Maryland Requires Uninsured Motorist Coverage on Every Policy
You're structuring coverage for your household's vehicles in Maryland and you've hit the uninsured motorist section of the quote form. The carrier is asking you to select limits for UM and then separately for UIM, and you're not sure whether both are required or if one is optional. Maryland law requires uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage on every auto policy issued in the state. You cannot reject it. Underinsured motorist coverage is offered but optional: you can reject UIM in writing, but UM stays on the policy.
This structure is different from most states. Maryland splits uninsured motorist protection into two separate products with independent limits. UM covers you when the at-fault driver has no insurance. UIM covers you when the at-fault driver's liability limit is lower than your damages. Most states bundle these into one product; Maryland does not. That split creates a coverage gap when households reject UIM without understanding what they're giving up.
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Get Your Free QuoteMaryland Uninsured Motorist Rate
16.9%
Nearly one in six drivers on Maryland roads carries no liability insurance. When an uninsured driver causes a crash, your UM coverage pays your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering up to the limit you selected.
Insurance Research Council, 2023
What Uninsured Motorist Coverage Actually Pays
Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage pays your medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering when an at-fault driver has no liability insurance. It also covers you in hit-and-run crashes where the at-fault driver is never identified. UM does not pay for vehicle damage in Maryland: that's handled by collision coverage or by the at-fault driver's property damage liability if they have it.
Maryland's UM requirement applies to bodily injury only. The state does not mandate uninsured motorist property damage coverage, and most carriers do not offer it as a standalone product. If an uninsured driver totals your car, you file a collision claim on your own policy or pursue the at-fault driver directly in court. UM covers people, not vehicles.
Your UM limit applies per person and per accident, mirroring the structure of liability coverage. If you select $30,000/$60,000 UM limits, the policy pays up to $30,000 for any one person's injuries and up to $60,000 total for all injuries in a single crash. When your household insures multiple vehicles on one policy, the UM limit you select applies to every vehicle and every covered person on that policy.
Maryland splits UM and UIM into separate products. Rejecting UIM leaves you unprotected when the at-fault driver's liability limit is too low to cover your damages.
How Maryland Structures UM and UIM as Separate Products
Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory. The carrier must offer UM limits equal to your liability limits, and you cannot reject it. If you carry $30,000/$60,000 liability, the carrier offers $30,000/$60,000 UM by default. You can select a higher UM limit, but you cannot go lower than the state minimum liability requirement of $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. Underinsured motorist coverage is optional. The carrier offers UIM limits equal to your UM limits, but you can reject UIM in writing. Many households do, often without understanding the gap that rejection creates.
The gap appears when the at-fault driver has liability insurance, but their limit is lower than your damages. UM does not cover this scenario because the at-fault driver is insured. UIM is the only product that fills the underinsured gap, and it's the product most households reject to lower the premium.
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How UM and UIM Apply Across a Multi-Car Policy
When you insure multiple vehicles on one Maryland policy, the UM and UIM limits you select apply to every vehicle and every person covered by that policy. The limit does not multiply by the number of vehicles. It's one shared limit across the entire policy.
This structure matters when you're deciding whether to keep or reject UIM. A household with multiple vehicles typically has higher total exposure: more drivers, more trips, more opportunities for a crash with an underinsured driver. Rejecting UIM to save a few dollars per month on each vehicle leaves every person on the policy unprotected in the underinsured scenario. The savings are small; the gap is large. Most multi-car households benefit from keeping UIM at limits equal to or higher than their liability limits.
Maryland allows you to select UIM limits higher than your UM limits, but not lower. The floor for UIM is the UM limit you're required to carry. This rule prevents households from creating an inverted coverage structure where underinsured protection is weaker than uninsured protection.
Maryland Minimum Liability Limits
$30,000 / $60,000
Maryland requires $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident in bodily injury liability, plus $15,000 in property damage liability. Your UM coverage must match or exceed these minimums, but many at-fault drivers carry only the minimum, leaving a large underinsured gap when damages exceed $30,000.
Maryland Transportation Code §17-103
What Happens When You Reject UIM on a Multi-Car Policy
Rejecting UIM is a single decision that affects every vehicle and every person on your policy. You cannot reject UIM for one car and keep it for another when all vehicles sit on the same policy. The carrier presents the UIM offer once, and your written rejection applies to the entire policy. If you later add a fourth vehicle mid-term, that vehicle inherits the same UM and UIM structure as the rest of the policy unless you request a change at the time of addition.
The rejection must be in writing. Maryland law requires the carrier to offer UIM in an amount equal to your UM limits, and you must sign a rejection form to decline it. If you never signed a rejection form and UIM does not appear on your declarations page, contact your carrier. The absence of UIM without a signed rejection is a policy error, not a valid election. Most carriers include the rejection language directly on the application or in the policy documents you sign when you bind coverage.
Compare Carriers That Write Multi-Car Policies in Maryland
Maryland's UM and UIM structure is consistent across carriers, but the cost of adding UIM varies. Some carriers price UIM as a small incremental add to UM; others treat it as a separate product with a larger premium. When you're structuring coverage for multiple vehicles, request quotes with UIM included at limits equal to your liability limits, then compare the total premium across carriers. The household that rejects UIM to save money often saves less than the cost of one month's premium difference between a higher-priced carrier and a lower-priced one that includes UIM in the base rate.
Use Maryland Car Insurance Requirements' comparison tool to request quotes from carriers writing multi-car policies in your county. Enter your household's vehicles, your desired liability and UM limits, and whether you want UIM included. The tool returns quotes that reflect Maryland's mandatory UM requirement and the optional UIM structure, so you can see the actual cost difference between keeping and rejecting underinsured motorist coverage across your household's cars.