VictimsGuide • Wyoming Insurance Law

Required Auto Insurance, Minimum Limits & Mandatory Coverage

Wyoming law establishes minimum automobile liability protection and requires uninsured-motorist coverage unless the named insured rejects it. Insurance contracts may provide broader protection, but the statutory floor and the written policy must be analyzed separately.

The Wyoming Statutory Floor Wyoming requires minimum financial responsibility for vehicles subject to the compulsory-insurance law. Policy language generally cannot eliminate protection that Wyoming law requires, although clear exclusions may operate against coverage above the statutory minimum.

Current Wyoming Minimum Liability Limits

$25,000 Bodily injury or death
one person
$50,000 Bodily injury or death
two or more persons
$20,000 Property damage
one accident

These limits are commonly described as 25/50/20.

Minimum Insurance Is Not Maximum Damages

The statutory minimum limits describe the minimum financial responsibility required by law.

They do not limit the damages legally caused by a negligent driver.

A seriously injured person may have damages far greater than the available liability insurance. That is why additional liability, umbrella, commercial and UM/UIM coverage must be investigated.

Who Must Be Covered?

Wyoming's financial-responsibility law provides that an owner's qualifying liability policy generally protects:

  • the named insured; and
  • other persons using the covered vehicle with the named insured's express or implied permission, subject to lawful exclusions.

Permission and specifically excluded drivers therefore remain critical coverage questions.

Liability, UM and UIM Are Different

Coverage Wyoming Rule
Liability Wyoming generally requires owners of registered vehicles to maintain the statutory liability protection or another qualifying financial-responsibility arrangement.
UM Uninsured-motorist bodily-injury protection must be provided with qualifying Wyoming auto policies unless the named insured rejects the coverage.
UIM Wyoming does not statutorily require underinsured-motorist coverage. If UIM exists, the contract determines its scope.
MedPay Examine the policy. MedPay is a separate first-party coverage and should not be assumed merely from the existence of liability insurance.

UM Can Be Rejected

Wyoming requires uninsured-motorist coverage unless the named insured rejects it.

If the named insured previously rejected UM coverage with the same insurer, Wyoming law does not require the insurer to restore it at renewal unless the named insured requests the coverage in writing.

“Full Coverage” Does Not Tell You What Insurance You Have

Wyoming law does not turn the phrase “full coverage” into a particular insurance package.

A policy may contain liability and UM but no UIM. It may contain collision but no MedPay. The only reliable answer is the actual declarations page, endorsements and policy.

The Public-Policy Rule

Wyoming's compulsory-insurance law protects more than the contracting parties. It establishes a minimum level of protection for the motoring public.

Because that minimum protection is established by law, an insurer generally cannot use an ordinary policy exclusion to eliminate the statutory minimum when doing so would conflict with Wyoming's compulsory-insurance policy.

The Two-Level Coverage Analysis

Level 1 — Coverage Wyoming Law Requires Policy exclusions are tested against Wyoming statutes and public policy. An exclusion inconsistent with the required statutory protection may be ineffective to the extent it attempts to eliminate that minimum protection.
Level 2 — Coverage Above the Required Minimum The insurance contract becomes especially important. Clear and lawful exclusions can limit coverage above the statutory floor unless another statute or public-policy principle prohibits the limitation.

Allstate: The Statutory Minimum Cannot Simply Disappear

Wyoming insurers once attempted to use household exclusions to eliminate liability protection for injuries suffered by insured family or household members.

The Wyoming Supreme Court held that the compulsory-insurance scheme establishes an overriding public policy protecting the statutory minimum.

The household exclusions therefore could not eliminate that legally required minimum protection.

Martin & Pribble: Coverage Above the Floor Is Different

Later Wyoming cases addressed policies that preserved the statutory minimum but excluded household claims above that amount.

The Wyoming Supreme Court enforced those clear limitations.

The Result Wyoming public policy can require preservation of the statutory minimum while the insurance contract controls whether substantially greater voluntary limits remain available.

A $100,000 Declarations-Page Limit Does Not End the Coverage Analysis

A declarations page identifies a policy limit.

It does not tell you by itself whether an exclusion, endorsement, insured-status provision or statutory rule changes the amount applicable to a particular person or claim.

How to Review a Wyoming Policy

1
Start with the declarations page. Identify each coverage and each stated limit.
2
Identify the insured person. Determine whether the claimant or driver falls within the applicable insured definition.
3
Identify the covered vehicle. Confirm ownership, scheduled vehicles, permission and vehicle status.
4
Read every endorsement and exclusion. Do not rely on the declarations page alone.
5
Compare the exclusion to Wyoming's statutory floor. Determine whether public policy prevents the exclusion from eliminating required protection.
6
Analyze voluntary coverage separately. Coverage above the statutory minimum may be governed by different contractual limitations.
7
Check for other policies. Personal, household, employer, commercial, umbrella and UM/UIM policies may provide additional layers.

Coverage Verification Checklist

  • named insured
  • policy number
  • policy period
  • covered vehicles
  • liability limits
  • UM limits
  • UM rejection, if claimed
  • UIM coverage
  • MedPay coverage
  • collision coverage
  • comprehensive coverage
  • driver exclusions
  • household exclusions
  • business-use exclusions
  • all endorsements
  • umbrella/excess coverage
  • other-insurance provisions
  • permission status

Leading Wyoming Authorities

Allstate Insurance Co. v. Wyoming Insurance Department, 1983 WY 119, 672 P.2d 810 Establishes Wyoming's compulsory-insurance public policy and holds that household exclusions cannot eliminate the statutory minimum liability protection.
Martin v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 1995 WY 64, 894 P.2d 618 Enforces an unambiguous household exclusion above Wyoming's required statutory minimum and reinforces the primacy of clear policy language.
Pribble v. State Farm, 1997 WY 32, 933 P.2d 1108 Reaffirms that a clear household exclusion may limit liability coverage to the statutory minimum and that reasonable expectations do not rewrite an unambiguous insurance contract.
Broderick v. Dairyland Insurance Co., 2012 WY 22, 270 P.3d 684 Confirms that Wyoming mandates uninsured-motorist protection subject to rejection but does not statutorily require underinsured-motorist coverage.

Related Wyoming Guides

Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist Coverage → Who Is an Insured? → Borrowed, Non-Owned, Newly Acquired & Rental Vehicles → Finding Every Insurance Policy → Coverage Disclosure & Insurer Duties →
Public education only. Insurance requirements and coverage depend on current Wyoming statutes, the particular insurance contract, endorsements, exclusions, insured status and vehicle use. Statutory minimum coverage should not be confused with either total damages or the maximum insurance potentially available.