What 100/300 Means on a Car Insurance Policy (and What It Leaves Out)

100/300 is shorthand for the liability limits on a car insurance policy. It means the insurer will pay up to $100,000 for injuries to any single person you hurt in a crash, and up to $300,000 in total for everyone injured in that same crash. If a third number appears, as in 100/300/100, it is the property damage limit: the most the policy will pay for other people's vehicles and property that you damage. The notation is standard across the industry. The Texas Department of Insurance uses it for the state's own minimum, which it describes as 30/60/25 coverage.

Reading the three numbers

• The first number is bodily injury liability per person, in thousands of dollars. On a 100/300 policy, any one injured person can collect up to $100,000.
• The second number is bodily injury liability per accident. However many people are hurt, the policy pays no more than $300,000 in total for their injuries.
• The third number, when it is shown, is property damage liability per accident. It covers the other driver's car, fences, buildings, and anything else you damage.

These are ceilings for each accident, not pools that refill. If three people are badly hurt and their claims add up to more than $300,000, the policy stops at $300,000, and the remainder can be pursued from you personally. That is the most important thing the notation hides. The numbers mark the end of the insurer's obligation, not the end of yours.

Why the notation exists: state minimums

Every state that requires liability coverage writes its floor in this same format. Texas law requires at least $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 in total per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, which is 30/60/25 in the Texas Department of Insurance's own words. New York's registration requirements work out to 25/50 for bodily injury plus $10,000 for property damage per crash. Washington's insurance regulator notes that the legislature made liability coverage mandatory for all motor vehicles precisely because drivers without it shift their risk onto everyone else. A 100/300 policy carries several times any state's required minimum, which is why insurers and agents describe it as a meaningful upgrade rather than a luxury.

How the per-person and per-accident caps work together

The two bodily injury numbers operate as a pair, and the smaller one binds first. On a 100/300 policy, a single catastrophically injured person can collect at most $100,000 from your insurer, the per-person cap, even though the per-accident limit is three times that. The full $300,000 only comes into play when several people are hurt: each is capped at $100,000, and the accident as a whole is capped at $300,000.

This is why two policies with the same per-accident figure can behave very differently. A single serious injury, which is the most common catastrophic case, is governed almost entirely by the first number. When you read your own policy or a renewal offer, give the per-person figure at least as much attention as the per-accident one.

What 100/300 does not cover

Liability limits pay other people. They do not repair your own car. That takes collision and comprehensive, the pair usually sold together as full coverage. They do not pay your own medical bills either; that job belongs to medical payments coverage or personal injury protection, depending on your state. And they do nothing when an uninsured driver hits you. For that, the NAIC points to uninsured motorist coverage, which pays if you are injured by a hit-and-run driver or by a driver who carries no insurance. A 100/300 policy with nothing added to it is still a liability-only policy.

Is 100/300 worth paying for?

The honest answer depends on what you stand to lose. Liability limits exist to stand between an injured person's claim and your savings, your home equity, and your future wages. Drivers with little income and few assets sometimes reasonably carry less. Drivers with either usually buy 100/300 to protect what they own, not for the other driver's benefit. Matching your liability limits to your net worth is a cleaner way to frame the decision than any single magic number.

If the premium rather than the limit is the constraint, ask your current insurer and one or two others what the same limits would cost before you trade coverage for price. And if money is genuinely tight, check whether you qualify for low-income car insurance programs before dropping to a bare minimum policy.

Unsure whether 100/300 is the right size for your situation? Lanewise Auto offers plain-English guidance on limits and coverage. Tell us what you want help with, call (888) 905-2130, or email contact@lanewiseauto.com, and we will walk you through it. Nothing to buy, no obligation.

Bottom line: 100/300 means $100,000 per injured person and $300,000 per accident in bodily injury liability, ceilings on what your insurer pays other people on your behalf. The numbers say nothing about your own car, your own injuries, or uninsured drivers. Read them as the size of the shield between an accident and your assets, and size that shield to what it is protecting.