I have been in Insurance for 10 years, I have always sold high liability limits because honestly the state minimum will not protect you against anything other than a very minor fender bender. The real purpose of insurance is to protect you against the things that will force you to loose your retirement, home, or any other assets you have worked hard to get.
 Many do not see the liability portion as the important part but only want to make sure that their car has coverage and that they only are out $100 if they crash. This is important but not as important as the protection against your assets, at the time of needing your car fixed its important that you don't pay more than $100 to get it fixed.  Shouldn't it be more important that at the time of an accident that you dont loose thousands or hundreds of thousands because of a law suit?
If you have a very poor driving record I understand that getting insurance can be difficult and very expensive, but for most drivers that don't have any issues getting higher limits of liability actually may cost you less because it takes you into a preferred rating class. I actually had an insured this morning that had Progressive state minimum coverage 25,000/50,000 his deductibles were $250. We used the SAME company increased his limits to $250,000/$500,000 10X's the coverage and his premium went down $15. 
The reason was he was a preferred driver in a substandard product, paying the price for substandard  coverage but very qualified for a Preferred policy.
 This isn't always the case but many times you can increase your deductible from $250 to $500 and double, tripple or more your liability coverage and not pay any more premium.
 I always ask people at the time of a loss would it be easier to come up with an extra $250 or $250,000?