State Farm auto insurance covers bodily injury and property damage liability, damage to your own vehicle through collision and comprehensive coverage, medical expenses, and injuries caused by uninsured drivers. Policyholders can also customize their plans with optional add-ons like roadside assistance, rental car reimbursement, and rideshare coverage.
The exact level of protection you receive depends on the specific coverages, limits, and deductibles you select when setting up your policy. State law dictates minimum liability requirements, but drivers can build broader policies to protect their personal finances and vehicles.
Core Coverage Options
State Farm provides standard core coverages designed to meet mandatory state requirements and protect against basic financial liabilities resulting from auto accidents.
- Bodily Injury Liability: Pays for medical bills, lost wages, legal defense fees, and funeral expenses for other people if you cause an accident.
- Property Damage Liability: Covers repairs or replacement costs for another person’s vehicle, as well as damaged structures like fences, guardrails, or mailboxes, when you are at fault.
- Collision Coverage: Helps pay to repair or replace your own vehicle if it collides with another car or object, or if it overturns, regardless of who caused the crash.
- Comprehensive Coverage: Covers repair or replacement costs for your vehicle if it is damaged by non-collision events, including theft, vandalism, fire, weather events, falling objects, or hitting an animal.
Liability insurance covers other parties rather than your own injuries or vehicle repairs. Physical damage protection, which consists of collision and comprehensive coverages, requires you to pay an out-of-pocket deductible before insurance funds kick in.
Medical and Injury Coverage
Depending on where you live, medical coverage may be optional or legally mandated. State Farm offers two primary forms of medical protection for driver and passenger injuries.
Medical Payments Coverage, often called MedPay, helps cover medical and funeral bills for you, your family members, or passengers riding in your car following an accident, regardless of fault. It applies whether you are driving your vehicle, riding in someone else’s car, or walking as a pedestrian.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is available or required primarily in no-fault insurance states. PIP provides broader protection than MedPay, covering reasonable medical costs along with lost income, essential child care, and psychiatric recovery fees resulting from a covered accident.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage
If an at-fault driver lacks insurance or carries policy limits too low to cover your expenses, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages step in.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage pays for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering if you are hit by a driver without car insurance or by a hit-and-run driver. In select states, Uninsured Motorist Property Damage is also available to pay for vehicle repairs. Underinsured Motorist Coverage pays for your remaining medical or physical damage costs when the responsible driver’s insurance policy limits are exhausted.
Optional Add-Ons and Specialized Protection
State Farm allows drivers to enhance standard coverage with specialized add-ons for specific driving needs and road emergencies.
- Emergency Road Service: Provides 24/7 roadside assistance, covering mechanical labor at the breakdown site, towing to a repair facility, tire changes, battery jump-starts, fuel delivery, and locksmith services.
- Car Rental and Travel Expenses: Reimburses the cost of a rental vehicle while your car is being repaired due to a covered claim. If the incident occurs more than 50 miles from home, this option also covers meals, lodging, and transportation costs up to policy limits.
- Rideshare Driver Coverage: Extends your personal auto insurance coverage when using your vehicle for transportation network platforms like Uber or Lyft. It covers the gap between personal driving and the period when a passenger ride begins, where rideshare company policies may not apply.
What State Farm Auto Insurance Does Not Cover
While State Farm offers broad coverage options, standard auto policies contain explicit exclusions.
State Farm auto insurance does not cover general vehicle wear and tear, mechanical breakdowns, or routine maintenance like oil changes and tire rotations. Intentional damage caused by the policyholder, illegal racing, and commercial vehicle use without a specialized endorsement are excluded from standard coverage.
State Farm does not offer traditional gap insurance for auto loans or leases. Gap insurance pays the difference between a vehicle’s actual market value and the remaining loan balance if the car is totaled. If you lease or finance a car, you must secure gap coverage through your lender or dealership rather than your State Farm auto policy.
Factors That Impact Your Coverage Limits and Costs
The specific protections provided by your State Farm policy depend directly on the limits and options written into your contract. Every policy choice balances out-of-pocket exposure against regular premium costs.
Selecting lower deductibles reduces the amount you must pay when filing a physical damage claim, but it increases your monthly premium payment. Choosing higher liability limits provides financial protection against major lawsuits, though it raises total policy costs. Additionally, state regulations dictate mandatory minimum liability requirements, setting the lowest threshold of coverage you can legally purchase.
