States That Don't Require Car Insurance in 2026: New Hampshire, Virginia and Bond Alternatives

You can legally skip car insurance in exactly one state. And even there, the freedom lasts only until you're at fault in a wreck.

New Hampshire lawmakers voted down two bills to end that exception on February 19, 2026, so if you've seen an older list that names a second state, you're looking at information that's at least two years out of date.

Which States Don't Require Car Insurance in 2026?

Just New Hampshire. Every other state, plus Washington, D.C., makes you carry liability coverage or prove some other way that you can pay for the damage you do to other people.

You'll still find plenty of websites listing Virginia as a second exception. They're wrong.

Virginia's General Assembly passed SB 951 in 2023, and the uninsured motor vehicle fee option that let you register a car without a policy ended for good on July 1, 2024.

State	Insurance Required Before July 2024?	Insurance Required in 2026?	What Changed
New Hampshire	No	No	Nothing; HB 1558 and HB 1568 died in the House on Feb. 19, 2026
Virginia	No, if you paid a $500 yearly fee	Yes	Fee repealed July 1, 2024; minimums rose to 50/100/25 on Jan. 1, 2025
Other 48 states and D.C.	Yes	Yes	Many still accept a bond or cash deposit instead of a policy

Source: NH Insurance Department, Citizens Count, NH Liberty Alliance bill tracker and Virginia DMV, checked October 2026.

New Hampshire's Financial Responsibility Law

A financial responsibility law lets you drive without a policy as long as you can pay for an at-fault crash, and New Hampshire's version, the state Insurance Department says, doesn't make you carry auto insurance at all.

But you must be able to show "sufficient funds" after an at-fault accident, and if you can't, the state can suspend your driving privileges until you do.

Virginia's Uninsured Motor Vehicle Fee (Repealed)

The uninsured motor vehicle (UMV) fee was a $500 yearly charge that let Virginians register a car without insurance. It never covered a thing. You stayed personally on the hook for every dollar of damage.

Hardly anyone used it. Insurify estimated that only about 1,300 vehicles paid the fee in 2022, working backward from $650,000 in fee revenue, so the repeal touched a sliver of Virginia's drivers.

Virginia has required 50/100/25 liability limits since January 1, 2025, and if you're caught without them, the DMV suspends your license and registration until you pay a $600 noncompliance fee plus a $145 reinstatement fee.

You'll also have to file an SR-22 for three years, and our Virginia car insurance guide shows what drivers there pay for the 50/100/25 policy you now need.

How Driving Without Insurance Works in New Hampshire

Nobody asks for proof of insurance when you register a car in Concord or Nashua. The test comes later.

If you're in a crash that causes a death, an injury or more than $1,000 in combined damage, you must report it to New Hampshire's DMV in writing within 15 days.

If police at the scene can't confirm your coverage, you'll have to verify it yourself, either online or on form DSMV 385, and that's the moment uninsured drivers get caught.

If you were at fault and can't show you're able to pay the other driver's losses, you can lose your license and your registration until you settle up.

The SR-22 Requirement

Even the one state without a mandate forces some drivers to buy a policy.

New Hampshire's DMV will put you under an SR-22 filing requirement for at least three years from the crash or conviction date, and four events trigger it.

• An at-fault crash you couldn't pay for
• Any DWI conviction, first offense included
• You leave the scene of an accident.
• A second reckless operation conviction lands on your record.

What a New Hampshire Policy Must Include

Most Granite State drivers buy coverage anyway; roughly 90% of registered cars there are insured, the Concord Monitor reported in January 2026.

Once you buy a policy, though, state law sets a floor on what it must include, and you can compare that floor below with Virginia, which now requires twice the bodily injury limits.

Coverage	New Hampshire (If You Insure)	Virginia (Mandatory)	Virginia vs. NH
Bodily injury, per person	$25,000	$50,000	2x higher
Bodily injury, per accident	$50,000	$100,000	2x higher
Property damage	$25,000	$25,000	Same
Medical payments	$1,000	Not required	NH only
Uninsured motorist	Equal to your liability limits	Required, at least 50/100/25	Both require it

Source: NH Insurance Department consumer guide and RSA 264:16 (medical payments); Virginia DMV; limits shown are legal minimums, not recommendations.

The Math on Skipping Coverage

Liability-only insurance in New Hampshire averages $52 a month, or $624 a year, according to Insurify's October 2026 data, which makes it among the cheapest in the country against a national average of $143 a month for all policies.

Now price a single crash. Triple-I puts the average 2024 bodily injury liability claim at $28,278 and the average property damage claim at $6,770.

That's 56 years of New Hampshire liability premiums, gone in one afternoon. And that's an average crash.

New Hampshire Rejected Mandatory Insurance Again in 2026

Two House bills tried to close the exception during the 2026 session, and both would have tied your registration to proof of coverage. Neither survived.

• HB 1568, from Representatives Barton and Graf, would have required 25/50/25 liability at registration starting January 1, 2027, with civil penalties of $250 for a first offense and $500 after that.
• Under HB 1558, you'd have shown proof of insurance or a bond to register, and the state could have suspended your registration without it.

The House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee voted 13-2 that HB 1568 was "inexpedient to legislate," the full House agreed on February 19, and committee chair John Hunt (R-Rindge) told the Concord Monitor the current model works.

