Washington Auto Coverage: Minimums, Offers and Rejections

Washington Auto Coverage: Minimums, Offers and Rejections

Washington only. Based on Washington statutes and rules checked November 2026. Other states use different rules. This lesson is for exam preparation, not advice about your own policy.

The Big Idea

Washington auto law sets two different kinds of rules, and exam questions often mix them up:

• Rules for the driver: you must carry at least a minimum amount of liability insurance, or use an allowed alternative.
• Rules for the insurer: the insurer must put certain coverages in front of you. You can still turn them down in writing.

So "the law requires it" can mean "you must have it" or "the insurer must offer it." By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• State Washington's minimum liability limits and what each number covers.
• Tell a required purchase apart from a required offer.
• Identify who may reject PIP and who may reject UIM, including when a spouse counts.
• Compare the minimum and increased PIP benefit amounts, and explain why a category's limit doesn't tell you what will actually be paid.

Three Coverages in Plain English

A limit is the most a policy will pay for a stated kind of loss. It is a ceiling, not a promised amount.

Liability coverage pays other people when you are legally responsible for their injuries or their damaged property. It protects the people you harm.

Personal injury protection (PIP) pays certain accident-related costs and losses for people insured under the policy, up to stated limits. The benefit categories are medical and hospital costs, a funeral expense, income continuation, and loss of services. PIP pays only the actual loss or expense, never more, and the law lists situations where an insurer doesn't have to provide it, such as intentional self-injury or organized racing.

Underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) protects people insured under your policy when someone else is legally responsible for the harm and can't fully pay. The other driver may have no liability insurance at all, or limits lower than the damages your insured person is legally entitled to recover. Washington's UIM also reaches hit-and-run vehicles and certain "phantom" vehicles, meaning vehicles that cause an accident without touching you or your vehicle. Those claims have extra conditions that this lesson doesn't cover. UIM also has exceptions and policy terms, so it doesn't pay in every situation.

Liability Minimums: 25/50/10

A Washington driver must be insured under a liability policy with at least these limits for one accident. These amounts do not count interest and court costs.

• $25,000 for bodily injury or death of one person
• $50,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more people. Each person is still capped at $25,000.
• $10,000 for damage to other people's property

The shorthand is 25/50/10. These are floors. A 100/300/50 policy is fine because every number is at or above the minimum.

A policy is not the only way to comply. The law also allows self-insurance, a certificate of deposit, or a liability bond, each under its own statute. Some vehicles are outside this requirement, including mopeds, motor-driven cycles, wheeled all-terrain vehicles and certain commercial carriers. Know that these alternatives and exceptions exist. Don't assume details the statute doesn't state.

Tempting mistake: checking only the first number. A 25/40/10 policy meets the per-person floor but fails the two-or-more-people floor.

Checkpoint 1

Which of these meets Washington's liability minimum: 30/60/5, 25/50/10, or 20/60/10?

Answer: Only 25/50/10

25/50/10 meets every floor exactly. 30/60/5 fails because property damage is below $10,000. 20/60/10 fails because the per-person limit is below $25,000. Every number must meet its own floor. A high number in one place doesn't make up for a low number in another.

Offered Is Not the Same as Required

Compare what each rule actually demands.

• Liability: the driver must have it, or an allowed alternative.
• PIP: an insurer may not issue or renew an auto liability policy unless PIP is offered as an optional coverage. The insurer must offer it. The buyer may decline it.
• UIM: for a vehicle registered or mainly garaged in Washington, the insurer must provide UIM in the liability policy or a supplement to it. For injury and death, the UIM amount must equal the policy's liability limits, unless the insured rejects all or part of it. UIM is the default, and the buyer may still decline it.

The key question is: who carries the duty? For PIP and UIM, the insurer carries the duty. The customer keeps a choice.

Who Can Reject?

Start with two terms.

The declarations page is the part of the policy that lists who and what is insured, and the limits.

A named insured, in Washington's auto insurance chapter, is the individual named in the declarations plus that person's spouse, if the spouse lives in the same household. So a spouse can be a named insured even when the declarations page shows only one name.

A named insured is different from someone who is merely covered. For PIP, the covered "insured" people include household relatives and passengers using the insured car with permission. Being covered does not give someone the power to reject coverage.

