Being in a car accident, even if you’re lucky enough to escape without injury, still stinks — especially if it isn’t your fault. But what’s even worse than the inconvenience and the hassle factor is the reality that, in many states, you might not be completely covered by insurance, even if you’re a responsible driver who carries insurance.
That’s because there’s often a gap between the minimum states require drivers to carry and the amount that would be necessary to cover the cost of an accident, especially if anyone in your car is injured. Even something as minor as taking an ambulance ride to the hospital to get checked out can run into the hundreds of dollars, and costs obviously escalate depending on the severity of any injuries.
Personal finance website WalletHub.com just put together a ranking of the financial risk you face when you get behind the wheel, analyzing all 50 states and the District of Columbia to find out the legal minimum of insurance coverage drivers must carry as well as how many drivers in that state don’t bother to get insurance.
In short, stay out of of Florida and Oklahoma. Florida’s insurance requirements are lower than most other states, and 24% of drivers on the roads there are cruising around without insurance (which, yes, is illegal). In Oklahoma, requirements aren’t as low, but a whopping 26% of drivers don’t bother buying insurance. In Tennessee, Michigan, New Mexico and Mississippi, more than one in five drivers have no insurance.
