Beginning in 1958, Virginia drivers were able to insure their personal vehicles by paying a fifteen dollar fee. That fee has increased over the past sixty-six years to five hundred dollars. For comparison, that fifteen dollar fee when adjusted for inflation comes out to be equal to one hundred sixty two dollars in 2024. Completely disregarding the inflation rate, that’s just over a two hundred percent increase. This price is already relatively brutal, but a new bill will make it significantly worse.
In 2023, State Sen. Frank Ruff(R) authored and presented Senate Bill 951, which would require any and all Virginia drivers to purchase personal vehicle insurance and be able to prove such before registering a car. Additionally, drivers who do not submit the liability insurance information within a month will have their license suspended.
The bill was approved by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in March of 2023 and although he has allowed the Department of Motor Vehicles to continue registering uninsured vehicles, all of those registrations must expire by July 1st, 2024.
Additionally, the following year, on July 1st, 2025, the minimum liability limits shall rise. The liability limit for the injury or death of one person in a car-related incident shall increase by $20,000, from $30,000 to $50,000, the liability minimums for the injury or death of two or more people shall increase by $40,000, from $60,000 to $100,000, and the minimum liability for property damage shall increase by $15,000, from $20,000 to $35,000.
