Kentucky laws are in place to protect all drivers on the road by ensuring vehicle owners have insurance. Vehicle owners shown to have been without insurance will receive notices that registrations for their vehicles will be canceled if they do not obtain the required insurance or show proof of existing insurance. The mandatory insurance initiative aims to plug an enforcement gap to discourage vehicle owners from dropping coverage once their vehicles have been registered.
YOU MUST HAVE INSURANCE
An owner may not operate a vehicle in Kentucky until insurance has been obtained. According to the statute, an owner who fails to maintain insurance on his vehicle shall have his vehicle registration revoked. In addition, the vehicle owner and driver are subject to a fine of $500.00 to $1,000.00, up to 90 days in jail, or both. All motor vehicle owners in Kentucky must carry minimum liability coverage. This means liability coverage of $25,000.00 for all claims for bodily injury damages sustained by any one person and not less than $50,000.00 for all bodily injury damages sustained by all persons as a result of an accident, as well as $25,000.00 for all property damage as a result of any one accident. Alternatively, a policy with a single limit of $60,000.00 is acceptable. In addition, the policy must provide basic reparations benefits unless the insured vehicle is a motorcycle.
Per
KRS 304.39-087,
KRS 186A.040, and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet rules, the Department of Vehicle Regulation will not accept the use of a surplus lines carrier for auto liability coverage (commercial or personal) to complete the required registration of vehicles. Brokers should utilize the admitted market for auto liability coverage and procure excess and additional coverage types for commercial and personal auto using surplus lines.
MOVING TO KENTUCKY
KRS 186.020 states that a person who brings a motor vehicle into the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall apply for registration within fifteen (15) days in the county where the person resides.
REGULATION AND REQUIREMENT
If your vehicle has a current, active registration, you must maintain insurance on that vehicle. If you do not plan to keep your registration current, you must turn in your license plate to the County Clerk's office and cancel your insurance without penalty.
Some owners of seasonal vehicles such as motorcycles or RVs are accustomed to dropping the insurance on these vehicles during the months they are not being driven. To avoid penalties for lack of insurance, the owners of these vehicles must turn in their license plate to the County Clerk's office before canceling their insurance policy when it is time to put the vehicle back on the road, secure proof of insurance, and present the proof to the County Clerk. The clerk's office will allow the vehicle to be registered at that time.
Like seasonal vehicles, owners with Historic license plates sometimes drop the insurance while the vehicle is not being driven but fail to surrender the license plate to the County Clerk's office. This will cause an uninsured notice to be mailed because the Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing records a registered vehicle without an insurance policy being reported each month. To avoid penalties for lack of insurance, turn in the license plate to the County Clerk's office before canceling the insurance policy. When the time comes to get the vehicle back on the road, present proof of insurance to the County Clerk's office, and the vehicle can be registered.
EXCEPTIONS
Attending College Inside or Outside Kentucky
KRS 186.430 states that students may maintain home-state registration and insurance if they have a current student identification card from a Kentucky college, university, or technical college while driving in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
If you (or your child) are attending a school outside the state of Kentucky, you should check with that state to verify that state's registration requirements.
EXEMPTIONS
Active Duty Military
Active-duty military personnel can use out-of-state insurance to title and register any vehicle in their name in Kentucky. When registering a vehicle, if it is recorded as a standard personal policy at the County Clerk's office rather than a military personnel policy, it will be flagged as possibly uninsured. This is because the insurance company is not required to submit a report of insured VINs to the Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing each month. The Insurance System will not find a match because Kentucky does not require active-duty military insurance policies to be reported monthly. If you are currently on active military duty and receive an uninsured notice letter, show proof of your active military service (pay stub, ID) to the County Clerk's office to resolve the issue.
Temporarily Living Outside of Kentucky
A vehicle registered in Kentucky must be insured by an insurance company that is authorized to do business in Kentucky, and you must maintain insurance on that vehicle.
VEHICLE LIABILITY INSURANCE VERIFICATION
The Kentucky Insurance System was developed after the Kentucky General Assembly mandated that county clerks verify vehicle liability insurance coverage at the time a vehicle is registered. The Legislature also required that insurance companies licensed to sell personal vehicle liability insurance in the Commonwealth provide to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) a monthly record of all personal policies then in effect. This monthly record is the source for automatic verification of insurance coverage at the time of registration.
If an insurance company discontinues providing a record of insurance coverage for a vehicle, the vehicle is monitored by the Kentucky Insurance System. The vehicle’s registration will be canceled if proof is not submitted by the insurance company or presented by the vehicle owner to the county clerk within a 90-day period. If proof of insurance is not provided by your company, coverage cannot be automatically verified at registration, and you will be required to present an acceptable form of proof of insurance to your county clerk for manual verification.
For insurance coverage other than personal, proof of insurance must be presented to the county clerk for manual verification. This includes commercial, self-insured, and military. For each alternate insurance form, proof of coverage expires in the Insurance System on the same date as the registration and must be verified again at renewal time each year.
For commercial coverage, the registrant must present an acceptable form of proof of insurance with a “commercial designation” and basically the same information as contained on the personal insurance card. Self-insured registrants must present authorizing documentation from the Department of Insurance. Members of the military are exempt from the requirement to obtain insurance coverage through a Kentucky company. Military registrants must submit documentation confirming active military status. If the customer cannot provide satisfactory proof of insurance, the registration will not be completed.
Prior to insurance verification, an uninsured vehicle owner or operator could go virtually undetected. That is no longer possible under Kentucky’s insurance verification process. Uninsured drivers will be identified and penalized in accordance with the law.
REINSTATEMENT FEE FOR CANCELLED REGISTRATION
In accordance with Senate Bill 199,
KRS 186.040 was amended in 2024 to require the collection of a $40 fee for a revoked vehicle registration to be reinstated:
KRS 186.040 (8) The owner of a motor vehicle for which the registration has been canceled under this section shall be subject to a reinstatement fee of forty dollars ($40), payable to the county clerk.