Minimum Car Insurance Coverage in Indiana
First, the basics: Indiana state law requires all vehicle owners to have insurance. The minimum liability insurance requirement in Indiana is 25/50/25. That is, you must carry a minimum of:
- $25,000 in coverage for bodily injury to or the death of one individual;
- $50,000 for bodily injury to or the death of two or more individuals in any one accident, and;
- $25,000 for damage to or the destruction of property in one accident.
Indiana Form SR50 – What You Need to Know
If you’re convicted of a moving violation or you’re involved in an accident in Indiana, you’ll need to complete a special form – the SR50, and submit it to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The purpose of the SR50 is simply to verify to the BMV that you had insurance in force at the time of the incident.
All the Form SR50 contains is your name, your driver’s license number, the effective date of insurance coverage, and the expiration date of your insurance coverage.
You also need to complete the form if you are pulled over and unable to show proof of insurance at that time. After your citation, the BMV will send you a notice to your mailing address of record with a copy of the form. It will be sent to the address on file with the BMV.
If your address has changed, take the initiative to download the form yourself, mail it in, and get your drivers’ license updated with your new address.
After an accident or moving violation, you must also have your insurance company file a Certificate of Compliance (COC) with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles on your behalf.
The BMV must receive and process the Certificate of Compliance within 90 days of their request for verification of financial responsibility. If you blow this deadline, the state will automatically suspend your license.
Indiana Form SR50 and Out-of-State Drivers
If you’re not an Indiana resident, and you are involved in an accident or cited for a moving violation in Indiana, you should submit the Out of State Residency Affidavit. This waives the SR22 and SR50 requirements in Indiana. However, if you’re cited for Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) or other significant offense, you need to make two phone calls: One to an attorney; The other to one of our DUI, high-risk driver, and specialist SR 22 insurance agents.
SR22 Insurance in Indiana
SR22 isn’t insurance. It’s just a form your insurance company or agent files on your behalf with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The purpose of Indiana form SR22 is to verify that you have insurance in force on a continuing basis. When your insurance company files a Form SR22 on your behalf, they are also verifying to the State of Indiana that they will notify them if your insurance lapses for any reason.
If your insurance lapses, the state will suspend your license, pending receipt of a new form SR22.
Depending on your carrier, you can expect to pay an SR22 filing fee, which is usually between $40 and $70. This is a one-time fee.
However, you can also expect your insurance premiums to go up when you file an SR22 on your main policy. This is because the insurance company will flag you as a high-risk driver. In some cases, your carrier may drop you altogether.
In Indiana, you will need to maintain an SR22 for at least three years for your first two offenses. Your third offense will result in an SR22 period of at least five years. Your premium will likely remain elevated for that entire time. But you can mitigate the damage by shopping around for the best insurance carrier.
High Risk Driver? Here’s Why Your Current Car Insurance Agent Might Suck
That’s where we come in.
SelectSR22insurance.com (Select Insurance Group) is built for higher-risk drivers.
Insurance companies all price risk very differently. Some are more forgiving of different traffic offenses than others – including DUIs and, in Indiana, OWIs. Some are more aggressively priced in different zip codes than others. Some will keep premiums high for three years following an OWI, and others will begin to lower rates much sooner if you can maintain a good driving record.
At Select, we have an advantage over many alternatives. We’re not captive to a single insurance company. Many household names in the insurance business – including big advertisers – have entirely captive sales forces. No matter what your situation is, they can only sell you policies from one company.
That’s not much of a choice. And it really hurts higher-risk drivers, who are often much better served by smaller, niche insurance companies who are more understanding of drivers with less-than-perfect driving records.
When you contact us. we shop your application around to as many as a dozen different carriers – each with their own unique advantages and disadvantages when it comes to pricing, underwriting, and policy design.
Not every carrier is created equal. And just because your carrier had a good price before you got in trouble doesn’t meant they are going to be competitively priced now.
Furthermore, not all agents are equipped to handle SR22 business. We’ve invested in the technology to file your SR22 and other documents electronically, directly to the Indiana BMV. So if your license has been suspended pending receipt of certain filings, our electronic transmission capability can get you back on the road much sooner.
Contact us today, and speak with a DUI/OWI insurance specialist. We work with folks like you every day.
