Auto Insurance for Santa Rosa Beach, 30A, and the Emerald Coast

Florida still requires PIP in 2026, and for many drivers auto rates are finally coming down. We are Fuller Insurance in Santa Rosa Beach, and we have written auto insurance for Walton, Okaloosa and Bay County families since 2007, including the golf carts, street-legal LSVs and part-year cars that go with 30A living. Call 850-622-5283 or start your quote below.

Florida auto insurance facts as of November 2026

• PIP is still required. The two 2026 bills that would have repealed Florida’s no-fault law, Senate Bill 522 and House Bill 769, died in committee on March 13, 2026. The Legislature does not meet again in regular session until Tuesday, March 2, 2027. Anything you read that says PIP was repealed on July 1, 2026 is wrong.
• The Florida minimum: 10,000 dollars of Personal Injury Protection and 10,000 dollars of property damage liability. Florida does not require bodily injury liability for most drivers. New Hampshire is the only other state that does not.
• What PIP pays: eighty percent of your reasonable medical bills and sixty percent of your lost wages, within a 10,000 dollar limit, plus a 5,000 dollar death benefit. Treatment has to start within fourteen days of the crash, and unless a qualified provider finds an emergency medical condition, the medical benefit is capped at 2,500 dollars.
• Uninsured drivers: 20.6 percent of Florida drivers were uninsured in 2023, about one in five, against 15.4 percent nationally (Insurance Research Council, 2025 report).
• After a DUI conviction: an FR-44 filing with bodily injury liability of 100,000 dollars per person and 300,000 dollars per accident, plus 50,000 dollars of property damage liability, carried for three years.
• Letting coverage lapse: Florida’s reinstatement fee is 150 dollars the first time, 250 dollars the second time and 500 dollars each time after that within three years.
• Rates: on October 26, 2026 the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported that the state’s top five auto insurance groups, about eighty-one percent of the market, were showing an indicated decrease of 12.6 percent for 2026, up from the eight percent average it reported in March, after a requested decrease of 7.4 percent in 2025. Your own rate depends on your rating factors.
• Hurricanes: comprehensive is the coverage that pays for a car damaged by flood water, storm surge or a falling tree. Add it before hurricane season, because once a storm threatens the coast, insurance companies commonly stop adding coverage until it passes.
• Golf carts and LSVs: a low-speed vehicle (twenty to twenty-five miles per hour) must be titled, registered and insured, the driver needs a valid driver license, and it may only be driven on roads posted thirty-five miles per hour or less. In Walton County it may never be driven on US Highway 98, and it needs the Sheriff’s Office safety sticker, which costs nothing. A true golf cart (twenty miles per hour or less) is not allowed on any public road in Walton County.
• Part-year residents: a vehicle that is in Florida more than ninety days in any 365-day period has to carry Florida PIP and property damage liability.
• Where to start: call 850-622-5283 and ask for Alex Reber, Erica Johnson, Chris Jayne or Trista Cordell, email hello@fuller.insure, or start an auto quote online.

Florida did not repeal PIP

We get asked about this every week, so here is the short version. Florida’s no-fault law is still in place. The 2026 bills that would have replaced PIP with required bodily injury coverage, Senate Bill 522 and House Bill 769, died in committee on March 13, 2026, and the only repeal bill to pass the full Legislature in recent years was vetoed by the Governor in 2021. The July 1, 2026 date you may have seen online was the effective date written into the 2025 versions of these bills, which also died in committee. The next chance for a change is the regular session that opens on Tuesday, March 2, 2027. If a 2027 repeal bill is filed or the law changes, we will update this page.

So as of November 2026 the rules are what they have been: 10,000 dollars of PIP and 10,000 dollars of property damage liability on most Florida-registered vehicles. PIP pays eighty percent of your reasonable medical bills and sixty percent of your lost wages, no matter who caused the crash, plus a 5,000 dollar death benefit. Two things trip people up. Treatment has to start within fourteen days of the crash or the medical benefit is lost, and unless a qualified provider determines you had an emergency medical condition, the medical benefit is limited to 2,500 dollars instead of 10,000 dollars.

