Kansas SR-22 Insurance: Who Needs a Filing and for How Long
Not by that name — Kansas requires a certificate of insurance filed by the insurer, which does the SR-22's job. How long it stays on file: 1 year.
- Used in this state
- Yes
Kansas law requires the driver to acquire insurance and the insurance company to keep evidence of it on file with the Division of Vehicles. The statutes never use the term "SR-22" — they say the division "shall require a person to acquire insurance and for such person's insurance company to maintain on file with the division evidence of such insurance". The obligation applies whether or not the person owns a vehicle.
- Form
- Certificate of insurance filed by the insurer (no SR-22)
Kansas never says "SR-22". The statute asks for "evidence of such insurance" filed with the Division of Vehicles by an insurer authorized to write here, and neither the Division's forms list nor the driver's handbook uses the SR-22 name. An insurer licensed in other states will usually file it on their SR-22 form anyway (K.S.A. 40-3118(d)).
- How long it must stay on file
- 1 year
One year, not the three years most states use. The statute sets the length but not the starting point. A driver suspended for letting coverage lapse has to carry the same filing before the suspension is lifted.
- What triggers it
- Driving without the required liability insurance (K.S.A. 40-3104) · Driving while your privilege is canceled, suspended or revoked · Driving under the influence (K.S.A. 8-1567) · Vehicular homicide · Leaving the scene of an accident or failing to perform the duties required there · Any felony in which a motor vehicle was used · A fraudulent driver's license application, or perjury in one · A suspension by the division for failing to maintain continuous financial security
The list is the one in K.S.A. 8-285, the habitual violator definition, but the filing is triggered by a single conviction for any of those offenses — you do not have to become a habitual violator first. A conviction from another state counts. Three convictions from that same list inside five years is a separate matter: that makes you a habitual violator and revokes your driving privileges for three years.
- If coverage lapses
- Suspension resumes until a new filing reaches the division
The insurer must mail notice to the director the moment a policy on file is terminated, by either side, for any reason. That notice is prima facie evidence that no financial security exists, and the driving privileges and registration go back under suspension until satisfactory proof is filed again and the reinstatement fee is paid. Routine policy events — adding or dropping a vehicle or driver, a renewal, a new policy from the same company — do not count as termination, and nothing is sent while a grace period for payment is still running.
- Reinstatement fee
- $100
$100, or $300 if the registration is revoked within one year of a prior revocation under the same act.
Kansas requires 1 year — the lowest of the 37 jurisdictions on this site. The range runs from 1 year to 3 years.
How Kansas compares with every other state
Every statute cited for Kansas
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 Kansas
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.