Karen Condor

Insurance and Finance Writer

Karen Condor is an insurance and finance writer who has degrees in both journalism and communications. She began her career as a reporter covering local and state affairs. Her extensive experience includes management positions in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and online marketing content. She has utilized her researching, writing, and communications talents in the areas of human resources...

Insurance and Finance Writer

Jeff Root

Licensed Insurance Agent

Jeff is a well-known speaker and expert in life insurance and financial planning. He has spoken at top insurance conferences around the U.S., including the InsuranceNewsNet Super Conference, the 8% Nation Insurance Wealth Conference, and the Digital Life Insurance Agent Mastermind. He has been featured and quoted in Nerdwallet, Bloomberg, Forbes, U.S. News & Money, USA Today, and other leading...

Licensed Insurance Agent

UPDATED: Jan 8, 2024

Advertiser Disclosure

It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.

Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We are not affiliated with any one insurance provider and cannot guarantee quotes from any single provider. Our insurance industry partnerships don’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own. To compare quotes from many different companies please enter your ZIP code on this page to use the free quote tool. The more quotes you compare, the more chances to save.

Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about life insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything life insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by life insurance experts.

UPDATED: Jan 8, 2024

Advertiser Disclosure

It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.

Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We are not affiliated with any one insurance provider and cannot guarantee quotes from any single provider. Our insurance industry partnerships don’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own. To compare quotes from many different companies please enter your ZIP code on this page to use the free quote tool. The more quotes you compare, the more chances to save.

UPDATED: Jan 8, 2024Fact Checked

car

Insurance Q&A: “Is car insurance required in every state?”

Simply put, no, car insurance is not required in every state.

Currently, 48 states and Washington D.C. require that you obtain mandatory minimum car insurance before operating a motor vehicle.

Basically, this means you have to have proof from an insurance company, evidenced by an I.D. card or a Declarations Page, to document that you have an active insurance policy.

Think of it this way, you wouldn’t want to be injured by a driver who didn’t have enough money to get you back on your feet, right?

So which two states are behind the times?

Wisconsin and New Hampshire. Tsk. Tsk. (Update: Auto insurance now mandatory in Wisconsin)

Should we all move to one of these states tomorrow to save big bucks on car insurance? It’s not recommended.  There’s a catch to the “no insurance” requirement in each of these states.

While you don’t necessarily have to carry insurance on your vehicle, you do have to prove that you are in a financial position to pay for damages you may be liable for as a result of a car accident.

Read More: How to Get Car Insurance Coverage in Another State

How is this accomplished?

Well, for the “average Joe,” it turns out an insurance policy is the best way to satisfy this financial requirement if you don’t have a lot of cash on hand.

But there are other options:

Post a Surety Bond: I’ll spare you the entire explanation, but basically it’s similar to how an insurance policy works, though you don’t necessarily make monthly payments. You just have to prove you have the money at the time the bond is issued.

If you cause an accident, and don’t have the cash on hand, a third party company will pay for the damages, then you have to pay all of the money back to them – with insurance, you don’t have to pay it all back.

Use Personal Funds: This is best described as a form of self-insurance, where you can prove you have a least the minimum state liability car insurance requirement on hand. Again, you’d have to be in a pretty good financial position to have this type of cash on hand in case something comes up.

Get a Certificate of Self-Insurance: See explanation above. This is another form of a bond, where you put all the money in “up front,” and don’t have access to it. Your money would just sit there, waiting for you to get in an accident.

So at the end of the day, insurance isn’t required in every state, but you better be able to prove financial responsibility in every state before you operate a motor vehicle.

I highly recommend you get insurance quotes online or contact an independent agent if you are currently uninsured. This is the best way to ensure you get the best coverage at the lowest available rate.

Read More: State Department of Insurance Contact Info

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Karen Condor

Insurance and Finance Writer

Karen Condor is an insurance and finance writer who has degrees in both journalism and communications. She began her career as a reporter covering local and state affairs. Her extensive experience includes management positions in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and online marketing content. She has utilized her researching, writing, and communications talents in the areas of human resources...

Insurance and Finance Writer

Jeff Root

Licensed Insurance Agent

Jeff is a well-known speaker and expert in life insurance and financial planning. He has spoken at top insurance conferences around the U.S., including the InsuranceNewsNet Super Conference, the 8% Nation Insurance Wealth Conference, and the Digital Life Insurance Agent Mastermind. He has been featured and quoted in Nerdwallet, Bloomberg, Forbes, U.S. News & Money, USA Today, and other leading...

Licensed Insurance Agent

Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about life insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything life insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by life insurance experts.