PIP: a named insured may reject it in writing. That rejection applies to every level of PIP and to everyone who would have been covered. The insurer doesn't have to add PIP back at renewal or replacement unless a named insured later asks for it in writing.

UIM: a named insured or spouse may reject it in writing. Once it is rejected, UIM stays off later renewal or supplemental policies unless a named insured or spouse asks for it in writing. A Washington rule requires the UIM rejection form to include a set warning statement, in bold, above the signature area. The UIM statute also has narrow exceptions about when a written rejection is needed. One concerns renewals and one concerns choosing a lower property-damage amount. Those exceptions are outside this lesson, so don't extend them to other situations.

The two statutes use different words, but because "named insured" already includes a spouse living in the same household, a resident spouse may reject either coverage in writing.

Memory aid: Read the definition, not just the declarations page.

Worked Scenario: The Kowalczyk Household

Rae Kowalczyk is the only person listed on the declarations page of a new Washington auto policy. Rae's spouse, Jordan, lives in the same household. Rae's adult brother, Tomas, also lives with them. Their application shows:

• Liability at 25/50/10
• PIP offered at the minimum limits
• UIM included at 25/50 for injury and death

Step 1: Does the liability meet the minimum? Yes. 25/50/10 meets each floor.

Step 2: Jordan signs a written rejection of PIP. Only a named insured may reject PIP. Jordan isn't listed, but Jordan is Rae's spouse and lives in the same household, so the definition makes Jordan a named insured. Jordan has authority to reject PIP.

Step 3: Jordan signs a written rejection of UIM. A named insured or spouse may reject UIM, so Jordan has that authority too. The form must still meet the written requirements.

Change one fact: suppose Tomas signs both rejections instead. Tomas is a household relative, so he may be covered under PIP. But he isn't the person named in the declarations and isn't Rae's spouse. He is not a named insured, and he isn't a spouse for UIM purposes, so his signature doesn't fit either rejection rule.

The signer's relationship to the named person decides authority, not whether the signer happens to be listed or covered.

Checkpoint 2

A customer says, "My agent offered PIP, so Washington law says I must buy it." Is that right?

Answer: No

The law requires the insurer to offer PIP as optional coverage. A named insured may reject it in writing. The customer has mixed up the insurer's duty to offer with a duty to buy. Liability, or an allowed alternative, is what a driver must carry.

Checkpoint 3

Sam is the only person listed on the declarations page. Sam's spouse, Lee, and Sam's parent, Pat, both live in Sam's household. Who could sign a written rejection of PIP? Who could sign a written rejection of UIM?

Answer: Sam or Lee for both; not Pat

Sam is named in the declarations. Lee is Sam's spouse living in the same household, so Lee is also a named insured and may reject PIP. Lee is also a spouse, so Lee may reject UIM. Pat is a household relative who may be covered, but Pat is neither a named insured nor a spouse, so Pat can't reject either one. The tempting mistake is to treat "not listed on the declarations page" as "not a named insured."

Minimum vs. Increased PIP

Insurers must offer minimum PIP. If a named insured asks, they must also offer increased PIP. Insurers may offer other limits as well. Both sets of limits apply for each insured person.

What each category pays for

• Medical and hospital: reasonable and necessary health care costs from the accident, from licensed providers. This includes items such as prescriptions, prosthetic devices, eyeglasses, ambulance and hospital care.
• Funeral expense: a benefit toward funeral costs.
• Income continuation: replaces lost income from work when the insured person is hurt in an auto accident, minus any income the person still earns during the payment period.
• Loss of services: repays the injured person for paying someone outside the household to do household work the injured person normally did for free. For example, if the injured person usually did the household's cleaning and now pays a cleaning service, that cost fits this category. The work must actually be done.

Medical, income and services benefits also have time limits that this lesson doesn't cover.

The limits

Minimum PIP

• Medical and hospital: $10,000
• Funeral expense: $2,000
• Income continuation: $10,000, at most $200 per week
• Loss of services: $5,000, at most $200 per week

Increased PIP, if requested

• Medical and hospital: $35,000
• Funeral expense: $2,000, the same as minimum
• Income continuation: $35,000, at most $700 per week
• Loss of services: $14,600. The increased-PIP section states no weekly limit for this category.

These are separate categories, not one shared pool. Money left unused in one category cannot pay for a different kind of loss.

