Texas Personal Lines Study Guide

Texas personal lines runs on two engines: an auto statute where the default answers are backwards from most states (PIP is in unless you sign it out), and a cancellation/nonrenewal timetable with a homeowner-protective twist. Master the written-rejection pattern and the 60-day notice rule and the Texas questions start answering themselves.

Auto limits — 30/60/25

Texas minimum liability limits are 30/60/25: $30,000 bodily injury per person, $60,000 per occurrence, $25,000 property damage. Higher than most neighboring states — and the shorthand itself is tested, so say it like a phone number until it sticks.

The written-rejection pattern — Texas’s favorite mechanic

Three coverages share one rule, and it’s the most Texan thing on this exam. UM/UIM must be offered — the insured may reject it, but only in writing. And PIP is automatically included in every Texas auto policy unless the insured rejects it in writing. Not offered-and-accepted: included by default, paying regardless of fault, until a signed rejection removes it.

Fault — the 51% bar

Texas applies modified comparative negligence under the name proportionate responsibility: a claimant more than 50% at fault recovers nothing; at 50% or less, damages shrink by their share. Distinguish this hard from pure comparative states — a 60% at-fault Texas claimant gets zero, not 40%.

The residual market — TAIPA

Drivers the voluntary market won’t touch land in TAIPA — the Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association, the assigned-risk mechanism every authorized auto insurer shares.

Cancellation and nonrenewal — the timetable

A new personal policy gives the insurer a freer hand for its first 60 days. Inside that window, cancellation notice is 30 days for homeowners but only 10 for auto — and 10 days is also the figure for nonpayment or other permitted mid-term grounds. Nonrenewal requires 60 days’ notice for both lines. Reasons work differently by market: personal-lines insureds get the reason in writing on request, while commercial notices must state it up front.

Claims-based nonrenewal — the homeowner shield

Texas restricts punishing homeowners for weather: residential policies may not be nonrenewed for losses caused by natural causes. For other claims, the 3-in-3 rule applies — three qualifying claims in three years can support nonrenewal, but only after a required warning notice following the second. Claims closed without payment don’t count against the insured.