Arkansas SR-22 Insurance: Who Needs a Filing and for How Long
Yes — Arkansas uses the SR-22.
- Used in this state
- Yes
Yes, but without the three-year clock most guides still print. Act 1142 of 2013 repealed § 27-19-721, the section that let the Office of Driver Services release a filing three years after it was first required, and repealed the money-deposit and substitution-of-proof sections beside it. What is left says only that the driver must "give and thereafter maintain" proof of financial responsibility for the future (§ 27-19-703(b)); neither the Code nor the department's rules set an end date. Ask the Office of Driver Services how long your own filing has to stay on file.
- Form
- SR-22
Arkansas Code never says "SR-22". It says an insurance carrier files a written certificate with the Office of Driver Services certifying that a motor vehicle liability policy is in effect (§ 27-19-712). The name comes from the state's own rule: 27 CAR § 30-182 calls that certificate "an SR-22 form" and lists what it has to contain. Its opposite number is the SR-26, the notice an insurer files to cancel the certified policy (27 CAR § 30-184).
- What triggers it
- Any conviction or bail forfeiture that suspends or revokes your license · A conviction for driving while unlicensed, or for driving an unregistered vehicle · A judgment over $1,000 from a crash, left unsatisfied for 30 days · Failing to deposit security after a crash you were uninsured for
- If coverage lapses
- License and registrations stay suspended until proof is back on file
A certificate filed with the Office of Driver Services is treated as effective until the insurer files the SR-26 notice of cancellation, and a later certificate automatically terminates the one before it (27 CAR §§ 30-183, 30-185). The suspension or revocation that made the filing necessary keeps running, and no new or renewed license and no registration is issued, until the driver gives and then keeps up proof of financial responsibility for the future (§ 27-19-703(b)).
- Reinstatement fee
- $100
$100 for each separate occurrence that produced a suspension order — a single calendar date on which the offense or offenses happened, so one bad night is one fee no matter how many charges (§ 27-16-808(c)). A DWI or BWI suspension is $150 per occurrence instead, and that one is stacked on top of the § 27-16-808 fee rather than replacing it (§ 5-65-119(b)). Registration suspensions are priced separately: see the lapse and uninsured-driving pages.
How Arkansas compares with every other state
Every statute cited for Arkansas
What changed
August 16, 2013
The three-year term for an Arkansas SR-22 was repealed and never replaced
Act 1142 of 2013 (HB1715), a cleanup bill for obsolete provisions in Title 27, repealed Arkansas Code § 27-19-721. That was the section that told the Office of Driver Services to consent to cancellation of a bond or certificate of insurance, or waive the filing requirement, "at any time after three (3) years from the date the proof was required" if no disqualifying conviction had come in during those three years. The same Act repealed § 27-19-717 (cash or securities as an alternative proof), § 27-19-719 (substitution of proof) and § 27-19-720 (other proof may be required). Nothing was put in their place. What is left of the subchapter says only that a driver whose license was suspended or revoked must "give and thereafter maintain" proof of financial responsibility for the future (§ 27-19-703(b)), and the department's own rules on the SR-22 (27 CAR §§ 30-182 through 30-185) set no term either. Comparison sites that state flatly that an Arkansas SR-22 must be carried for three years are quoting a statute that has not existed since August 16, 2013.
Arkansas State Legislature — Acts 2013, No. 1142 (HB1715), enrolled
Why the rule looks like this
- What Changed in 2026Liability minimums doubled in Hawaii, two states dropped pure comparative fault, New Hampshire stopped inspecting cars, and three crash reporting thresholds moved — a dated account of the 2026 changes, and the ones already signed for 2027 and beyond.
- The Fine Is the Cheapest PartA first-offense fine for driving uninsured runs from $30 in Florida to a $1,500 floor in Delaware — but South Carolina's $100 fine arrives with a $700 reinstatement fee, and the reinstatement is usually the bigger number.
- The Form Some States Do Not UseAn SR-22 is a certificate, not a policy — and in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina and Michigan the form does not exist at all.
More on Arkansas
Checked against the primary sources above on September 27, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.