So what is the Mandatory Auto Insurance Law in Hawaii?
Hawaii law requires drivers in the State of Hawaii, whether driving on Oahu in the capital city of Honolulu, Lanai, Molokai, Maui, or somewhere in between, to have an auto insurance liability policy of at least the required minimum limits. What are those minimum required limits in the 50th State?
Under Hawaii law, you’re required to have car insurance liability limits of at least 20/40/10. What does this mean? It means:
$20,000 per person, for bodily injury you cause
$40,000 per accident, for bodily injury, and
$10,000 per accident, for damage to another’s property, usually their car.
And $10,000 per person personal injury protection (PIP) benefits for you and your passengers, minimum, to pay for their medical and rehabilitative costs.
Proof of Insurance
If you’re stopped by a Hawaiian law enforcement officer, you must present an insurance identification card showing that the car is insured. Your auto insurance company must provide you with an identification card when they issue or renew your car insurance liability policy. At your request, the company will provide a card or temporary proof of insurance for each car covered under your policy and if you purchase your insurance from Instant-Car-Insurance.com or Ensurance.com you can also print your ID cards online instantly and for free.
The insurance identification card includes the name of the insurance company, the policy number, and the policy’s effective and expiration dates. It also includes a description of the insured car(s) and/or the name of the insured driver.
If you do not carry proof of insurance and you are stopped by HI law enforcement, the state of Hawaii considers it a traffic infraction. You can receive a fine and it may go on your driving record. The courts could also add other unwanted fees to your fine so always keep a current (up to date) proof of insurance id in the car with you at all times.
How to Find the Best Auto Insurance Rates in Hawaii
It is very important to comparison shop for the best coverage at the lowest rates especially for Hawaii Auto Insurance. There are many online resources that provide free quotes from licensed Hawaiian insurance companies and are approved by the Hawaii DMV. If you think you may be paying too much for auto insurance, residents of Hawaii can save time and money by comparing car insurance quotes quickly and anonymously between top name Hawaii auto insurance carriers simply by logging on to InstantCarInsurance.com. The State of Hawaii requires minimum auto insurance of 20/40/10 as long as you have a valid Hawaii car tag and car registration. Keep this in mind when shopping for basic coverage and evaluate it against car insurance quotes with higher coverage for a little more money. You may need it someday despite not being as cheap. Money Saving Tip: Most people do not realize that insurance companies change rates continuously and typically repost new rates twice monthly. Thus we recommend coming back to this site regularly to re-rate your cars monthly, just to be sure you are still getting the best deal and the rock-bottom, lowest, cheapest price you can on car insurance! Why not? It’s free.
At the same time keep in mind, the cheapest car insurance is not always the best car insurance. So it’s also a good idea to evaluate the number of complaints an insurance company has against them versus the number of cars they insure. Here’s a chart you might find informative.
| CUSTOMER COMPLAINT RATIOS (for Selected Insurance Companies) |
| These complaint ratios are based on the number of written complaints received by the Insurance Division from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006 for the 11 insurance companies that write more than 95% of the private passenger automobile insurance market. These numbers do not reflect any determination on the part of the Insurance Division as to whether a particular complaint may have been justified or not and include no-fault hearing requests. |
| Insurance Company/Group |
No. of Autos Insured |
No.of Complaints Received |
Ratio of Complaints per 1,000 Autos |
| American International Co.'s |
110,338 |
58 |
0.526 |
| Allstate Insurance Co.'s |
61,985 |
12 |
0.194 |
| DTRIC Ins. Co., Ltd. |
33,326 |
44 |
1.320 |
| First Insurance Co.'s |
26,143 |
4 |
0.153 |
| GEICO Insurance Co.'s |
176,497 |
108 |
0.612 |
| Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. |
37,645 |
12 |
0.319 |
| Island/Tradewind Insurance Co.'s |
35,172 |
8 |
0.227 |
| Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.'s |
32,800 |
50 |
1.524 |
| Progressive Insurance Co.'s |
37,355 |
20 |
0.535 |
| State Farm Insurance Co.'s |
130,778 |
17 |
0.130 |
| USAA Insurance Co.'s |
76,422 |
8 |
0.105 |