Worked example (minimum PIP): an insured person has $13,000 in covered medical bills and no funeral expense. The medical category tops out at $10,000. The unused $2,000 funeral benefit cannot cover the remaining $3,000, because it belongs to a different category.

Change one fact: the same person has increased PIP. The $13,000 fits within the $35,000 medical category.

Limits inside the categories

The category totals and weekly caps above aren't the only limits. Two definitions add more:

• Income: the 85% rule. The combined weekly payments a person receives from PIP, workers' compensation, disability insurance and other income-replacement benefits can't exceed 85% of that person's weekly income from work. So the $200 or $700 weekly cap is the most the PIP category allows, not what the person will receive. Actual payment depends on the actual lost income, any income still earned, and other benefits.
• Services: $40 per day. Loss of services pays at most $40 per day. This applies to both minimum and increased PIP. "No weekly limit" in the increased-PIP section doesn't mean no limit: the $40 daily maximum still applies. Minimum PIP has both the $40 daily maximum and the $200 weekly cap, and a payment has to fit within each.

Checkpoint 4

Alex has minimum PIP. Blair has increased PIP. Each is hurt in a covered accident and loses $450 of work income per week. What weekly cap does each person's income category have? Can you tell from those caps exactly how much Blair will receive each week?

Answer: $200 and $700; no

Alex's income category is capped at $200 per week, and Blair's at $700 per week. But the cap alone doesn't tell you Blair's payment. Actual payment depends on income Blair still earns, the 85% limit on combined weekly benefits from PIP and sources like workers' compensation or disability insurance, and other policy and statutory conditions. Those facts aren't given, so the payment can't be calculated. A cap is a ceiling, not a payment amount.

Checkpoint 5

A study sheet says, "Increased PIP loss of services has no limit except its $14,600 total." Is that right?

Answer: No

The increased-PIP section states no weekly cap, but the definition of loss of services sets a maximum of $40 per day, and that applies to increased PIP too. The $200 weekly cap belongs only to the minimum PIP loss-of-services benefit. Don't move a weekly cap from one benefit set to the other, and don't read "no weekly cap" as "no limit."

Checkpoint 6

Morgan is injured in a covered accident and can't do the household cooking and laundry Morgan usually does. Morgan's spouse, who lives with Morgan, takes over these tasks without being paid. Does loss of services reimburse anything? What fact would have to change?

Answer: No; Morgan would need to pay someone outside the household

Loss of services repays money paid to people who are not members of the household, for work actually done. A household member doing the work unpaid doesn't fit. If Morgan instead paid an outside service to do the cooking and laundry, that cost would fit the category, still subject to the $40 daily maximum and the category's other limits.

What to Remember

• 25/50/10 is the liability floor: $25,000 per person, $50,000 for two or more people, and $10,000 for others' property. Alternatives and exceptions exist.
• PIP must be offered. UIM must be provided unless rejected. The buyer may still decline either one in writing.
• PIP: a named insured may reject it. UIM: a named insured or spouse may reject it.
• Named insured means the individual in the declarations plus a spouse living in the same household. A resident spouse can reject either coverage. A covered household relative who isn't a spouse can't.
• Minimum PIP: $10,000 medical / $2,000 funeral / $10,000 income at $200 per week / $5,000 services at $200 per week.
• Increased PIP: $35,000 medical / $2,000 funeral / $35,000 income at $700 per week / $14,600 services.
• Loss of services pays others outside the household to do the injured person's usual unpaid household work, at most $40 per day under both minimum and increased PIP.
• Caps are ceilings. Each category stands alone, PIP pays only actual loss, and combined weekly income benefits can't exceed 85% of weekly work income.

Sources

• RCW 46.29.090, Requirements as to policy or bond: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.29.090
• RCW 46.30.020, Liability insurance or other financial responsibility required: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.30.020
• RCW 48.22.005, Definitions: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.005
• RCW 48.22.030, Underinsured, hit-and-run, phantom vehicle coverage: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.030
• RCW 48.22.085, Optional PIP coverage and rejection: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.085
• RCW 48.22.090, PIP exceptions: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.090
• RCW 48.22.095, Minimum PIP coverage: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.095
• RCW 48.22.100, PIP on request by named insured: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.100
• WAC 284-20-300, Mandatory PIP offering and UIM rejection language: https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=284-20-300

All sources were checked on 2026-11-05.