How to Read Your Arizona Auto Policy Declarations Page

The declarations page is the one or two page summary at the front of your policy. It is also the document that determines what is available to you after a serious crash, and most people have never read theirs closely.

Bodily injury liability

Written as two numbers, commonly 25/50 or 100/300. The first is the maximum per injured person, the second is the maximum for everyone injured in one accident. Arizona’s required minimum is $25,000 and $50,000.

This coverage protects other people from you. It does nothing for your own injuries, which is the part people most often have backwards.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist

These are the lines that matter for your own injuries. Uninsured motorist applies when the at-fault driver had no coverage or fled and was never identified. Underinsured motorist applies when they had coverage but not enough, which given Arizona’s minimum limits is common in any serious injury.

Insurers must offer both in writing and you can reject them in writing. A number of people rejected them years ago at a different address, on a different vehicle, and have no memory of the conversation. If those lines are blank or say rejected, that is a decision you can revisit today rather than after a crash.

Check whether the limits match your liability limits. Carrying $100,000 in liability and $25,000 in underinsured motorist is a common pattern, and it means you have protected other drivers three times better than you have protected yourself.

Medical payments

MedPay pays your medical expenses regardless of fault, usually in $1,000 to $5,000 increments. In an at-fault state where the liability claim takes months, this is the coverage that pays bills in the meantime.

It is inexpensive and frequently declined at the point of sale because it sounds redundant next to health insurance. It is not redundant, because it has no deductible and no network.

The premium tells you where the coverage is

Each line has its own premium next to it. Reading down that column shows you what you are actually buying, and it is usually a surprise how little of the total goes to the coverages that protect you rather than everyone else.

It also makes the comparison concrete when you ask an agent what a higher underinsured motorist limit costs, because you can see what the current one costs today.

Named insureds, listed drivers and exclusions

Look at who is listed. A household member who drives the car but does not appear can create a coverage argument. So can a named driver exclusion, which is exactly what it sounds like, a person the policy will not cover under any circumstances.

Exclusions also cover commercial use. If anyone in the household drives for a rideshare or delivery platform, personal coverage typically does not apply during that work, and the platform’s coverage varies by app phase.

Two things to do with it

Photograph the declarations page and keep it somewhere you can reach from a hospital, because after a crash it is the first document anyone asks for. Then compare your uninsured and underinsured limits against your liability limits, and if they are lower, ask your agent what raising them costs. The answer is usually less than people assume.