Texas Insurance Requirements

yes

Source: Texas Driver Handbook, Chapter 3: Safety Responsibility, The Liability Insurance Law, p. 18 · Verified Sep 2026

$30,000

Source: Texas Driver Handbook, Chapter 3: Safety Responsibility, The Liability Insurance Law, p. 18 · Verified Sep 2026

$60,000

Source: Texas Driver Handbook, Chapter 3: Safety Responsibility, The Liability Insurance Law, p. 18 · Verified Sep 2026

$25,000

Source: Texas Driver Handbook, Chapter 3: Safety Responsibility, The Liability Insurance Law, p. 18 · Verified Sep 2026

Texas is not a no-fault state and sets no personal injury protection amount you are required to carry. What the law requires is liability coverage at the 30/60/25 minimums. PIP still reaches most Texas drivers, though, because an insurer may not issue an auto liability policy here unless it provides PIP in or supplemental to the policy, and that coverage comes off only if a named insured rejects it in writing. Where PIP is required to be provided, the insurer does not have to write more than $2,500 per person in total benefits. PIP pays medical and funeral costs and lost income regardless of who caused the crash.

Source: Texas Insurance Code Sec. 1952.152(a): an insurer "may not deliver or issue for delivery in this state an automobile liability insurance policy ... unless the insurer provides personal injury protection coverage in the policy or supplemental to the policy," and Sec. 1952.152(b): the coverage "does not apply if any insured named in the insurance policy rejects the coverage in writing." Sec. 1952.153 caps the required amount at $2,500 per person in the aggregate; Sec. 1952.151 lists the covered expenses. Liability minimums: Texas Transportation Code Chapter 601. · Verified Sep 2026

Texas does not make you carry uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, but it does not let you drift out of it either. An insurer may not issue an auto liability policy in Texas unless it provides UM/UIM coverage in the policy or supplemental to it, and that coverage drops out only if a named insured rejects it in writing. So the practical default is that you have it. If you signed a rejection once, the insurer does not have to put it back on a renewal or a reinstated policy unless you ask in writing. The distinction matters after a hit-and-run or a crash with an uninsured driver, which is when people discover which side of that signature they are on.

Source: Texas Insurance Code Sec. 1952.101(b): an insurer "may not deliver or issue for delivery in this state an automobile liability insurance policy ... unless the insurer provides uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in the policy or supplemental to the policy." Sec. 1952.101(c): "The coverage required by this subchapter does not apply if any insured named in the insurance policy rejects the coverage in writing," and a rejection carries forward to renewals and reinstatements unless the named insured requests the coverage in writing. Minimum limits track Chapter 601, Transportation Code. · Verified Sep 2026

An SR-22 is a certificate your insurer files with the Department of Public Safety proving you carry liability coverage. Texas requires one when your driving privilege has been suspended because of a crash, when you pick up a second or later conviction for having no motor vehicle liability insurance, when a civil judgment has been filed against you, and when you place a security deposit with the department to comply after a crash or a crash-default suspension. A whole class of convictions carries the requirement as well: the mandatory ones, which include DWI, drug offenses whether or not a vehicle was involved, driving while your licence is invalid, intoxication manslaughter, failing to stop and render aid, evading arrest, and causing a crash with bodily injury. Not every alcohol offense is on that list, though. A minor convicted of DWI must file one; a minor convicted of consuming or possessing alcohol generally does not. The clock is not the same for every trigger. For a conviction, the two years run from the date of that conviction. For a judgment arising from a crash, they run from the date the judgment was rendered. A crash suspension you clear by placing a security deposit is different again: the filing goes with the compliance rather than with a conviction date, so ask the department what date your two years start from rather than assuming. A new conviction that requires an SR-22 can extend the period rather than run alongside it. The policy behind the certificate has to meet the state minimums of 30/60/25, and letting it lapse inside the window brings another suspension.

Source: Texas Department of Public Safety, Financial Responsibility Insurance Certificate (SR-22): "If your driving privilege has been suspended due to a car crash, you have received a second or subsequent conviction for No Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance or a civil judgment has been filed against you, you are required to file a SR-22 with the Department." "A SR-22 is also required when a security deposit is being placed with the Department as compliance for a crash or crash default suspension." "You are required to maintain coverage for two years beginning from the date of the conviction that requires a SR-22, or in the case of a judgment against you due to a crash, two years from the date the judgment was rendered." Liability minimums: Texas Transportation Code Chapter 601. The intoxication and driving-while-license-invalid triggers are not on the SR-22 page itself; they appear in the Department of Public Safety Driver License Enforcement Actions chart (DL-176) and on the Alcohol-Related Offenses page, which requires a minor convicted of DWI to "obtain a Financial Responsibility Insurance Certificate (SR-22) ... maintained for two years from the date of conviction" while listing no SR-22 for the purchase, consumption and possession offenses. The mandatory-conviction category is the Department of Public Safety Driver License Enforcement Actions chart (DL-176), SR Suspension - Mandatory Conviction: "Convictions for the offenses listed under TRC Subchapter O (DWI, Drug, DWLI, including involuntary manslaughter and failed to stop and render aid, evade arrest, crash causing bodily injury)." Two or more convictions for driving without liability insurance carry an indefinite suspension until an SR-22 is filed and held two years from the conviction date: DL-176, SR Suspension - No Liability Insurance, citing TRC 601.231(a) and 601.376. The department states the conviction and judgment timings expressly; it does not publish a single start date for the crash and security-deposit cases, which is why those are described here as compliance-dependent rather than given a date. · Verified Sep 2026