Car insurance in Miami Beach, FL, for Collins, Alton and the causeways.

Two roads on the island, four ways off it

Miami Beach is a barrier island between the Atlantic and Biscayne Bay, in Miami-Dade County. The 2020–2024 Census estimates put the population at about 82,000. About 53% of residents were born outside the United States. About 52% of residents age 5 and older speak Spanish at home. Census table C16001 counts Russian, Polish and other Slavic languages as one line: about 1,300 people, roughly 1.7% of that age group. The line is not a count of Russian alone. About 13,400 housing units, roughly 21% of the stock, were vacant for seasonal or occasional use. A large share of the cars that sleep here are not here all year.

Collins Avenue (A1A) is the ocean road, from South Beach through the Art Deco streets and north toward Surfside and Bal Harbour. Alton Road is the bay-side parallel, the route that still moves when Collins is blocked by a crash, an event or standing water. Washington Avenue carries local traffic between them in South Beach. The ways off the island are the causeways: the MacArthur Causeway toward downtown Miami, the Venetian Causeway to the same side of the bay on a lower bridge, the Julia Tuttle Causeway (I-195) from 41st Street, and the John F. Kennedy Causeway at 79th Street toward North Bay Village. When one causeway is closed, the others take the load. There is no fifth route.

The average one-way commute is about 27 minutes. About 9% of workers who leave home for work travel 60 minutes or more. South Beach adds a kind of driving the commute tables do not describe well: valet lanes, pedestrians in the travel lane, scooters, and a car that sits in a garage under a pre-war building or a later tower while the owner is away. The garaging address on the policy has to be the island address, not a mainland ZIP left over from an old declaration.

Florida’s minimum, on a street full of people on foot

Every registered car needs $10,000 of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 of Property Damage Liability (PDL), kept in force with no lapse. PIP is no-fault coverage for your own injuries: 80% of reasonable medical bills and 60% of lost income. It generally also covers you and relatives who live with you if a car hits you while you are walking or cycling. That matters on Collins, Ocean Drive and Lincoln Road, where people cross mid-block. Initial treatment has to start within 14 days, and benefits above $2,500 generally require a physician to find an emergency medical condition. Bills to repeal PIP died in committee in March 2026, so the system is unchanged for now.

What the law does not require of most drivers is bodily injury liability. The Insurance Research Council estimated that about 20.6% of Florida drivers were uninsured in 2023, about one in five. When that driver hurts you, uninsured motorist coverage (UM) is what responds above PIP. Insurers must offer UM at your BI limits. You can lower it or reject it only in writing. Without BI you generally cannot buy UM. If the household has two or more cars, ask whether UM is stacked. Since March 24, 2023, Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule has barred recovery from the other driver when you are found more than 50% at fault for your own injuries, and most negligence lawsuits now have a two-year deadline instead of four.

Water at the beach, glass from the towers

Miami-Dade is in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone. That is a building rule. For a car, the practical history is wind debris and salt water. Hurricane Wilma, in October 2005, broke glass on South Florida high-rises. The National Hurricane Center found that upper floors saw stronger wind than the standard 10-meter measurement. A car in an open parking level or on a ramp can take that debris. During Hurricane Irma in September 2017, the National Weather Service concluded that sustained winds in coastal Miami-Dade from downtown Miami northward, including Miami Beach, likely peaked around 65 to 70 mph, with Category 1 gusts across nearly all of the county. Along the Atlantic beachfront, including Miami Beach, inundation was generally about 2 to 3 feet and largely confined to the immediate beachfront. That is not a story of the whole island under deep surge. It is a story of cars and garage entries on the low streets, and of comprehensive coverage that has to be on the policy before the storm is threatening. Flood water is not a collision claim. Insurers can stop accepting changes at that point.

After a crash with injuries, a death, or apparent damage of at least $2,000, Florida requires a report to the police, the sheriff or the Florida Highway Patrol. On the causeways that is often a city or county officer, and on the interstate approaches the Highway Patrol. Photograph the cars, the other driver’s license and insurance card, and get medical care inside 14 days so PIP is not lost. Then call us with the claim number.

A foreign license and a Florida registration

Visitors may drive with a valid license from the country where they live. Florida’s driver handbook describes the non-resident exception as an International Driving Permit carried with that license. The permit is a translation, not a license by itself. Carry it if your license is not in English. You are treated as a Florida resident, and you then have 30 days to get a Florida license, if you take a job here, put a child in public school, register to vote, file for a homestead exemption, or live here more than six months in a row. To title and register a car you also need a policy from an agent licensed in Florida, generally within 10 days of becoming a resident. Whether a company will accept a foreign license is an underwriting question. Send the license and the declarations page. We will tell you what we can place. We do not promise a policy. M&K Agency is a family-owned agency with a team of 12 and more than 5,000 clients across Florida. Send us your policy and we’ll check your coverage.

More for this area

• Condo insurance in Miami Beach, FL
• Car insurance in Miami-Dade County
• Guide: hit by a driver with no insurance? (uninsured motorist coverage)
• Car accident in Miami-Dade: what to do next

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