Once you understand liability limits, the next question is how the limit is structured, because it changes what happens in a serious crash.
Split limits vs combined single limit
| Split limits | Combined single limit | |
|---|---|---|
| How limits work | Separate caps, like per person, per accident, and property | One pooled limit for the whole accident |
| Example | 100/300/100 | 300,000 combined |
| Flexibility at claim time | Less, each cap is fixed | More, one limit covers any mix |
| Typical use | Common on personal auto | Common where higher protection is wanted |
What split limits mean
Split limits divide your liability into three separate buckets, written as three numbers. 100/300/100 gives 100,000 dollars per injured person, 300,000 dollars total for all injuries in one accident, and 100,000 dollars for property damage. Each bucket is capped on its own. If one person’s injuries exceed 100,000 dollars, the per-person cap applies even if the per-accident total has room left.
What a combined single limit means
A combined single limit is one pool. A 300,000 dollar combined single limit can be used for any mix of bodily injury and property damage from a covered accident, up to that single number. There are no separate per-person or property sub-caps eating into it.
A plain-English example
Imagine an at-fault crash that seriously injures one person for 200,000 dollars and totals a 60,000 dollar vehicle. Under 100/300/100 split limits, the injured person is capped at 100,000 dollars even though their costs are higher, and the property side pays the vehicle. Under a 300,000 dollar combined single limit, the full pool is available, so the same claim may be covered more completely. The total “size” looked similar; the behavior was not.
Why this notation matters when you buy at the minimum
Every state minimum we deal with is written in split-limit notation, which is the practical reason to understand it. When a quote says you are at your state’s minimum, it is telling you the three leftmost numbers and nothing else.
In Oregon the liability floor is 25/50/20: $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per crash, and $20,000 for damage to someone else’s property. Oregon’s stated minimum requirements also include personal injury protection and uninsured motorist coverage, which those three numbers do not describe (Oregon DMV, Insurance Requirements, accessed October 26, 2026). The other states we file in set their own figures, and which filing form applies lists each with its source.
Two things follow. The property damage number is usually the smallest of the three and the one most likely to be exhausted by a single late-model vehicle. And the certificate evidences that a qualifying policy is in force: it does not cap your limits, and it is no evidence that the limits are adequate.
What it does not follow is that every filing sits at the ordinary minimum. In Oregon, ORS 806.075 requires a person convicted of DUII under ORS 813.010 to hold a certificate showing bodily injury liability of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident, maintained in the statutory amounts for three years from the date the first filing is required (ORS 806.075). Against the 25/50/20 floor above, those two bodily injury figures double.
The property damage number is unsettled and we are not going to resolve it here. ORS 806.075 as written says $10,000, below the $20,000 in the ordinary schedule. The section opens “Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,” which makes the general minimums in ORS 806.070 and ORS 806.080(1)(c) hard to read straight across, and it has not been amended since 1991. What the regulator says it does is this: in a November 2021 industry-meeting presentation — slides, not a rule or bulletin — Oregon’s Division of Financial Regulation described the $10,000 as an error left behind when other statutes were updated in 2009 and ORS 806.075 was not updated with them, and said it applies $20,000 through product review, that industry has complied, and that the Oregon Department of Justice had agreed this was within its authority (Oregon DFR, Property and Casualty Insurance Industry Meeting, November 10, 2021, page 25). We have found nothing newer restating it.
Practically, then, do not read the statute as permission to carry less property damage than the ordinary minimum. Treat the bodily injury increase as the change a DUII filing brings, and confirm the rest with your carrier and DMV. Which numbers apply to you depends on the trigger, not just the state, and our car insurance after a DUI page sets out the Oregon case. If you are weighing limits generally, what each number actually pays works through it.
Which is more flexible
A combined single limit is often the more flexible structure because it does not trap coverage in buckets. It is not always available or priced the same, and split limits are perfectly workable at high enough numbers. The point when comparing quotes is to know which structure you are being offered and how it would behave in a bad accident, not just the headline number.
Questions to ask your advisor
- Does my policy use split limits or a combined single limit?
- How much would actually be available if one accident seriously injured more than one person?
- Does my limit structure meet the underlying requirement for my umbrella policy?
- Would a combined single limit be available to me, and what would it change in price?
- Am I comparing quotes on the same worst-case basis, not just the headline number?
Want guidance first? Compare your coverage. Already know what you need? Get a quote.
Continue the series
You are reading part 3 of How to Compare Auto Insurance Quotes Without Getting Burned.
Previous: Auto Liability Limits Explained