Louisiana SR-22 Insurance: Who Needs a Filing and for How Long
Yes — Louisiana uses the SR-22. How long it stays on file: 3 years.
- Used in this state
- Yes
- Form
- SR-22
The statute speaks only of a certificate filed electronically with the commissioner by the insurer as proof of financial responsibility (R.S. 32:898). OMV calls that filing an SR-22.
- How long it must stay on file
- 3 years
R.S. 32:909 requires proof to be kept on file for three years in every case where it is required. OMV runs the clock from the date of conviction for a DWI and from the date of arrest for a chemical-test refusal.
- What triggers it
- A DWI or underage DUI conviction · Refusing a chemical test for intoxication · A crash while the vehicle carried no liability security · A crash judgment left unsatisfied for 60 days · Conviction for driving unlicensed or operating an unregistered vehicle
- If coverage lapses
- Proof must be re-filed for the rest of the three years
A certified policy cannot be cancelled until ten days after the insurer files notice with the commissioner (R.S. 32:901). If proof was released early because the driver surrendered his license and registration, any application inside the three-year window is refused unless proof is re-established for the remainder (R.S. 32:908(C)).
- Reinstatement fee
- $200
OMV charges $200 to reinstate after a first DWI, $400 after a second and $600 after a third or later. Act 179 of 2026 doubled those figures on August 1, 2026; the statute text on the legislature's site and OMV's own page still showed $100/$200/$300 when this was checked. An underage DUI or a driving-while-suspended reinstatement is $60. All of this is separate from the insurance-lapse reinstatement fee under R.S. 32:863.
Louisiana requires 3 years — the highest of the 37 jurisdictions on this site. The range runs from 1 year to 3 years.
How Louisiana compares with every other state
Every statute cited for Louisiana
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 Louisiana
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.