What a no-insurance ticket costs in Indiana

Can it be dismissed?

If you were in fact insured, there are two paths. For the BMV suspension, your insurer can file a Certificate of Compliance covering the vehicle and date, and the BMV removes the suspension from your record (BMV; IC 9-25-6-3). For the court case, the BMV says that if you are convicted of operating without insurance you must contact the court to find out whether you can provide proof of insurance to it to remove the conviction from your driving record. Driving a rental, a peer to peer shared car, or an employer’s vehicle on the job is a separate defense to the BMV suspension (IC 9-25-6-3(f)).

What happens beyond the fine

Under IC 9-25-4-1 a person who drives without financial responsibility is subject to suspension of driving privileges, registration, or both, and the BMV says Indiana law requires it to impose suspensions on drivers found to have operated without the required coverage. The mechanism is a verification request: the BMV asks for proof after a crash report, after a misdemeanor or felony conviction involving a vehicle, after a pointable moving violation within a year of two others, or after any pointable violation by someone previously suspended for insurance (IC 9-25-9-1; BMV). Your insurer then has 90 days to file a Certificate of Compliance (IC 9-25-2-1.4). If none arrives, or it shows no coverage on that date, the BMV must immediately suspend your driving privileges, registration, or both (IC 9-25-6-3(d)). Selling the vehicle or letting the registration expire does not prevent the suspension (§6-3(e)).

If you cannot show you were covered on the date in question, the BMV stays the suspension once your insurer electronically files an SR22, proof of future financial responsibility, and ends it after 180 days if no lapse is reported (IC 9-25-6-3(g)). If the BMV learns of a lapse during those 180 days, it lifts the stay and suspends you again (§6-3(h)); the BMV says the suspension then lasts until it receives an effective SR22 or the requirement period expires. Only your insurer can file; the BMV does not accept policy documents from drivers.

Ending the suspension by holding the SR22 for the full 180 days means no reinstatement fee is owed (IC 9-25-6-15(e)). Otherwise the fee is $250 for a first suspension, $500 for a second, and $1,000 for a third or subsequent (IC 9-25-6-15(b)). The BMV cautions that paying the fees without SR22 coverage may leave your privileges suspended, and lists the exact amount for each suspension on your Official Driver Record. A criminal court in your county of residence may waive part or all of a fee if it finds you indigent and you have shown proof of future financial responsibility (IC 9-25-6-15.1).