FR-44 Insurance in Florida, Rates and Requirements

Overview
We interviewed subject matter expert Robert Malove, a Board Certified criminal trial attorney (one of fewer than 400 in Florida) and founding member of the National College for DUI Defense, of The Law Offices of Robert David Malove, to give you the best possible answers on Florida’s FR-44 insurance requirement. This article covers the exact coverage minimums, who must file and when, the three-year maintenance period, what a lapse triggers, and how carriers set FR-44 rates.

A Note Before You Read
This article answers the question the way Florida law answers it for most people. Your case has its own facts, and small details change outcomes. Nothing here is legal advice for your specific situation. If you want an answer about your case, call The Law Offices of Robert David Malove at (954) 861-0384. There is no pressure to hire anyone; you will simply get a straight answer.

Your revocation period is winding down. The reinstatement checklist from the Department’s Bureau of Administrative Reviews lists the DUI school certificate, the fees, and a form your insurance agent had to look up, the FR-44. The quotes coming back are built on $100,000, $300,000, and $50,000 coverage lines.

If that is you, and you are trying to pin down what FR-44 insurance in Florida requires, who has to file it, and how long it follows you, the answer sits in two statutes and one Department form. Florida requires a driver convicted of DUI to carry liability coverage of $100,000 per person, $300,000 per crash, and $50,000 for property damage, certified to the state by the insurer and maintained for three years from the date the license is reinstated.

This article works through the requirement the way the paperwork presents it: who must file and when, the coverage minimums under section 324.023, how the form reaches the Department, the three-year clock, what a lapse triggers under section 324.0221, and where the rates come from. Every statute pin was checked against Florida’s official statute site, and the practice notes come from a recorded conversation with Robert Malove, a Board Certified criminal trial attorney and founding member of the National College for DUI Defense, with his answers in his own words.

FR-44 insurance in Florida is the proof of higher liability coverage the state requires after a DUI conviction: $100,000 per person and $300,000 per crash for bodily injury plus $50,000 for property damage, certified to the Department on form FR-44 by your insurer and kept in force for three years from reinstatement.

The requirement breaks into five working parts:

• The statute: section 324.023, Florida Statutes, which sets the coverage amounts and the three-year term
• The trigger: a finding of guilt or a plea of guilty or no contest to DUI under section 316.193, for cases after October 1, 2007
• The form: the FR-44, the Department’s certificate of higher-limits liability coverage, filed by the insurance carrier
• The clock: three years from the date the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (the Department) reinstates the driving privilege, hardship reinstatement included
• The enforcement: section 324.0221, which suspends the license and registration when the coverage stops

Board Certified criminal trial attorney Robert Malove of The Law Offices of Robert David Malove walks Florida DUI clients through the FR-44 obligation before they decide how to resolve the case, because the coverage requirement follows the conviction, not the arrest. Section 324.023, Florida Statutes supplies the numbers, and it states plainly that “such higher limits must be carried for a minimum period of 3 years.”

TL;DR

• A plea counts. Section 324.023 applies “regardless of adjudication of guilt,” so a guilty or no contest plea to DUI creates the FR-44 requirement just as a verdict does.
• The minimums are fixed by statute. $100,000 per person and $300,000 per crash for bodily injury, plus $50,000 for property damage; the Department also accepts $350,000 in combined single limits.
• Your carrier does the filing. You buy the policy, and the insurer transmits the FR-44 certificate to the Department; there is no version you file yourself.
• Three years, from reinstatement. A hardship license starts the clock, and the requirement ends only after three years with no new DUI conviction or felony traffic offense.
• A lapse has its own penalty. The insurer reports a cancellation within 10 days, the license and registration get suspended, and reinstatement fees run $150 to $500.

Florida Requires the FR-44 After a DUI Conviction, and a No Contest Plea Counts

The FR-44 obligation attaches to any driver who has been found guilty of DUI under section 316.193, or who entered a plea of guilty or no contest to it, for cases after October 1, 2007. Section 324.023 reaches “every owner or operator of a motor vehicle that is required to be registered in this state, or that is located within this state,” and it applies “regardless of adjudication of guilt,” so a plea deal that ends in a DUI conviction carries the requirement with it.

The arrest by itself creates no FR-44 duty, and neither does the administrative suspension that follows a breath test or a refusal. Those run on a separate track at the Department while the criminal case runs in court; as Robert Malove put it in our interview, “You can win the criminal case, lose the administrative hearing.” What determines the insurance obligation is how the criminal case ends, not the suspension notices in your mailbox.

