Mississippi Car Insurance
Mississippi car insurance is just one way to provide proof of financial responsibility to avoid a $1000 fine.
State Regulator Information | 800-562-2957 | http://www.mid.state.ms.us/”>www.mid.state.ms.us |
Insurance Premium | Avg. Annual Premium: $ 1,326 | National Average: $1,318 |
Mandatory Car Insurance Coverage | Bodily Injury Liability:$25k/50k Property Damage Liability: $25k |
The state of Mississippi requires a decent amount of liability insurance for its drivers, but just the liability insurance. They don’t require uninsured motorist, underinsured motorist or personal injury protection like other states do. Meaning that purchasing the minimum required Mississippi car insurance shouldn’t be as expensive as it could be if all of the other coverages were required as well.
You do have two options if you still don’t want to purchase the required Mississippi car insurance though. One, you can opt for an alternative form of financial responsibility. Two, you can pay the $1000 fine for driving without car insurance and walk during the year your driver’s license will be suspended.
Required Mississippi Car Insurance
Mississippi requires that all of its drivers carry liability insurance to make sure that they are protected from each other. A driver in this state cannot legally drive without purchasing the minimum Mississippi car insurance of 25/50/25 in liability coverage. For those that don’t speak the language of insurance this means:
• $25,000 in coverage for the medical bills of a single person that you injure or kill in an accident.
• $50,000 in coverage for ALL medical bills that may result from an accident you are responsible for, where you injure two or more people.
• $25,000 in coverage to pay for the damages to other people’s property that resulted from a car accident you caused.
Other Proof that is Not Mississippi Car Insurance
Mississippi does allow its drivers to show proof that they can pay for damages from a car accident beyond just purchasing Mississippi car insurance. There are two alternatives allowed:
• A cash or security deposit of $100,000
• A bond posted for $100,000
If you don’t have that type or cash lying around, I would suggest that you should just purchase the required Mississippi car insurance. In the long run, the insurance premium for Mississippi car insurance will probably be cheaper anyway. If you think about it, if you are paying $1000 a year for insurance, it will take you 100 years to match what is required for the alternatives.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know too many people that drive for 100 years.
Penalties for No Mississippi Car Insurance
The state of Mississippi is a real stickler that you not only carry Mississippi car insurance, but that you also have proof of it in your vehicle at all times. If you are pulled over and cannot provide this proof, you will be fined $1000 and have you driver’s license suspended for a year.
When you go to court for this particular violation, if you can provide proof that you now have Mississippi car insurance the fine will be dropped to $100 and your driver’s license will be reinstated. If you can provide proof that you had car insurance on the date you were given the violation, your driver’s license will be reinstated and all fines will be dropped.
Is there a lesson to be learned from this? Yes, always carry proof of Mississippi car insurance.