Texas requires every driver to carry at least 30/60/25 in liability coverage. Those three numbers are: $30,000 for injuries to any one person, $60,000 for all injuries in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage.
They are a legal minimum, which is a different thing from an adequate one.
What $25,000 of property damage buys
Property damage liability pays for what you damage — usually the other car. New vehicle prices have moved a long way, and a mid-range SUV or a pickup will often exceed $25,000 on its own. A late-model truck can be double it.
If you total a vehicle worth more than your limit, the policy pays to the limit and stops. The rest is a claim against you personally.
Where the injury limits run out faster
The $30,000 per-person figure has to cover the emergency room, imaging, any surgery, and the follow-up care after it. A single serious injury will pass that mark without anything unusual happening.
The $60,000 per-accident ceiling matters when more than one person is hurt. Three people injured in the other car share $60,000, and it does not matter that each of them individually would have been entitled to $30,000.
Why the increase costs less than people expect
The counter-intuitive part of liability pricing is that most of the premium is in the first slice of coverage, because most claims are small. Raising limits from 30/60/25 to 100/300/100 buys a great deal more protection and usually costs far less than tripling the premium — often a modest monthly difference.
We quote both and show you the actual figures side by side, because the decision is much easier when the difference is a number rather than a hypothetical.
The one to check while you are there
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is the part people skip, and it is the part that protects you rather than the person you hit. Texas has a significant share of drivers with no coverage at all, and many more carrying exactly the minimum discussed above.
If one of them injures you, your own UM/UIM coverage is what stands between you and their limits. It is inexpensive relative to what it does. Carriers must offer it in Texas, and it can only be declined in writing — which is worth knowing, because a surprising number of people do not remember declining it.
Send us your current declarations page and we will tell you what your limits are and what raising them would actually cost.