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What changed in Delaware

Insurance law does not sit still, but most guides are written once and left alone. Repealed programs and retired forms keep circulating for years. This is what actually changed inDelaware, when, and where to verify it.

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  1. September 30, 2021

    Crash reporting

    Crash reporting threshold raised from $500 to $2,000

    House Bill 28 of the 151st General Assembly amended 21 Del. C. § 4203. A property-damage crash on a public highway now has to be reported to police only when the apparent damage reaches $2,000, up from $500. The same act set the figure that obliges a police agency to complete the State of Delaware Uniform Traffic Collision Report at $2,000 as well, replacing a $1,000 base that had been which had already climbed to its $1,500 ceiling and stopped there under subsection (f). Delaware still requires the report immediately, and the duty is triggered regardless of dollar amount when anyone is injured or killed or when a driver appears impaired.

    83 Del. Laws, c. 220 (House Bill 28)

  2. July 30, 2021

    Driving uninsured

    Courts may again suspend the $1,500 minimum fine if you buy insurance before sentencing

    Senate Bill 40 of the 151st General Assembly rewrote the last sentence of 21 Del. C. § 2118(s)(1). The old rule locked the minimum fine in place for anyone who had been uninsured for 30 or more consecutive days, unless they could prove the insurer never sent the cancellation notice. The new rule simply lets the court suspend the minimum fine, in whole or in part, on evidence that the defendant secured insurance between the date of the charge and the date of sentencing. The fine ranges themselves — $1,500 to $2,000 for a first offense, $3,000 to $4,000 for a repeat within 3 years — and the mandatory 6-month license suspension were not changed.

    83 Del. Laws, c. 90 (Senate Bill 40)

  3. December 13, 2017

    Minimum coverage

    Minimum liability limits raised from 15/30/5 to 25/50/10

    House Bill 114 of the 149th General Assembly rewrote 21 Del. C. § 2902(b)(2), lifting bodily injury coverage from $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident to $25,000 and $50,000, and property damage from $5,000 to $10,000. Because § 2118(a)(1) ties the required liability coverage to the Financial Responsibility Law, the change flowed straight through to every registered vehicle. It was approved on June 13, 2017 and took effect 6 months later, applying to policies written or renewed after that date rather than to policies already in force. Sites that still print 15/30/5 or 15/30/10 for Delaware are quoting the pre-2017 law; the old $15,000 / $30,000 / $10,000 figures do survive in 21 Del. C. § 2944, which governs when a crash judgment counts as satisfied, and that is a different rule.

    81 Del. Laws, c. 39 (House Bill 114 as amended by House Amendment 1)

  4. September 21, 2017

    Moving here

    Inspection exemption for newer vehicles extended from 5 to 7 model years

    House Bill 246 of the 149th General Assembly changed 21 Del. C. § 2143(a) so the DMV may waive inspection for the initial registration or renewal of vehicles no older than 7 model years, up from 5. The same act stretched the maximum registration period for those vehicles from 48 to 72 months. The DMV applies the 7-year line to emissions testing as well. Guides that still say a Delaware vehicle starts being inspected in its sixth year are two years off.

    81 Del. Laws, c. 184 (House Bill 246)

What this list does and does not cover

Recorded here: changes to the rules this site tracks for Delaware — liability minimums, SR-22 and proof-of-insurance requirements, penalties for driving uninsured, the fault system, what a lapse costs, new-resident deadlines and crash reporting. Each entry names the session law or statute that made the change and the date it took effect, not the date it was signed.

Not recorded: rate filings, individual insurer decisions, court rulings that do not change the text of the law, and changes to rules outside those seven subjects. A short list does not mean a quiet legislature — it means little moved in the parts of Delaware law a driver has to comply with.

A change that has passed but has not yet taken effect is not shown as current anywhere on this site. It sits on the Delaware pages as a dated pending value and replaces the current figure on the morning it comes into force. You can see every pending change across the country at the top of the national change feed, and the sources behind the Delaware figures on its statute index.