If something you read online convinced you to change or drop coverage this year, call us and we will go over your policy with you.

What Florida requires is not what we recommend

The state minimum leaves out the coverage that matters most: bodily injury liability, which pays for the people you injure. Florida and New Hampshire are the only two states that do not require it, and about one in five Florida drivers carries no bodily injury coverage at all, which is how the Insurance Research Council counts an uninsured driver.

We do not write state-minimum policies. Our recommended floor is bodily injury liability of 100,000 dollars per person and 300,000 dollars per accident, property damage liability of 100,000 dollars, and uninsured motorist coverage at matching limits, stacked. Uninsured motorist is the coverage that pays you and your passengers when the at-fault driver has little or no insurance. Florida law includes it at your bodily injury limits unless you reject it or lower it in writing, and the stacked form adds your limits across the vehicles on your policy and still covers you in a vehicle you own but did not put on the policy. Think hard before you sign that rejection form.

For most of the households we insure, the right structure is those limits plus a personal umbrella of at least 1,000,000 dollars, placed with the same company that writes the auto when we can, so one company handles the whole claim. After a DUI conviction the state itself requires an FR-44 filing with 100,000 dollars per person and 300,000 dollars per accident, limits the everyday minimum does not require at all.

One note: if you drive for a rideshare or delivery app, tell us. Personal auto policies generally exclude carrying people or goods for a fee unless the policy is endorsed for it.

How much does car insurance cost in Walton County right now?

Less than it did, for many drivers, and that is the first time we have been able to say that in years. The 2023 legal reforms are working through the system. On October 26, 2026 the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported that the state’s top five auto insurance groups, about eighty-one percent of the market, were showing an indicated decrease of 12.6 percent for 2026, up from the eight percent average it reported in March, after a requested decrease of 7.4 percent in 2025. GEICO’s April 2026 cut was followed by two more Florida decreases filed in August 2026. Your own rate still comes down to your rating factors.

What sets your number: your driving record, the vehicles and what they cost to repair, who is in the household, the garaging zip code, the coverages and deductibles you pick, continuous prior insurance, and whether the home and auto are with the same company. Carriers also discount for things like paperless billing and automatic payments. Auto-Owners, for example, lists a Multi-Policy Discount, a Paid-in-Full Discount, a Customer Loyalty Discount, Good Student and Student Away at School discounts, and a Digital Advantage Discount for online access, electronic documents and automatic payments (not available in all states). Our post on Auto-Owners car insurance discounts covers the full list. Discounts and amounts vary by carrier and by state, and everything is subject to underwriting, which is why the honest answer to the cost question is a quote run against the carriers we represent.

If you have not re-shopped your auto since rates peaked, 2026 is the year to do it. We often see better results when we quote the home, the auto and the umbrella together. Start an auto quote online and we will run it, or call 850-622-5283 and one of us will take the details over the phone.

Golf carts and street-legal LSVs on 30A

Golf carts are everywhere in South Walton and the rules confuse almost everyone. The legal line is speed. A golf cart tops out at twenty miles per hour. A low-speed vehicle, or LSV, is built to run between twenty and twenty-five miles per hour, and Florida treats it as a motor vehicle: it must be titled, registered, plated and insured, and the driver must have a valid driver license. Modify a golf cart to go faster than twenty and you have built an LSV, which means inspection, a VIN, a title, registration and insurance before it touches a public road.

LSVs are allowed only on roads posted thirty-five miles per hour or less, and the Walton County Sheriff’s Office is clear that they are not allowed on US Highway 98 at all; crossing 98 is allowed only at a four-way intersection. Walton County also requires a safety information sticker on every LSV driven on roads where Walton County has traffic jurisdiction. It costs nothing and is picked up at the Sheriff’s Office administration building at 133 Sheriff Drive in Santa Rosa Beach, and it goes on the inside of the windshield, centered, no higher than the top of the steering wheel. A true golf cart, the twenty-mile-per-hour kind, is not allowed on any public road in Walton County. Inside a private community, the community sets the rules.

