Is $25,000 Enough? What Massachusetts' New Minimum Bodily Injury Limits Mean for Seriously Injured Accident Victims

If you have been seriously injured in a Massachusetts car accident, one of the first questions an experienced car accident attorney will ask is: how much insurance does the at-fault driver carry? The answer to that question can make an enormous difference in your ability to recover full and fair compensation for your injuries, your medical bills, your lost wages, and your pain and suffering.

With Massachusetts recently raising its minimum bodily injury liability limits for the first time in nearly four decades, many people assume that victims are now better protected. That is only partially true. While the new minimums represent a meaningful step forward, they remain woefully inadequate for anyone who has suffered serious injuries in a car crash.

Massachusetts Finally Raised Its Minimum Bodily Injury Limits — Here Is What Changed

For nearly 40 years – since 1988 – the minimum bodily injury liability coverage required of Massachusetts drivers sat at just $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident. That means if a driver with minimum coverage ran a red light and left you with a fractured spine, a traumatic brain injury, or months of surgeries and rehabilitation, the most their insurance was legally required to pay was $20,000. In today's dollars, that figure is staggeringly inadequate.

Governor Maura Healey signed a Bill into law to increase the minimum bodily injury limits, and the new minimums took effect on July 1, 2025. Under the updated law, all Massachusetts auto insurance policies issued or renewed on or after that date must carry at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in bodily injury liability coverage. The law also raised the minimum uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage to match those same limits and dramatically increased the property damage minimum from $5,000 to $30,000 per accident.

This is the most significant overhaul of Massachusetts mandatory auto insurance requirements in a generation. It reflects a long-overdue acknowledgment that rising medical costs, longer hospital stays, more expensive surgeries, and higher lost wage claims have far outpaced the old minimums. Make no mistake — this change is a step in the right direction. But for anyone seriously hurt in a car crash in Massachusetts, $25,000 per person is still a number that should give pause.

Is $25,000 Enough When You Are Seriously Injured? The Honest Answer Is No.

Consider what a serious car accident actually costs. A single emergency room visit following a moderate collision — including imaging, evaluation, and observation — can easily run $10,000 to $20,000 before you ever see a specialist. For example, we were recently hired by an accident victim who was rear-ended in Framingham. She was transported to the emergency room by ambulance. Her ambulance and emergency room bills combined were well over $20,000. Add orthopedic surgery, physical therapy, neurology consultations, pain management, prescription medications, and follow-up care, and you are looking at medical expenses that routinely reach tens of thousands or even six figures in serious injury cases. That does not even begin to account for lost income during recovery, the cost of household services you can no longer perform, or the very real and compensable pain and suffering you endure every day.

Against that backdrop, $25,000 is not a safety net – it is a floor that can be blown through in a matter of weeks. A herniated disc requiring surgical intervention, a broken femur requiring hardware, a traumatic brain injury requiring months of neurological care – these are the kinds of injuries that result in six-figure or even seven-figure damages. If the driver who caused your accident carries only the state minimum, you could be left holding the bag for a substantial portion of your losses. The worst part is that the negligent driver could be judgment proof making a personal injury lawsuit meaningless.

The minimum is also split across all injured parties in the accident, up to $50,000 total. If two people are seriously injured in the same crash caused by a minimum-coverage driver, that $50,000 cap must cover both of them – each can only recover $25,000. The math simply does not work in favor of the injured.

In Tough Economic Times, Many Drivers Carry Only the Minimum — and That Creates Risk for Everyone Else

We are living through a period of persistent financial pressure. Inflation has driven up the cost of groceries, housing, utilities, and yes, auto insurance premiums. According to reports following the July 2025 law change, the average cost of minimum-coverage auto insurance in Massachusetts increased as a result of the new limits by hundreds of dollars per year. For drivers already struggling to make ends meet, that kind of premium increase is not trivial. It can push many people toward choosing the cheapest policy legally available: the state minimum.

