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New Hampshire is unlike other states in the United States in that you are not legally required to have auto insurance so that you can legally operate a vehicle in the state. Despite this fact, the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles strongly recommends that all drivers in the state of New Hampshire have standard liability and property damage insurance. In some instances, the NH Division of Motor Vehicles will require that you have auto insurance. If this is the case, and you are required to have auto insurance, the DMV will inform you of this requirement in writing.
A Driver Record Report shows whether someone is required to file proof of insurance. If they are, the report will state “Proof of financial responsibility is required”. If they are not, the report will state “No proof of financial responsibility is required”.
Minimum Insurance Required in New Hampshire
As previously stated, you are not legally required to have auto insurance in the state of New Hampshire. However, if you do have auto insurance, you have to meet the minimum coverage requirements. These minimum coverage requirements include bodily injury liability, medical payments, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. For bodily injury liability, the minimum amount of coverage is $25,000 for one person and $50,000 per accident. The minimum amount of property damage liability is $25,000.
You also have to buy at least $1,000 of medical payment coverage. As far as uninsured motorist coverage goes, you have to buy at least $1,000 of this, as well. The state of New Hampshire does not specify exactly how much underinsured motorist coverage is required, though. However, since there is no auto insurance requirement for many motorists in New Hampshire, getting a good amount of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is a good idea.
Supplemental Insurance Coverage
If you do have auto insurance in New Hampshire, you are required to have minimum amounts of certain kinds of coverage. However, you can also augment your auto insurance with supplemental insurance coverage, as well. One type of supplemental insurance coverage in New Hampshire is collision coverage and this covers the cost of damage to your car in an auto accident. Collision coverage pays for this damage even if you were at fault for the accident.
Comprehensive coverage is another kind of supplemental auto insurance coverage. Comprehensive coverage pays you back for repairing your car due to damage not from an accident. You can get reimbursed for the cost of repairing your car due to floods, fires, vandalism, and even collision with an animal.
Proof of Insurance
In all states aside from the state of New Hampshire, all drivers are required to have proof of auto insurance. This is because all those states mandate that drivers have valid auto insurance. In New Hampshire, you only have to provide proof of auto insurance in certain circumstances. For example, if you are convicted of driving while intoxicated, you are required to file proof of insurance for at least three years from the date of an initial conviction and longer if you are convicted for DWI again. In the event you are being decertified as a habitual offender, you have to file proof of insurance for at least three years from the date of your habitual offender decertification hearing before you can get your license/operating privileges back.
Also, if you appear at administrative hearings for particular offenses, like Demerit Points, you might be required to file proof of insurance as a condition of keeping your license. If your license is suspended, you might have to file proof of insurance as a condition of getting your license restored. If you are found to be at fault for an uninsured accident, you have to file proof of auto insurance for at least three years from the date of the accident.
License Suspension and Auto Insurance
If your driver’s license is suspended for whatever reason, you may have to file proof of auto insurance in order to get your driving privileges restored. If so, you must contact an auto insurance company to help you through this process. The auto insurance company must be licensed to do business in the state of New Hampshire. You have to contact the insurance company to get your SR-22 form, which is what you have to file to show proof of auto insurance. The New Hampshire DMV does not provide this form.