He has a point. The Insurance Research Council estimates 10.0% of New Hampshire drivers were uninsured in 2023, below the 15.4% national rate, and 37 states plus D.C., all with full mandates in 2023, posted higher rates.

State	Insurance Mandatory?	Uninsured Drivers (2023)	vs. National Rate (15.4%)
Maine	Yes	5.7%	-9.7 points
Massachusetts	Yes	7.9%	-7.5 points
New Hampshire	No	10.0%	-5.4 points
Vermont	Yes	11.8%	-3.6 points
Virginia	Fee option until mid-2024	12.9%	-2.5 points
Florida	Yes	20.6%	+5.2 points
Mississippi	Yes	28.2%	+12.8 points

Source: Insurance Research Council, Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists: 2017-2023 (2025), state estimates based on the ratio of uninsured motorist claims to bodily injury claims. New Hampshire ranks 12th lowest of 50 states and D.C.

So a mandate alone doesn't get people insured. Mississippi requires coverage and still had more than 1 in 4 drivers uninsured in 2023, which is why uninsured motorist coverage pays off for you in every state.

Our ranking of states with the most uninsured drivers has the full list.

Alternatives to Car Insurance in States That Require It

A mandate doesn't always mean you need a policy, because many states let you prove you can cover a claim yourself, and each method has its own legal name.

Surety Bond (Auto Insurance Bond)

A surety bond is a bonding company's promise to pay valid claims against you, up to the bond amount, and California, for one, accepts a $35,000 bond from a California-licensed surety, the state DMV says.

The catch? A bond isn't insurance. If the surety pays a $20,000 claim, it'll expect all $20,000 back from you.

Ohio takes a $30,000 bond from a surety company, or a real estate bond backed by at least $60,000 of equity held by two owners, while Washington sets its bond minimum at $60,000.

Cash or Securities Deposit

With a cash deposit, you hand money to the state, which holds it to pay judgments against you and gives you a certificate to show as proof.

• Texas wants $55,000 in cash or qualifying securities with the state Comptroller, under Transportation Code 601.122.
• In Arizona, it's $40,000 in cash or CDs with the State Treasurer, and one certificate can cover up to 25 noncommercial vehicles.
• Ohio's figure is $30,000, held by the Treasurer of State.
• Washington: a certificate of deposit of at least $60,000.

Texas will cost you the most. A 2014 opinion from the Texas Attorney General (GA-1068) concluded that each registered vehicle needs its own $55,000 deposit, because the law ties financial responsibility to a specific vehicle rather than to you.

Own two cars? That's $110,000 sitting with the state.

Ohio adds a twist you won't like. The BMV's application form says interest on your deposit goes to the state's General Fund, and you waive any claim to it.

Run the numbers. If your $30,000 could earn 4% in a savings account, you're giving up about $1,200 a year, which is roughly what a liability-only policy costs at Insurify's October 2026 national average of $99 a month.

Self-Insurance Certificate

A certificate of self-insurance is built for fleets, not families. Ohio limits it to owners of more than 25 vehicles and Washington's DOL starts at 26, so unless you run a delivery business, it's off the table for you.

State	Bond or Deposit Amount	Minimum Liability Limits	Most a Minimum Policy Pays Per Crash	Deposit as % of Policy Maximum
Ohio	$30,000	25/50/25	$75,000	40%
California	$35,000	30/60/15	$75,000	47%
Arizona	$40,000	25/50/15	$65,000	62%
Texas	$55,000 per vehicle	30/60/25	$85,000	65%
Washington	$60,000	25/50/10	$60,000	100%

Source: California DMV (FFVR 18), Arizona State Treasurer, Texas Transportation Code 601.122, Ohio BMV Form 3146 and Washington DOL, checked October 2026; policy maximum adds the per-accident injury and property limits.

Look at Ohio's row. A $30,000 deposit backs just 40% of what the cheapest legal policy would pay on one bad crash, so any judgment above it lands on you.

No State Requires Full Coverage

You might also be searching for states that don't require full coverage. The answer is all of them, since no state law anywhere makes you buy collision or comprehensive coverage.

Your lender does, though. Finance or lease a car and the contract will demand both, since Triple-I's 2024 averages put a collision claim at $5,489 and a comprehensive claim at $2,306.

Own your car outright? Then those two are your call. Our guide on how much car insurance you need walks through when dropping them makes sense, and the 12 no-fault states also add personal injury protection to your required list.

Penalties for Driving Uninsured in Mandatory States

Outside New Hampshire, getting caught uninsured costs you fast. Washington's DOL warns of a fine of $550 or more, and Virginia's $600 noncompliance fee comes before you can even reinstate.

If you live in Tennessee, it's about to get worse. Public Chapter 1077 raises the fee for a continued coverage lapse from $100 to $1,000 on July 1, 2027, as we covered in our Tennessee uninsured driver penalties report.

For fines, suspension periods and SR-22 rules in all 50 states, check our car insurance requirements by state guide.

Should You Skip Car Insurance in New Hampshire?

Honestly, almost never. The law lets you, but the $35,048 average crash bill makes it a bad trade for you unless you're sitting on serious cash reserves you'd be comfortable losing.

If cost is what's pushing you toward going bare, start with our New Hampshire car insurance rates page and the Progressive review. A $47 policy is a lot cheaper than a lawsuit.

Frequently Asked Questions