Section 324.023 Sets the Minimums at $100,000 Per Person, $300,000 Per Crash, and $50,000 in Property Damage

After a qualifying DUI conviction, Florida law requires the ability to respond in damages of “$100,000 because of bodily injury to, or death of, one person in any one crash,” in the statute’s own words, along with $300,000 for two or more persons and $50,000 for property damage in any one crash.

For scale, Florida’s registration requirement for an ordinary driver is $10,000 in personal injury protection and $10,000 in property damage liability, and section 324.022 sets the general financial responsibility floor at $10,000 for property damage. The FR-44 levels sit far above both, and they add bodily injury liability that vehicle registration never required in the first place.

The $350,000 figure appears twice. The Department accepts combined single limits of $350,000 in place of the split limits, while the statute’s $350,000 is the certificate-of-deposit minimum under the chapter 324 security methods. For nearly everyone, the practical route is an insurance policy at the split limits.

The Carrier Files the FR-44 With the Department, and There Is No Version You File Yourself

The FR-44 is a certificate, not a policy. Your insurer issues it against a policy meeting the section 324.023 limits and transmits it to the Department, where it clears the financial responsibility hold on your record. The Department’s financial responsibility materials label the form the FR44 “Certificate of Higher Limits Liability Coverage,” and its bulletins to insurers make electronic submission the standard path, with paper certificates reserved for system errors and hardship cases.

That structure shapes the shopping. The question for each carrier is whether it will both write the policy at the required limits and make the filing, because the filing is what tells the state who insures you. Florida uses a second certificate, the SR-22, for financial responsibility reinstatements that do not involve DUI, so if your reinstatement paperwork names the FR-44, the DUI limits govern and an SR-22 quote will not satisfy them.

The Three-Year Period Runs From Reinstatement, and a Hardship License Starts It

The FR-44 must stay in force for three years, measured from the date the Department reinstates your driving privilege. The Department’s DUI reinstatement guidance states that the driver “must maintain the FR-44 form for three years from the date of reinstatement of their driving privilege,” and it applies the reinstatement requirements “whether for a hardship driver license or a full-privilege driver license,” so a hardship reinstatement starts the same clock a full reinstatement does.

The end of the period has a condition attached. Under section 324.023, the obligation ends when the driver “has not been convicted of driving under the influence or a felony traffic offense for a period of 3 years from the date of reinstatement of driving privileges.” A new conviction inside the window keeps the higher limits on; otherwise the math is the reinstatement date plus three clean years, then standard coverage again. Robert Malove sees why that date matters more than most court dates: “The biggest disruption to anybody’s life, especially in this day and age, is mobility.”

A Lapse Suspends the License and Registration Under Section 324.0221

If the FR-44 policy cancels or nonrenews during the three years, the suspension process starts with the insurer, not with you. Section 324.0221, Florida Statutes requires the insurer to report a cancellation or nonrenewal to the Department within 10 days, and it directs that “the department shall suspend, after due notice and an opportunity to be heard, the registration and driver license” when required coverage terminates.

Coming back from that suspension takes new proof of coverage and a nonrefundable fee the statute sets at $150 for the first reinstatement, $250 for the second, and $500 for each one after that within three years. The Department’s insurance guidance adds a hard edge: there is no temporary or hardship license for an insurance-related suspension. After the DUI hardship process, a missed premium can take driving away entirely, so the policy stays paid for the full period, and any carrier switch happens with the new filing in place before the old policy ends.

FR-44 Rates Come From the Carrier, Because the Statute Sets Only the Coverage Floor

Florida law fixes what the policy must cover and says nothing about what the policy costs, so every FR-44 premium is a carrier’s price for a specific driver carrying statutorily elevated limits. In our recorded interview, Board Certified criminal trial attorney Robert Malove of The Law Offices of Robert David Malove said a Florida DUI conviction pushes premiums up sharply, when a carrier will write the policy at all.

That last clause is the practice observation that matters while you shop. In his experience, the carrier that wrote you before the conviction may reprice you, decline to renew, or decline drivers with open DUI cases, which shrinks the pool of quotes at the moment the required limits jump. The premium reflects four inputs: the 100/300/50 floor, the risk class a DUI conviction creates, the number of carriers in your market willing to write and file an FR-44, and the three-year term. No honest fixed dollar amount exists for any of it, so the useful move is getting several carriers to quote the same thing: the split limits, the $350,000 combined single limit, and the filing itself.