Two local notes. Green street signs mark county-maintained public roads where state law and county rules apply; blue signs mark private community roads where the neighborhood sets its own rules, and a few communities, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach among them when we last checked, do not allow LSVs on their streets at all. Community rules change, so confirm before you ride. The Sheriff’s Office enforces the county rules and publishes its fines: driving an LSV on a prohibited road is 161 dollars.

Who actually insures a golf cart or LSV here

It depends on how the cart is used, and this is where we see the most expensive mistakes on 30A.

If you own the cart or LSV and use it yourself, coverage is straightforward. A true golf cart can often be added to a homeowners policy by endorsement, though those endorsements are usually limited to use inside the community and exclude renting it out or using it for business. A street-legal LSV gets its own policy. As of October 2026 we place owner-use LSVs with carriers including American Modern and Auto-Owners, subject to underwriting. Insure it for what it is worth with its upgrades, such as a lift kit, a lithium battery or extra seats, and check that the VIN on the policy matches the title and registration exactly, character for character. A mismatch is fixed with paperwork before a claim, not after. Our post on LSV and golf cart insurance in Walton County goes through the paperwork.

The problem is the LSV that stays at a vacation rental for guests to use. Guest use makes it a commercial exposure. The personal-lines carriers we represent decline it, including the two named above, and the homeowner endorsements exclude it. If a guest wrecks a cart that was insured for personal use, the owner can be left holding the entire loss. We have seen listings advertise a cart as an amenity with no idea that a personal-use policy is not written for a paying guest behind the wheel.

We do work with a specialty market that will consider guest-use LSVs at rental properties, and we have placed them. It is usually built from two or three separate policies depending on whether physical damage coverage is included, the underwriter will usually want a call with you before offering terms, renewals involve audit-style paperwork, and recent placements have generally run around 6,000 dollars a year, all subject to underwriting. If the numbers do not work for the rental, the safer play is removing guest access, and we will tell you plainly which side of that line your setup falls on. Call us before the first guest drives it.

Hurricanes, flooded cars and the storm freeze

The coverage that pays for a car ruined by storm surge, flood water or a falling tree is comprehensive, also called other than collision. Liability, PIP and collision do not pay for it. If your car carries liability only, a hurricane loss is yours to pay.

Do not wait for a hurricane to add it. Once a watch or warning goes up for our coast, insurance companies commonly suspend binding until the threat passes, and during a suspension they generally will not add coverage to an existing policy or raise its limits. Each carrier we represent sets its own storm rules, so add comprehensive before hurricane season starts on June 1.

When one is on the way, move cars, boats and golf carts to higher ground if you can, take photos of each one, and save each insurance company’s claims number in your phone. A text to our office does not report a claim; the insurance company’s claims line does.

Rental cars, on vacation or after a wreck

Two clients asked us about rental cars in October 2026, and the answer depends on the policy. Your own liability coverage generally follows you into a private passenger car you rent. Auto-Owners says it extends the most extensive coverage you carry on any personal vehicle on your policy to a rental within its coverage territory: if you carry comprehensive and collision, they go with you, subject to your deductibles, and if no vehicle on your policy has collision, the rental has none. On the Auto-Owners policies we have read, that applies to a private passenger car rented for 30 days or less. Auto-Owners includes a loss of use endorsement with comprehensive and collision, which pays the fee the rental company would have earned while its damaged car cannot be rented, and its rental gap coverage comes only with the Personal Automobile Plus Package. Each carrier we represent handles rentals its own way, so send us the question before the trip and we will read your policy.

Rental reimbursement is a different coverage. It pays toward a rental car, within the daily and total limits you choose, while your own car is being repaired after a covered claim, and it is an option you add to your policy. Ask us to add it if going without a car would be a problem.

Snowbirds, second homes and the ninety-day rule

Florida’s rule for part-year residents is blunt. Keep a vehicle in Florida for more than ninety days during any 365-day period, and the days do not have to be in a row, and that vehicle must carry Florida PIP and property damage liability from a carrier licensed in Florida. Taking a job here, running a business here or enrolling children in public school here triggers Florida registration even faster.

