North Carolina raised its minimum auto liability limits for policies new or renewed on or after July 1, 2025. In the words of the North Carolina Department of Insurance: “Starting July 1, 2025, for all new or renewed policies on or after that date, the minimum limits for bodily injury will be increased to $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident and the minimum limits for property damage will be increased to $50,000.” Agents write that as 50/100/50. It is the floor, and the floor is the beginning of the conversation rather than the end of it.

What the three numbers mean

The first number is the most the policy pays for injuries to any one person in an accident you cause. The second is the most it pays for all injuries in that accident combined. The third is the most it pays for damage to other people’s property, which in practice means their vehicles. Those limits protect the other party. They do not pay to repair your own car, and they do not pay your own medical bills.

What the minimum leaves out

A minimum-limits policy says nothing about collision or comprehensive, the coverages that repair or replace your own vehicle after an accident, a theft, a fallen branch or a flooded parking lot. It says nothing about uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which responds when the driver who hit you carries too little or nothing at all. And it says nothing about whether the liability limits themselves are enough for a serious accident, where medical costs can pass the per-person figure quickly.

Summer on the Crystal Coast

Carteret County’s year-round population is 70,469 (U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, July 1, 2025 estimate). Anyone who has driven NC 58 or crossed the bridges to Bogue Banks on a July weekend knows that the summer roads carry a different crowd, many of them unfamiliar with the roads. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is worth a specific conversation for that reason alone.

Work trucks and vans

A truck or van that works for a business belongs on a commercial auto policy. A personal policy may not respond to a loss that happens on the job, and a landscaper’s trailer or a plumber’s van full of tools is exactly the kind of vehicle an insurer asks about. Tell the agency how each vehicle is used and who drives it.

Motorcycles and ATVs

Motorcycles and ATVs are written on their own policies rather than added to the car policy. If you ride, tell the agency what you ride, where it is kept and how it is used.

What to do at renewal

Read the declarations page and find the three liability figures. If they match the new minimums and nothing more, that is a floor, not a plan. Ask what the next tier of limits looks like, whether uninsured motorist coverage matches your liability limits, and whether the household’s cars, home and boat are being looked at together. The limits are your choice; the job of the agency is to make sure it is an informed one.