap is shared. If the at-fault driver injures three people in your family, the $50,000 gets divided among all of you.

What $25,000 actually buys after a serious crash

Think about the first week after a bad collision. An ambulance ride. An emergency-room workup with CT scans. An orthopedic consult. If there is a fracture that needs plates and screws, an operating room, an anesthesiologist, and a hospital stay. Then follow-up visits, physical therapy, and weeks or months away from work.

You do not need a statistic to see the problem. A single surgery can exceed $25,000 on its own, before anyone counts lost wages, future treatment, or the pain and disruption a person lives with. Once the at-fault driver's $25,000 is paid, that policy is finished. The insurer has no obligation to pay a dollar more, no matter how strong your case is.

In theory, you can sue the driver personally for the rest. In practice, a driver who carries only the legal minimum rarely has assets that can be collected. A judgment against someone with no money is a piece of paper.

The coverage that protects you: UM and UIM

The answer is not in the other driver's policy. It is in yours.

Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage pays you, up to your own limit, when the driver who hurt you has no liability insurance at all, or in a hit-and-run.

Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage pays you when the at-fault driver has insurance but not enough. Under R.C. 3937.18, your UIM coverage is reduced by the amount available from the at-fault driver's liability policy, so it fills the gap above that policy up to your own limit. That math catches many people off guard. If you carry $25,000 in UIM and the other driver carries $25,000 in liability, your UIM adds nothing. We walked through several examples in our post on the UIM "setoff".

Here is the part every Ohio driver needs to understand: Ohio does not require insurers to sell you UM/UIM coverage, and Ohio does not require you to buy it. Under R.C. 3937.18, an insurer may offer it, but it is optional. If you did not choose it, or if someone checked a box rejecting it years ago to lower the premium, you may not have it. Our UM/UIM claims page explains how these claims work once you need them.

A practical insurance checkup for 2022

Here is what I would ask a friend to do this month:

1. Find your declarations page. It is the one- or two-page summary at the front of your policy, or in your insurer's app. Our guide chapter on using your own insurance explains each line on it.
2. Raise your liability limits. Your liability coverage protects your savings and your home if you cause a crash. Minimum limits leave you personally exposed.
3. Match your UM/UIM limits to your liability limits. Ask your agent to quote UM/UIM at the same level as your liability coverage. The cost difference is often modest compared with the protection it buys.
4. Ask about an umbrella policy. An umbrella sits above your auto and homeowner's policies and adds a large layer of coverage. Ask whether it can include UM/UIM coverage; not every umbrella does.
5. Look at MedPay. Medical payments coverage pays crash-related medical bills for you and your passengers regardless of fault. It is usually inexpensive and helps while the liability claim is pending.
6. List every vehicle and every driver. Policies can exclude coverage for a household vehicle you own but did not list. Tell your agent about every car, truck, and motorcycle in the house.
7. Get answers in writing. If your agent tells you that you have a coverage, ask for the policy language that says so.

If you have already been hurt

If you were injured by a driver who carries only the minimum, do not assume $25,000 is the end of the road. Before accepting any offer, we look for every other source of recovery: your own UIM and MedPay, a household family member's policy that may cover you, the policy on the car you were riding in, an employer's commercial policy if the at-fault driver was working, and any umbrella coverage. Finding all of it is much of what separates a fair recovery from a frustrating one.

There is also a sequence problem. Most policies require you to notify your own insurer and get its consent before you accept the at-fault driver's limits and sign a release. Signing first can jeopardize your UIM claim. That is a mistake that is easy to make and hard to undo.

What this means for you

Ohio's 25/50/25 minimums protect almost no one who is seriously hurt. Your best protection is coverage you buy for yourself: higher liability limits, matching UM/UIM, MedPay, and possibly an umbrella. If you have already been injured by an underinsured driver, the order in which claims are presented matters, and an experienced Dayton car accident lawyer can make sure your own coverage is preserved.