What Are Georgia’s Minimum Car Insurance Requirements, and Why Do They Matter?
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Georgia’s minimum limits are $25,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person, $50,000 for bodily injury to or death of two or more people in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage, written as 25/50/25. The chain runs through three statutes: O.C.G.A. § 33-34-4 forbids operating a vehicle that must be registered in Georgia unless the owner has liability insurance “equivalent to that required as evidence of security for bodily injury and property damage liability” under the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act; that Act’s § 40-9-37(a) requires limits of not less than the amounts in § 33-7-11(a)(1)(A); and § 33-7-11(a)(1)(A) states them. A driver convicted of DUI on or after May 14, 2025, must carry higher limits, set out below. They matter because a serious injury can exceed them, and the injured person’s own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage is then one source for the rest.
What each number does
| Limit | Amount | What it caps |
|---|---|---|
| Bodily injury, one person | $25,000 | The most the policy pays for one person's injuries or death in one accident |
| Bodily injury, one accident | $50,000 | The most the policy pays for everyone's injuries or deaths in one accident, "subject to such limit for one person" |
| Property damage | $25,000 | The most the policy pays for "injury to or destruction of property" in one accident |
For example, imagine a driver with a 25/50/25 policy causes a crash that injures three people, with damages of $60,000, $30,000, and $10,000. The policy pays no more than $25,000 to the first person because of the per-person limit, and no more than $50,000 in all, so at least $50,000 of the $100,000 in combined damages is left for other sources. How several injured people share a limit like that is explained in dividing settlement proceeds among several people injured in one accident.
Higher minimums after a DUI conviction
Senate Bill 121 (2025) added § 33-7-16. According to the 2025 legislative summary, the act took effect May 14, 2025, and applies to convictions on or after that date. In the House Committee on Rules substitute for the bill, a person convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 grams or higher, drugs, or other intoxicating substances under § 40-6-391, or an equivalent law in another state, may not drive in Georgia without liability coverage of at least:
| Conviction | Minimum coverage |
|---|---|
| A DUI conviction | $50,000 for one person's bodily injury or death, $100,000 for all persons in one accident, $50,000 for property damage |
| A second or later DUI conviction | $100,000 for one person's bodily injury or death, $300,000 for all persons in one accident, $100,000 for property damage |
The driver must keep that coverage without interruption for three years from the date of conviction, and it takes the place of the § 33-7-11 minimum for that driver. “Conviction” includes a jury’s guilty verdict, a guilty plea, and a plea of nolo contendere. For a person injured by such a driver, the statute sets what the driver was required to carry; the policy actually in force is confirmed from its declarations page.
Why the minimums matter to the injured person
The at-fault driver’s liability policy is the first source of payment in Georgia’s at-fault system; see whether Georgia is a no-fault state. When that policy is at the minimum, the injured person’s own UM coverage is the next layer:
- Every auto liability policy issued in Georgia must include UM coverage with limits, at the insured’s option, of at least 25/50/25 (§ 33-7-11(a)(1)(A)) or equal to the insured’s own liability limits (§ 33-7-11(a)(1)(B)).
- A named insured can reject UM coverage, but only “in writing” (§ 33-7-11(a)(3)).
- By default, UM coverage pays in addition to the at-fault driver’s liability limits rather than being reduced by them; how that works, and when several policies can be combined, is explained in how UM coverage and stacking work in Georgia.
Proof of insurance in the vehicle
Section 40-6-10 requires the owner or operator of a vehicle that must carry minimum liability coverage under Chapter 34 of Title 33 to “keep proof or evidence of required minimum insurance coverage in the vehicle at all times during the operation of the vehicle”, and the proof may be paper or electronic, including a display on a mobile device. Senate Bill 121 added a parallel duty for a driver who must carry the higher DUI-conviction coverage: keep proof of that coverage while operating any motor vehicle.
Questions to ask about your own policy
- What are your liability limits, and are they above 25/50/25?
- What are your UM limits, and are they add-on or reduced-by?
- Did anyone in the household sign a written rejection of UM coverage?
- Do other household policies carry UM coverage that could be stacked?
Sources
- O.C.G.A. §§ 33-7-11, 40-6-10, 40-9-37 (text as published March 2024; § 40-6-10 was later amended by Senate Bill 121 (2025)); § 33-34-4 (text as published in October 2016 on a mirror site; no amendment recorded in the 2022 to 2026 legislative summaries).
- Senate Bill 121 (2025), House Committee on Rules substitute, LC 46 1220S, §§ 1-3; Georgia General Assembly, 2025 Summary of General Statutes Enacted (Act 287).
General information about Georgia law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.