The mistake we correct most often is the garaging address. Insuring a car at the northern address while it actually lives at the beach house in Seagrove looks like a money saver right up until there is a claim, when a wrong garaging address can turn a routine payment into an investigation. Insure the car where it actually lives. If your vehicle splits the year between here and up north, tell us and we will set it up correctly.

Military families at Eglin and Hurlburt

Okaloosa County is home to Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field, and we write for military families across the area. Active-duty members who remain legal residents of another state can generally keep their home-state registration and insurance while stationed here, though the ninety-day rule and family circumstances can change the answer, so it is worth a five-minute call rather than a guess.

Two deployment notes. Before you reduce a stored vehicle to comprehensive-only coverage, talk to us first. Dropping required coverage on a Florida-registered vehicle creates a lapse, and the state’s reinstatement fees start at 150 dollars and climb to 500 dollars for repeated lapses within three years. If the car is going to sit, surrendering the plate before the coverage comes off avoids that. And several of the carriers we represent offer military discounts, subject to eligibility. It costs nothing to ask.

What we need to quote your auto insurance

The online quote form takes 5 to 10 minutes, shows only the questions that apply to you, and lets you save it and finish later. One form covers the household: cars and trucks, golf carts and LSVs, and boats and jet skis. The fastest way through is to upload your current declarations page, which lets you skip the vehicle questions.

Have these handy: each driver’s date of birth and driver license number; each car’s VIN, or the year, make and model, and the lender if it is financed or leased; a golf cart or LSV’s serial number or VIN and its value with upgrades; a boat’s length, hull ID, horsepower and values; and any accidents, claims or tickets in the household in the last five years. The form never asks for a Social Security number or bank details. We review what you send, shop the carriers we represent that fit, and usually reach out within one business day to go over next steps.

One household, one review

Most of our auto clients did not come to us for auto. They came for a homeowners policy on a coastal house, and the auto followed, because the household works better as one account: home, auto, the LSV in the garage, flood, an umbrella over all of it, and for the many clients who own vacation rentals or long-term rentals nearby, the dwelling policies behind those too. Bundling the auto and umbrella is also where several of our carriers apply their larger discounts, subject to eligibility.

As of October 2026 we place personal auto with carriers including Auto-Owners, our anchor carrier, along with Progressive, GEICO and Liberty Mutual. American Modern handles our golf cart and street-legal LSV work, and we reach specialty markets for the risks standard carriers decline. We will write a standalone auto policy, and we will tell you if the coverage you already have is the better deal. Carrier availability and terms change, and every quote is subject to underwriting and eligibility.

One more thing worth knowing if you are with Auto-Owners or thinking about it: a qualifying life insurance policy from Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company can earn a Life Multi-Policy Discount on an Auto-Owners personal auto policy. We can check for it, subject to eligibility, and our life insurance page explains what we offer. Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company policies have exclusions, limitations, reductions of benefits and terms under which a policy may be continued in force or discontinued. For costs and complete details of the coverage, call or write your insurance agent or the company. The Auto-Owners companies that write auto, home, renters and business policies are separate companies from Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company and are not responsible for its financial condition or contractual obligations.

To start, call the office at 850-622-5283 and ask for Alex Reber, Erica Johnson, Chris Jayne, or Trista Cordell, Fuller Insurance LLC, Florida license L039483. Email with your current declarations page and we will call you back. Or start an auto quote online and send us the basics. The office is at 4821 US Highway 98 W, Suite 103, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459, open 9 to 4, Monday through Thursday, and you are welcome to stop by.

The dates, statutes and figures on this page are as of November 2026: Florida Statutes 627.733, 627.736, 627.727, 324.022, 324.023, 324.0221, 320.02, 320.38, 316.2122 and 316.212; the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announcements of March 5 and October 26, 2026; the Insurance Research Council’s 2025 report, which uses 2023 data; and the Walton County Sheriff’s Office low-speed vehicle rules. Carrier names, coverages, discounts and placements are as of October 2026 and subject to change and to underwriting.