SR-22 Insurance in Texas

What an SR-22 is in Texas

An SR-22 is a certificate an insurer files with the Texas Department of Public Safety to prove a driver carries the liability coverage Texas law requires. An SR-22 is paperwork attached to a policy, not a policy and not a coverage.

Texas Transportation Code chapter 601, the Texas Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act, is the chapter that governs the filing, and it names the Texas Department of Public Safety as the agency the evidence goes to.

The coverage the certificate proves is the ordinary Texas minimum set by Texas Transportation Code §601.072, written 30/60/25:

• $30,000 for injury to one person
• $60,000 for injuries in one accident
• $25,000 for damage to another person’s property

A driver who already carries higher limits keeps them. The filing certifies the policy exists, not the amount above the floor.

When Texas requires an SR-22

Texas requires an SR-22 after a court or the Texas Department of Public Safety has already taken action against a license, a registration, or both.

Common triggers:

• A second conviction for driving without liability insurance, where Texas Transportation Code ch. 601 suspends the license unless evidence of financial responsibility is filed and maintained
• A driving while intoxicated conviction, where the Texas Department of Public Safety conditions reinstatement on the filing
• A license or registration suspension, which under Texas Transportation Code ch. 601 is not terminated until evidence of financial responsibility is on file
• An unsatisfied judgment from a collision, handled by the Texas Department of Public Safety under Texas Transportation Code ch. 601

Nothing about an SR-22 is voluntary. A driver finds out from a court, a suspension notice or a clerk.

How long an SR-22 stays on file in Texas

The SR-22 stays on file for two years, counted from the date of the conviction (or, after a crash judgment, from the date the judgment was rendered), not from the day the policy starts. The insurer files the certificate with the Texas Department of Public Safety and reports a cancellation or non-renewal to DPS automatically.

What the two years require:

• Texas Transportation Code ch. 601 keeps the requirement alive until evidence of financial responsibility has been on file for the full period
• A day without that evidence brings the license suspension back, so a cancellation for non-payment costs more than the missed payment
• A change of insurer inside the two years works when the new policy carries the filing with no gap between the two

Continuous coverage is the whole job for those two years. Paying late ends a filing that was nearly served.

What Aulona Insurance Group can place for an SR-22 driver

Aulona Insurance Group places personal auto policies with an SR-22 filing across Texas, for standard risk and for non-standard risk.

Aulona Insurance Group can place:

• Vehicles owned outright, financed, or leased, with the filing attached
• Drivers with a driving while intoxicated conviction, a suspension, or a lapse on the record
• Drivers carrying tickets or at-fault accidents alongside the filing
• A non-owner SR-22 for a listed driver, which is the single non-owner policy the agency writes

Luka Cenaj, the agency’s licensed principal, confirms the trigger and the required period with the driver on a recorded call before anything is bound, because a filing made against the wrong case number does not clear the suspension.

Where Aulona Insurance Group is not the right fit

Aulona Insurance Group cannot attach an SR-22 to every vehicle, and a driver under a suspension deadline should know that today rather than next week.

Outside the markets Aulona Insurance Group holds:

• A standalone non-owner policy with no filing attached, which the agency does not write on any basis
• Storage-only and gap-only policies, and any vehicle garaged at a post office box address

A certificate names a policy, a vehicle and a driver. All three have to sit inside the markets Aulona Insurance Group holds before a filing can be made at all.

Vehicle price bands, model years and the seventeen-digit VIN requirement are the rest of the list, set out on the Texas auto insurance hub.

A vehicle used for business, or titled to an LLC, corporation, partnership or trust, is not written on a personal auto policy. Aulona Insurance Group places it as commercial auto instead. See Commercial Auto Insurance in Texas.

The filing fee and the policy

Three charges sit around an SR-22, and only one of them belongs to the certificate.

• The filing. The SR-22 is a certificate the insurer files with the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the insurer charges a flat fee for making it
• The state fee. Texas Transportation Code §601.376 sets a $100 reinstatement fee payable to the Texas Department of Public Safety before a license or registration suspended under the chapter is reinstated, and the same section states that one payment covers every license and registration reinstated with it
• The policy. The premium underneath the certificate is set by the insurer that writes it, from rates filed with the Texas Department of Insurance

The reinstatement fee is a state charge and goes to the Texas Department of Public Safety, not to an agency or an insurer.

What moves the price of a Texas auto policy with an SR-22

The filing charge is a flat fee the insurer adds to the policy, and the premium underneath it is rated on the record that produced the filing.

Inputs that move the number:

• The conviction that triggered the filing, and whether it was a driving while intoxicated conviction
• Any lapse in the record, counted as an uninsured period
• Other violations and at-fault accidents sitting alongside the trigger
• Liability limits above 30/60/25, and comprehensive and collision if the vehicle carries a lien
• The county where the vehicle is garaged

Aulona Insurance Group publishes no premium on this site and does not rank insurers by price. The number comes from the insurer, on the call.

How an SR-22 gets filed through Aulona Insurance Group

Once the policy is bound, the insurer files the SR-22 with the Texas Department of Public Safety. The agency requests the filing at binding and confirms the case number with the driver on the recorded call.

Three steps:

1. Answer eight questions on this site, which takes about two minutes and ends with a one-time code sent to your mobile number.
2. Take the call from Luka Cenaj, who confirms the trigger, the vehicles, and how long the filing has to run.
3. Let Aulona Insurance Group place the policy, after which the insurer sends the certificate to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

A driver who would rather skip the form can use the callback option on any screen and get the same call.