No insurance ticket in Michigan

In Michigan driving uninsured is a misdemeanor: $200 to $500, up to a year, or both — for the owner and for a driver who knows. A car that is not driven on a road needs no security at all.

The offense: section 500.3102

Michigan's no-insurance offense is in its insurance code, not its vehicle code. An owner or registrant who operates a motor vehicle or motorcycle on a public highway, or lets it be operated, without the required security “is guilty of a misdemeanor.” So is a driver who operates it “with the knowledge that the owner or registrant does not have security in full force and effect.” The penalty: a fine of $200 to $500, up to one year in jail, or both.

The presumption

Failing to produce evidence of security when the citation is issued “creates a rebuttable presumption” that the vehicle was uninsured. Rebuttable means it can be answered: proof that the policy was in force on that date is the answer.

Visitors

A nonresident owner of a vehicle or motorcycle registered elsewhere may not operate it in Michigan “for an aggregate of more than 30 days in any calendar year” unless they keep Michigan-compliant security in force.

What security means in Michigan

The owner or registrant must maintain security for personal protection insurance, property protection insurance and residual liability insurance — Michigan's no-fault package — and every automobile policy sold in the state must include them. The liability limits default to $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident for bodily injury, with $10,000 for property damage; a named insured may choose lower bodily-injury limits, but not below $50,000 and $100,000, by signing the director's form.

A car that is not driven does not need it

Michigan says something many states do not: “Security is only required to be in effect during the period the motor vehicle is driven or moved on a highway.” An insurer may delete coverages and keep only comprehensive on a vehicle that is not driven, and must send the insured documentary evidence of the deletion. A stored car can be legal without the full package — until it moves on a road.

Proof, certificates and the VIN record

Insurers give one certificate of insurance per insured vehicle and send the secretary of state the insurer, the insured, the address, each VIN and the policy number, no more often than every 14 days. The secretary of state accepts a VIN transmission as proof of insurance — but the statute is careful about what that proves: it is proof “for motor vehicle registration purposes only and is not evidence that a policy of insurance actually exists.”

Supplying false information to the secretary of state, or using an altered, fraudulent or counterfeit certificate of insurance, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year or a $1,000 fine, or both — a heavier ceiling than the no-insurance offense itself.

The excluded-driver trap

A Michigan policy may exclude a named person from coverage, but only with a printed warning on the policy and the certificate: “Warning—when a named excluded person operates a vehicle all liability coverage is void—no one is insured. Owners of the vehicle and others legally responsible for the acts of the named excluded person remain fully personally liable.” An excluded driver behind the wheel is, for liability purposes, driving an uninsured car.

Where the SR-22 comes in

The SR-22 is a separate instrument under Michigan's Financial Responsibility Act, filed with the secretary of state, by the insurer, for proof of financial responsibility for the future. It certifies 50/100/10 for 3 years, under a different chapter with different figures from the no-fault minimums above. The Michigan SR-22 page covers when it is required and the gap between the two sets of limits.

What this page does not cover

License and registration consequences under the Michigan Vehicle Code for failing to show proof of insurance (including section 257.328) were not available to read for this page, so none are described here.

Common questions