First Fault — Plain-language insurance vocabulary, starting with the word "fault"

Plain-language insurance vocabulary, starting with the word "fault"

Auto coverage terms, side by side

A reference table for reading your own documents. Each row is a coverage term you may see on a declarations page or renewal notice: what the term describes, whose policy is the one that responds, and what to look up in your own paperwork. Generic categories only — no carriers, no amounts, and no statement of what any state requires.

These are general industry definitions, offered to help you read your own policy. They are not a statement of what Florida requires, which coverages are mandatory, or what any limit must be — those are set by state law, change over time, and are not restated here. Check the current Florida Statutes, the state's insurance regulator, your own declarations page, and a licensed agent or attorney for anything that applies to you.

Filter

Coverage term ▲	What the term describes	Whose policy responds	What to look up in your own documents
Bodily injury liability	Injuries to other people that you are found legally responsible for causing	Your policy, paying a third party	Whether limits are shown as split limits (per person and per accident) or as a single combined limit
Collision	Damage to your own vehicle from impact with another vehicle or object, or from an overturn	Your own policy, paying you or the repairer	The deductible, how the vehicle's value is settled, and whether a lienholder or lessor requires the coverage
Comprehensive	Damage to your own vehicle from causes other than collision — fire, theft, falling objects, hail and similar events named in the policy	Your own policy, paying you or the repairer	The deductible, how glass claims are handled, and the list of covered causes and exclusions in the policy text
Medical payments (med-pay)	Medical expenses for covered occupants, written as a separate coverage from any liability coverage	Your own policy, paying you or your passengers	Whether it is present, the limit, and how it interacts with other medical or injury coverage you carry
Personal injury protection (PIP)	Medical and certain related expenses for a covered person's own injuries, paid without first settling who caused the crash	Your own policy, paying you (first party)	Whether it appears on your declarations page at all, the limit shown, any deductible, and the conditions and definitions printed in the PIP endorsement itself
Property damage liability	Damage you cause to property belonging to someone else, including their vehicle	Your policy, paying a third party	The limit shown, and whether it is listed separately from bodily injury or folded into a combined single limit
Rental reimbursement and towing	Transportation and towing expenses after a covered loss, usually capped per day and per claim	Your own policy, paying you or the vendor	The daily and per-claim caps, and which other coverage has to apply before these are triggered
Uninsured / underinsured motorist	Your own injuries when the responsible driver has no liability coverage or not enough of it	Your own policy, paying you	Whether you carry it or signed a rejection, whether it is written as stacked or non-stacked, and the limit relative to your liability limit

This site explains the vocabulary people run into when they try to understand Florida auto and mobile home insurance — starting with the single most confusing word in the whole field: fault.

"No-fault" does not mean nobody caused the crash. It describes how an insurance system is wired: which policy you turn to first, and for what. The same phrase gets reused in family law to mean something completely unrelated, which is why a search for is Florida a no-fault state returns two different kinds of answer. Both meanings are explained here, separately, so you stop guessing which one you're reading.

What you will find: definitions, document anatomy, and comparisons. How a coverage line is written. What the numbers on a declarations page are describing. Why a mobile home policy is structured differently from a policy on a site-built house. How to tell a solid statement about state rules from a vague one.

What you will not find: dollar figures presented as current, statutory details restated from memory, or any suggestion about what you personally should buy, sign, or claim. Required coverages and limits are set by state law, change over time, and are specific to your policy. For those, the authoritative sources are the current Florida Statutes, the state's insurance regulator, your own policy documents, and a licensed professional.

Start with the coverage term comparison (#utility) if you have a document in front of you, or the glossary if you have a word you don't recognize.