SR-22 insurance in Maine

Maine's proof has to certify 50/100/25 — and two smaller amounts written into the same paragraph: $2,000 of medical payments and $500 of towing and storage. You keep it for at least 3 years after reinstatement.

What the Secretary of State will accept

Maine's financial responsibility law is chapter 13 of Title 29-A, and the section that matters most is headed simply “Proof of financial responsibility”. To be accepted as proof, a policy must be in the amount or limit of at least $50,000 per person / $100,000 per accident / $25,000 property damage. The authority is Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 29-A sec. 1605(1)(C).

In plain terms: $50,000 for injury to or death of any one person, $100,000 for one accident that injures more than one person, and $25,000 for damage to property. Those bodily-injury figures are twice the per-person and per-accident amounts in states such as Missouri and Kansas.

Two add-ons that are part of the proof

The same paragraph lists two more amounts, and they are not optional extras. A policy offered as proof must also carry $2,000 of medical payments and $500 for towing and storage charges.

• Medical payments. $2,000 per person for medical costs of the driver and passengers in the insured vehicle, for costs incurred during one year after the injury.
• Towing and storage. Up to $500 per accident for reasonable towing and storage of the insured vehicle, when it is towed at the request of a law enforcement officer.

Both sections exclude a policy that insures more than four vehicles and policies for garages, dealers, repair shops, service stations and parking places. For an individual driver filing proof, they apply.

How a Maine driver ends up needing proof

The chapter has three doors in, and they are worded differently.

After an accident

When the Secretary of State receives a report of an accident that has to be reported, it demands proof of financial responsibility from the owner or operator. If the proof is not given within 30 days, the license, the registration or the right to apply for either is suspended — and the suspension continues until the proof is provided. Ten exceptions are listed, the most common being a driver who already had a policy in effect at the time of the accident.

After a conviction for a motor vehicle violation

For a violation other than OUI, the Secretary of State may suspend the license and the registration until proof is given. The word is “may”: it is a power, not an automatic consequence of every ticket.

After a second OUI in ten years

Here the wording hardens. On an OUI conviction where the person was previously convicted of OUI within a 10-year period, the Secretary of State “may not reinstate the person's license until the person gives proof of financial responsibility,” and the suspension may not be shorter than the original one imposed for the conviction.

A conviction in another state counts: the Secretary of State acts on proper evidence of an out-of-state conviction as if it had happened in Maine.

At least three years, and when the waiver arrives

Maine states the period as a floor. After a conviction and reinstatement of the license and registration, the person “shall maintain proof of financial responsibility for at least 3 years.” Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 29-A sec. 1603(3). The clock in that sentence starts at reinstatement, not at the conviction.

A separate subsection lets the Secretary of State waive the demand for proof “after 3 years from the date of demand for proof.” The accident section uses the same three years from the demand, with a condition: the waiver is available if no further proof is required under the subchapter.

Why the two anchors can disagree

The demand and the reinstatement are rarely the same day. Someone suspended for months before reinstatement will find that three years from the demand arrives before three years from reinstatement. The “at least” in the conviction subsection is the safer reading of when proof can be dropped, and the waiver is something the Secretary of State grants rather than something that happens on its own.

Proof by deposit is renewed yearly

Maine also allows proof by a deposit of money or securities with the Treasurer of State. A depositor receives a certificate of compliance for a period not exceeding one year, and has to submit a fresh statement a month before it expires. If the deposit's value stays below the required amount for 30 days, the certificate is revoked.

What this page does not cover

Maine's OUI penalties, suspension lengths, ignition interlock conditions and reinstatement fees are set in provisions this site has not read, so none of them is described here. The proof period above runs alongside them.

A note on sources

Every Maine section on this page was read on the Legislature's own statute site, and the links go there directly. That site prints the date its data was extracted; read a section there before relying on it for a date-sensitive decision.

Getting a comparable quote in Maine

Check all five lines

50/100/25, plus $2,000 medical payments and $500 towing and storage. A quote that shows the three liability figures only has left out two amounts the proof section requires.

Do not compare with another state's price

A policy written to a 25/50 floor is a different product. Maine's bodily-injury minimums are double that, and the price reflects it.

Count from reinstatement

Plan for at least three years from the day the license and registration come back.

Maine's clock is compared with every other state's in the filing-period guide, and its limits sit in the minimum-limits table.

Common questions about the Maine SR-22