Everything You Should Know About Driving Without Insurance

It’s fairly common knowledge that you must get insurance before driving a vehicle. Even if you don’t have your own vehicle and have simply borrowed someone’s car, you may need to get an auto insurance policy before taking the driver’s seat.

In every state except New Hampshire and Virginia, a minimum amount of property damage and personal injury liability insurance is required. Some states even require drivers to have personal injury protection, uninsured or underinsured liability coverage.

Yes, it’s illegal to drive without insurance in every state except New Hampshire and Virginia. However, if you’re just driving your parents car or a friend’s car, they must have insurance on the vehicle and you must have gotten permission from the vehicle owner and, of course, have a valid driver’s license.

However, if the vehicle you’re driving is registered in your name, you must have an active auto insurance policy while driving it. If the vehicle isn’t used and just sits on your property, you may not be required to have a policy if it doesn’t touch public roads.

If you’re caught driving a vehicle without insurance, even if you borrowed a vehicle that isn’t insured, you’ll likely face steep penalties to your driving record, including fines of up to $5,000, suspension of your driver’s license and the vehicle’s registration, vehicle impounding and even jail time if you cause an accident.

That doesn’t even include the potential premium increase on your auto policy because you’re likely to be deemed a riskier driver. Too many infractions on your driving record at once, such as driving without insurance and causing an accident, could also result in the requirement to purchase high-risk auto insurance.

You can get your license without having insurance and vice versa, but you must have insurance on a vehicle that you drive on any public road. And it’s smart to have insurance on any vehicle you own or drive regularly.

While the state-by-state penalties and fines can vary widely based on a number of factors, including what your driving record looks like, if you’re a first-time offender and how lenient or hard on you the officer is, the following examples give a good perspective of the average fine and whether or not you’re license or the vehicle’s registration will be suspended.

State | Average Fine | Driving Consequences

By using Clovered’s online quoting form, getting an auto insurance policy that fits your needs and your budget has never been easier. Simply answer a few questions about your vehicle and driving history and one of our licensed agents will pair you with a policy quickly.