What Is SR22 Car Insurance?
The SR22 is a state mandate administered in 42 of the 50 states. Selected drivers must carry the SR22 in order to maintain their driving and registration privileges. These drivers are often high risk, as they have usually been cited with one or more serious traffic violations.
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SR22
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The SR22 is a certificate attached to your auto insurance policy. Your auto insurance company will communicate your policy's inception and cancellation activity to your state's department of motor vehicles or department of insurance. Cancellation notifications are issued to the state regardless of reason, including for nonpayment, non-renewal and cancels per policyholder's request.
Policy
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There are very few differences between a policy that carries an SR22 and one that does not. However, those differences can have a great impact on the policy premium. Like the standard auto insurance policy, the SR22 policy can have any combination of vehicles, drivers and coverages, as long as the coverages meet the state's minimum insurance requirements. Though the SR22 is only an attachment to the auto policy, the SR22 requirement, as well as the activity that resulted in the certificate, often place policyholders in a nonstandard or high-risk market.
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High Risk
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In most cases, states require drivers to carry SR22 certificates on their auto insurance policy after being cited for serious traffic violations. These violations include driving uninsured, being uninsured at the time of an accident, driving under the influence and vehicular homicide. In addition, drivers may be required to carry an SR22 after failing to verify their insurance coverage during a state random verification request or upon court order. The existence of these aforementioned activities on the policyholder's motor vehicle report and accident history result in a higher risk for the insurance carrier which, in turn, results in an increased insurance premium.
Which States?
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Several states do not require non-compliant drivers to carry SR22 certificates on their auto policies. As of February 2011, these states include Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. However, these states will issue requests if the resident driver is required to maintain the certificate for another state. New York and North Carolina, however, do not issue SR22 certificates under any circumstances, even if the resident driver is required to maintain the certificate for another state.
Florida and Virginia
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The SR22, or state-required insurance certificate, has many names. While most states refer to this filing as an SR22 filing, certificate or bond, Florida and Virginia refer to the filing as an FR-44, or financial responsibility filing. Although the FR-44 is issued under the same circumstances as the SR22, there are some differences. In Virginia, the FR-44 requires drivers to carry higher limits of liability than compliant drivers. Instead of coverages of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, these FR-44 drivers must carry bodily injury and property damage coverages of $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident and $40,000 for property damage. FR-44 Floridian drivers must carry much higher limits than the state's $10,000 per person, $20,000 per accident option. Non-compliant Floridian drivers do not have the option to carry liability limits. These drivers must carry a minimum of $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident with $50,000 for property in order to remain compliant with their financial responsibility filing.
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