The reality of the Massachusetts roads is that a meaningful percentage of drivers are carrying exactly $25,000 per person in bodily injury coverage – not because they are irresponsible, but because that is what they can afford. Some are working families who view auto insurance as a necessary expense to be minimized. Others are young drivers facing already-elevated premiums. Still others are self-employed individuals or gig workers whose income is unpredictable month to month.

The problem is that when one of these drivers causes a serious accident, the financial consequences fall disproportionately on the innocent party who was injured. The at-fault driver may have no meaningful personal assets to pursue. Their $25,000 policy limit gets tendered quickly by their insurer, and if your damages are $150,000, you are left with a $125,000 gap. This is not a theoretical concern – it is a scenario that we and other personal injury attorneys across Massachusetts encounter on a regular basis.

The Single Most Important Step You Can Take: Review Your Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage Today

Here is the good news: Massachusetts law gives you the tools to protect yourself from minimum-coverage and uninsured drivers – but only if you have taken the time to purchase the right optional coverages. The two most important are Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage and Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage, and every Massachusetts driver should review their policy declarations page right now to confirm what limits they carry.

Uninsured Motorist coverage protects you when you are injured by a driver who has no insurance at all, or in a hit-and-run accident where the responsible driver cannot be identified. Massachusetts requires that every auto policy include at least the minimum UM coverage – currently $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident following the July 2025 changes. However, like the bodily injury minimum, the state minimum for UM coverage is a floor, not a ceiling. In my opinion, you can and should carry higher limits.

Underinsured Motorist coverage is what protects you when the at-fault driver has some insurance, but not enough to cover your actual damages. This is the coverage that becomes critical when a minimum-coverage driver causes you a serious injury. Here is how it works in practice: suppose you are seriously hurt in a car accident in Boston or Worcester and suffer injuries worth $200,000 in total damages. The at-fault driver has the state minimum – $25,000 per person. Their insurer pays that $25,000 to you. If you carry $100,000 in UIM coverage, you can then seek additional compensation from your own insurer up to an additional $75,000, bringing your total recovery closer to your actual loss. The $25,000 collected from the at-fault driver is offset against your UIM limit, but you are still far better positioned than a victim with no UIM coverage at all.

Critically, you are buying UM and UIM coverage to protect yourself and your family – not someone else. When you file a UM or UIM claim, you are making a claim against your own insurance policy. This is coverage you pay for, and it is there precisely for situations like these.

How Much UM/UIM Coverage Should You Carry?

Insurance professionals and personal injury attorneys generally recommend carrying UM and UIM limits that match or exceed your bodily injury liability limits. If you carry $100,000/$300,000 in bodily injury coverage — which is a common and sensible choice — you should strongly consider carrying the same limits for UM and UIM. Some carriers offer combined single limits, which can offer even broader protection.

In my opinion, at an absolute minimum, consider increasing your UM and UIM limits to $100,000 per person. The cost difference between the state minimum and $100,000 in UM/UIM coverage is often surprisingly modest — frequently just a few hundred dollars per year. For added protection, I recommend considering UM and UIM limits of $250,000 per person / $500,000 per accident. Given that a single serious injury accident can produce damages well into the six-figure range, that premium difference is an exceptional investment in your own financial security.

For drivers with significant assets, income, or family obligations, umbrella policies — which typically start at $1 million in additional liability and may include UM/UIM enhancements depending on the carrier and endorsement — are worth discussing with your insurance broker.

What to Do If You Were Seriously Injured by a Minimum-Coverage Driver

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Massachusetts car accident and you are concerned that the at-fault driver's insurance will not cover your losses, you need an experienced personal injury attorney in your corner immediately. The analysis of available insurance coverage — including the at-fault driver's BI limits, your own UM and UIM coverage, any household vehicle policies, and potential umbrella coverage — is one of the most important early steps in a serious injury case.

Our Framingham car accident lawyers handle Massachusetts car accidents with a clear focus on maximizing the recovery available to our clients across all applicable insurance policies. We evaluate every potential source of coverage from day one and work aggressively to ensure that minimum-limit cases do not result in minimum recoveries. If you have been hurt in a Massachusetts car accident, contact us today for a free consultation. There is no fee unless we recover for you.