Illinois Does Not Require Personal Injury Protection
Illinois does not require Personal Injury Protection coverage, and most carriers licensed in the state do not offer it. If you are insuring two or more vehicles and researching state requirements, you will not find PIP on the mandatory coverage list. The confusion often arises because other states mandate PIP, and households moving to Illinois or comparing policies across state lines assume Illinois follows the same structure.
Illinois replaced PIP with a different mandatory coverage: uninsured motorist protection. Every auto policy in Illinois must include uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage at minimum limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. This is the coverage that pays your medical bills and lost wages when an uninsured driver hits you. PIP, by contrast, pays your own medical expenses regardless of fault. Illinois chose the uninsured motorist model instead.
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Get Your Free QuoteIllinois Uninsured Motorist Minimum
$25,000 / $50,000
Illinois law requires every auto policy to include uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage at these minimum limits. This is the mandatory coverage that replaces PIP in Illinois, paying your medical bills when an uninsured driver causes the crash.
Illinois Department of Insurance
What Illinois Requires for Every Vehicle on Your Policy
Illinois requires three mandatory coverages on every auto policy, regardless of how many vehicles you insure. Bodily injury liability at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident pays the other driver's medical bills when you cause a crash. Property damage liability at $20,000 per accident pays for damage to the other driver's car or property. Uninsured motorist bodily injury at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident pays your medical bills when an uninsured driver hits you.
These minimums apply to the policy, not per vehicle. A household insuring three cars on one policy carries the same minimum liability and uninsured motorist limits as a household insuring one car. Adding a second or third vehicle to your policy does not multiply the minimum coverage requirement, but it does re-rate the policy based on the additional exposure. The multi-car discount typically offsets part of that increase.
Illinois does not require collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, or medical payments coverage. Those are optional. If you finance or lease any vehicle on your policy, your lender will require collision and comprehensive, but the state does not mandate them.
Illinois mandates uninsured motorist coverage, not PIP. If a carrier or agent mentions PIP as required, they are describing another state's rules.
Why Illinois Chose Uninsured Motorist Over PIP
PIP is a no-fault coverage. In states that require it, PIP pays your medical bills and lost wages after a crash regardless of who caused it, up to the policy limit. The trade-off is that drivers in PIP states often give up the right to sue for pain and suffering unless injuries exceed a threshold. Illinois rejected that model. The state operates under a fault-based system: the driver who causes the crash is liable for the other driver's injuries and property damage.
Illinois addressed the uninsured driver problem directly by mandating uninsured motorist coverage. With 15.2% of Illinois motorists driving without insurance as of 2023, the state requires every policy to include protection against uninsured drivers. That coverage pays your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering when an uninsured driver hits you and cannot pay. It functions as a safety net in a fault-based state, not as a replacement for liability.
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Medical Payments Coverage as an Optional PIP Alternative
Some Illinois carriers offer medical payments coverage, often called MedPay, as an optional add-on. MedPay pays your medical bills after a crash regardless of fault, similar to PIP, but with narrower scope. It covers medical expenses only, not lost wages or other economic losses that PIP typically includes.
MedPay can fill a gap for households with high-deductible health insurance or no health coverage. MedPay pays immediately, regardless of fault, up to the policy limit. For a household insuring multiple vehicles, adding MedPay to the policy typically costs less than adding it per vehicle on separate policies.
MedPay is optional. Illinois does not require it, and not every carrier offers it. If you want immediate medical expense coverage without waiting for fault determination, ask your carrier whether MedPay is available and compare the cost across the carriers writing your household's vehicles.
Illinois Uninsured Motorist Rate
15.2%
As of 2023, 15.2% of Illinois motorists drive without insurance. This is why the state mandates uninsured motorist coverage on every policy rather than relying on PIP. Your uninsured motorist coverage protects you when one of those drivers causes a crash.
Insurance Information Institute, 2023
How Uninsured Motorist Coverage Works Across Multiple Vehicles
Uninsured motorist coverage on a multi-car policy applies per accident, not per vehicle. If an uninsured driver hits your car and injures you and a passenger, your uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage pays up to the per-person limit for each injured person, subject to the per-accident cap. The $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident minimums are the floor. You can buy higher limits, and many households insuring multiple vehicles choose uninsured motorist limits that match their liability limits.
Stacking is not available in Illinois. Some states allow you to stack uninsured motorist coverage across multiple vehicles on the same policy, multiplying the per-accident limit by the number of cars. Illinois does not permit stacking. Your uninsured motorist limit is the limit, regardless of how many vehicles sit on the policy. If you want higher protection, buy higher per-person and per-accident limits when you structure the policy.
Compare Carriers Writing Illinois Multi-Car Policies
Illinois licenses 38 carriers that write auto insurance for households insuring multiple vehicles. Not all offer the same optional coverages. If you want MedPay or higher uninsured motorist limits, confirm availability before committing to a carrier. Carriers writing in Illinois include State Farm, GEICO, Progressive, Allstate, Country Financial, and others with multi-car discount programs.
The multi-car discount applies when every vehicle sits on the same policy. Combining two separate policies after a move or marriage typically qualifies, but a vehicle titled to someone outside the household may not. Compare carriers that write your household's vehicles and confirm the discount applies to your specific structure. Use the site's comparison tool to see which carriers write multi-car policies in Illinois and request quotes that reflect your actual vehicle count and coverage selections.