What You Can Do Today, Before You Buy the Policy

The pieces you control at this stage are timing, DUI school, and carrier selection. The Department’s guidance carries a deadline with teeth: “Failure to complete the course within 90 days after reinstatement will result in cancellation of the driver license until the course is completed.”

• Confirm your reinstatement requirements in writing. The Bureau of Administrative Reviews office for your county can tell you whether the FR-44 applies to your record and from what date.
• Finish DUI school, or enroll now. Completion proof is part of reinstatement, and the 90-day rule cancels a reinstated license while the course sits unfinished.
• Quote the FR-44 by name with several carriers. Ask each to price the split limits and the $350,000 combined single limit, and confirm it will transmit the certificate.
• Keep current coverage in force until the FR-44 policy is active. The Department learns about gaps from the insurer.
• Calendar two dates. The reinstatement date that starts the three-year period, and the date three years later when standard coverage returns.

The Criminal Case Decides Whether the FR-44 Applies, and Driving Early Adds a New One

Every requirement in this article hangs on a DUI conviction under section 316.193, so a case that resolves as reckless driving, or ends in dismissal, carries no FR-44 obligation at all. The most expensive insurance decision therefore happens in court, and a DUI conviction stays. As Robert Malove said of a DUI adjudication, “You can’t take that off your record, it’s not subject to expungement. You can’t get it sealed. It stays with you forever.” Many Florida counties run first-offender diversion programs that resolve qualifying cases to reckless driving with a withhold of adjudication and a sealable record, and the local rules have traps; in Broward County, home of the firm’s Fort Lauderdale DUI lawyer office, and in Palm Beach County, demanding discovery at arraignment waives diversion eligibility.

The reinstatement stage carries its own legal risk, because driving before the Department restores the privilege is a separate criminal charge, and the necessity defense is razor thin. Robert described a client, a cancer patient convicted of DUI, caught driving on the suspended license, who explained that “my driver didn’t show up to take me to my cancer treatment, so I had to drive.” The law did not treat that as necessity. His fee conversation at this stage is arithmetic: “Maybe it’s better to invest in an attorney” than to absorb the conviction and everything the FR-44 years attach to it.

Board Certified criminal trial attorney Robert Malove of The Law Offices of Robert David Malove spent 12 years as an Assistant Public Defender, and the firm’s DUI teams, from Broward to its Orlando DUI lawyer office, work these cases toward resolutions that leave no DUI conviction on the record. He is equally direct about the cases he redirects; when a client shows signs of a substance problem, he pushes toward treatment, because he measures the representation by where the client ends up compared with where the firm found them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is FR-44 insurance in Florida?

FR-44 insurance in Florida is the higher-limit liability coverage the state requires after a DUI conviction, proven by a certificate the insurer files with the Department. The policy must carry $100,000 per person and $300,000 per crash in bodily injury liability plus $50,000 in property damage liability under section 324.023, Florida Statutes, or combined single limits of $350,000, for three years from reinstatement.

Does a hardship license start the three-year FR-44 period?

Yes. The Department applies its reinstatement requirements “whether for a hardship driver license or a full-privilege driver license,” and the three years run from that reinstatement date.

Do you need an FR-44 if the DUI case ended as reckless driving?

No. Section 324.023 applies to drivers found guilty of, or who pleaded guilty or no contest to, DUI under section 316.193. A case resolved as reckless driving, including a diversion outcome, sits outside that language, and carries no FR-44 duty.

How is the FR-44 different from the insurance Florida drivers normally carry?

Ordinary Florida registration requires $10,000 in personal injury protection and $10,000 in property damage liability. The FR-44 requires $50,000 in property damage coverage plus $100,000/$300,000 in bodily injury liability, levels the registration rules never demand of a driver without a DUI conviction.

Who files the FR-44 form with the state?

The insurance carrier does. The FR-44 is the Department’s certificate of higher-limits liability coverage, issued against a qualifying policy and transmitted to the Department. The same carrier must report a cancellation or nonrenewal within 10 days under section 324.0221.

Talk to a Florida DUI Lawyer About Your FR-44 Requirement

Robert Malove is a Board Certified criminal trial attorney, one of fewer than 400 in the state out of more than 100,000 active members of the Florida Bar. The distinction requires at least 25 contested cases and a minimum of 20 jury trials every 5 years.

If you are under investigation, have been arrested for DUI, are facing a second charge, or have a conviction on your record and want an expert criminal defense attorney on your side, fill out this form or call us now at (954) 861-0384.

The Law Offices of Robert David Malove serves clients across Florida, with DUI defense teams in nine offices: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Key West, and Sarasota.