Almost every trucking client we write also has a car in the driveway, a motorcycle in the garage, or a boat they take out on the weekend. Those are not covered by a commercial policy, and the gap between the two is where people get hurt financially. Here is how personal auto insurance works in Texas, what the state actually requires, and what the coverages on your declarations page mean in plain language.
🚗 What Texas Requires
Texas is a fault state: the driver who causes a crash is responsible for the damage. To register a vehicle you must carry at least:
- 💵 $30,000 for injuries, per person
- 💵 $60,000 for injuries, per accident
- 💵 $25,000 for property damage
You will hear this called 30/60/25. It is the legal floor, not a recommendation. A newer pickup totaled in a wreck can exceed $25,000 by itself, and any injury claim of real size will blow past $30,000 quickly. Whatever the policy does not pay, the at-fault driver pays personally.
🧾 What the Coverages Actually Do
Liability
Pays for the other person's injuries and property when you cause the crash. It does nothing for your own vehicle. This is the part the state requires.
Collision
Pays to repair or replace your vehicle after a wreck, no matter who was at fault. Subject to your deductible.
Comprehensive
Everything that damages a vehicle when it is not a collision: hail, theft, fire, flood, vandalism, a deer, a rock through the windshield. In Texas, hail alone makes this worth having.
Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM)
Roughly one in eight Texas drivers has no insurance at all, and many who do carry only the 30/60/25 minimum. UM/UIM steps in when the person who hit you cannot cover what they did. It is inexpensive and it is the coverage clients most often wish they had bought.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP)
Pays medical bills and a portion of lost wages for you and your passengers, regardless of fault, without waiting on the other driver's carrier. Texas insurers must offer it; you have to reject it in writing to go without.
Roadside and Rental
Towing, lockouts, jump starts, and a rental car while yours is in the shop. Small dollars, and the difference between an inconvenience and a week of missed work.
🏍 Motorcycles, ATVs and Boats
These are separate policies, not a rider on your car policy, and each has its own quirks:
- 🏍 Motorcycles — Texas does not require helmets over 21 with training or coverage, but injury exposure is severe. Custom parts and accessories need to be scheduled or they are not paid for.
- 🛻 ATVs and UTVs — often not covered off your property by a homeowners policy, which is exactly where people ride them.
- 🚤 Boats — a homeowners policy may extend a small amount to a very small boat and nothing to anything else. Trailer, motor, and on-water liability come from a boat policy.
🚛 If You Drive a Truck for a Living
This is where owner-operators get caught. Your commercial policy covers the truck while it is working. Your personal auto policy covers your personal vehicle. Neither one covers the other, and there is a third situation in between — driving the tractor with no trailer and no dispatch, for personal reasons — which is what non-trucking liability is for.
Letting personal auto lapse because "I drive the truck anyway" also creates a second problem: a gap in your personal insurance history raises what you pay when you restart, and some carriers will not write you at all until enough time passes.
💡 What Actually Moves Your Price
- 📄 Your driving record — tickets and at-fault accidents follow you for three to five years.
- 🏠 Where the vehicle is parked overnight — rated by ZIP, not by where you work.
- 🚙 The vehicle itself — repair cost and theft rate matter more than sticker price.
- 📆 Continuous coverage — an unbroken history is one of the largest discounts available, and one of the easiest to lose.
- 🏡 Bundling — carrying the home and the auto with the same carrier usually discounts both.
📞 Getting It Right
Personal auto looks simple and is the policy people most often buy at the wrong limits, because the state minimum is presented as if it were a standard. We write personal auto alongside the commercial policies, in English and Spanish, and we will tell you plainly where your current limits leave you exposed.
Call (469) 739-6335 or start online and a licensed agent will walk through it with you.