What Is Broad Form Insurance?

Broad form insurance is a limited type of car insurance that only provides liability coverage for a single driver. You may want to consider broad form car insurance if you don’t have any dependents and are looking for cheap auto coverage that meets your state’s minimum requirements.

Read below to see where and how you can get broad form car insurance and whether it would be an appropriate policy for your circumstances.

On This Page

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  What Is Broad Form Insurance?

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  What Does Broad Form Insurance Cover?

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  How Much Does Broad Form Insurance Cost?

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  What Are the Benefits of Choosing Broad Form Coverage?

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  How To Get Broad Form Insurance

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  FAQs

What Is Broad Form Insurance?

Broad form car insurance, also known as broad form named operator coverage, is a type of auto coverage that exclusively provides liability insurance for a single driver. While most car insurance policies follow the car and not the driver, broad form insurance follows the driver rather than the car.

For example, a broad form insurance policy will not provide coverage for a friend who gets into an accident while driving your vehicle. However, it will cover you if you get into an accident while driving your friend’s vehicle.

Where Is Broad Form Coverage Available?

Broad form coverage is only available in the following 11 states:^[1]

• Colorado
• Delaware
• Idaho
• Iowa
• Maryland
• Mississippi
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• Ohio
• Tennessee
• Washington

Most of these states only mandate liability coverage, meaning you can purchase broad form insurance with high enough coverage limits to meet the state’s minimum car insurance requirements. However, Delaware and Maryland both require personal injury protection while Maryland and Nebraska both require uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.^[2] As a result, broad form insurance on its own does not meet the minimum requirements in these states.

What Does Broad Form Insurance Cover?

There are two core components of the liability coverage that broad form insurance provides: bodily injury liability coverage and property damage liability coverage.

Bodily injury liability coverage pays for someone else’s medical bills, lost wages and funeral expenses after an accident you were responsible for, along with any legal fees that arise if the injured person sues you. Your bodily injury liability coverage might take effect if you strike another vehicle on the highway or if you run a red light and hit a pedestrian.

Property damage liability coverage pays for someone else’s repair bills after you damage their property with your vehicle. This type of insurance would kick in if you drive into someone else’s car in a parking lot or run over your neighbor’s fence while trying to back out of your driveway.

What Isn’t Covered?

Broad form car insurance won’t cover repairs to your vehicle or medical bills for yourself or your passengers after an accident you are responsible for. Read below for examples of situations that your liability insurance won’t cover but that another type of insurance might cover.

In addition, the liability coverage provided by broad form insurance doesn’t apply to RVs or motorcycles.^[1] A broad form policy also generally won’t cover accidents that happen while you are using your car for a commercial purpose.^[3]

How Much Does Broad Form Insurance Cost?

Broad form insurance is generally 20% to 50% cheaper than full coverage car insurance, according to Tim Derham, CEO and president of Universal Casualty Risk Retention Group. For example, if you live in Colorado, where the average annual premium for full coverage was $1,329.88 in 2020, a broad form policy might cost you between $664 and $1,064 per year.^[4]

“In states where broad form insurance is available, the annual premium can range from as low as $300 to as high as $1,500 or more,” Derham told SmartFinancial via email.

Keep in mind that the amount you have to pay for broad form car insurance will depend on your personal characteristics. Factors that insurance companies may use to calculate your rates include your age, driving history, gender, credit score and deductible.

What Are the Benefits of Choosing Broad Form Coverage?

The primary benefit of broad form coverage is that it is one of the cheapest options available for car insurance.

Since it provides a limited scope of coverage, your insurance provider can afford to keep your premiums low, which may be ideal if you’re a safe driver and don’t need the extensive protection provided by a full coverage policy.

In addition, your policy will cost the same regardless of how many vehicles you own since broad form insurance covers the driver and not the car.^[1] As a result, it can be a cost-effective coverage option if you regularly drive multiple vehicles.

Are There Any Drawbacks?

While its limited coverage makes it one of the most affordable types of car insurance, this lack of in-depth coverage is also the greatest drawback of broad form insurance. With this kind of policy, you will have to cover any of your own medical or repair bills out of pocket after an accident where you were the at-fault driver.

In addition, this policy is not a good fit if anyone else drives your car since it only provides coverage for the singular person named on the policy. As a result, you probably shouldn’t buy broad form insurance if you have a spouse, children or any other dependents who might reasonably need to drive your car at some point.

How To Get Broad Form Insurance

You can purchase broad form auto insurance from specialty insurance companies like Serenity Insurance and Select Insurance Group. Depending on the state you live in, you may also be able to get broad form insurance from insurance carriers like Dairyland, Kemper and Vern Fonk.

Since broad form insurance is only available in a select few states, you may need to look to a local insurance provider rather than a national one if you are interested in this kind of coverage. Be sure to use an insurance marketplace like SmartFinancial to easily compare rates from different companies.