All Va. drivers must have insurance by July 1 All Virginia drivers must have car insurance by July 1 as state drops uninsured fee

A longstanding Virginia law is changing later this summer, and now uninsured Hampton Roads drivers will need to have car insurance by July 1.

For years, Virginia was one of just two states, along with New Hampshire, that did not require car owners to possess auto insurance, according to auto club AAA.

Car owners were required to pay $500 every year to register an uninsured vehicle with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

A fee system has existed since the 1950s, former state Sen. Frank Ruff said in an email. After listening to constituents, Ruff sponsored successful legislation last year to do away with the uninsured fee and require all drivers to have insurance.

"I agreed with them that it made no sense for someone that might have a record of bad driving to simply pay $500 when many good drivers were paying more," Ruff said.

Those constituents included members of the Virginia Loggers Association, a trade group representing the state's logging companies, said Ron Jenkins, the organization's executive director.

In several cases, Jenkins said member truck drivers were involved in wrecks where another uninsured party was at fault. Even after taking those uninsured drivers to court, Jenkins said companies were having to absorb the costs of totaled tractor trailers, which can now cost between $200,000 to $250,000. A vehicle is totaled when the cost of repairs would exceed its value.

"It was not likely that our company owners could really get anything out of the uninsured motorists," Jenkins said.

So, the organization asked Ruff to sponsor the legislation, which passed both chambers of the legislature with minimal opposition.

For the majority of Hampton Roads drivers who already have car insurance, the new law should not have a large impact, said Mark Friedlander, spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute consumer advocacy group.

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The organization estimates around 12.1% of Virginia drivers were uninsured in 2022. Even with the exemption, that uninsured rate is lower than the national average of 14%.

Additionally, Friedlander said the state will be increasing its minimum liability limits on Jan. 1., 2025. The limits, or the minimum dollar amount covered by car insurance, will increase from $30,000 to $50,000 for injury or death of one person, from $60,000 to $100,000 for injury or death of two or more people and from $20,000 to $25,000 for property damage.

It will be good for drivers who are involved in a wreck they did not cause, Friedlander said, because they will be covered for more expenses related to the crash.

"Those are pretty significant increases," he said. "They will be among the highest in the country."

Drivers with the bare minimum insurance coverage might see rate increases, he said. For all insured drivers, the national average price of car insurance was up 22.2% in March compared with one year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Ruff noted the law changes would not stop all motorists from driving without insurance.

"The changes will not do away with the need for uninsured riders on policies because there will always be those who break the law and drive without insurance as there always has been," he said in an email.

Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com