Insurance law — Kentucky Permit Test

A Kentucky owner may not operate a vehicle until insurance has been obtained, and must keep insurance on any vehicle with a current active registration.

The insurance comes before the first drive, not after the first claim.

An owner may not operate a vehicle in Kentucky until insurance has been obtained. Also, if your vehicle has a current, active registration, you must maintain insurance on that vehicle.

Failing to maintain insurance in Kentucky is a criminal offense, and the owner's vehicle registration is revoked.

It is not a paperwork slip. It is an offense, and the plates come off the car.

Failure to maintain insurance is a criminal offense, and any owner who fails to maintain insurance on his vehicle shall have his vehicle registration revoked.

A Kentucky owner and driver without insurance are subject to a fine of $500.00 to $1,000.00, up to 90 days in jail, or both.

Jail is on the table for driving uninsured, which is more than most drivers expect.

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.

Kentucky's minimum liability coverage is $25,000.00 for bodily injury to any one person and not less than $50,000.00 for all bodily injury in one accident.

Those two numbers are what a policy has to carry before a car is legal to drive.

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.

Kentucky requires $25,000.00 of property damage coverage for any one accident, or alternatively a policy with a single limit of $60,000.00.

There are two ways to satisfy the law, and the single-limit policy is the simpler of them.

Alternatively, a policy with a single limit of $60,000.00 is acceptable.

Every Kentucky owner and operator must keep written proof of minimum liability coverage in the vehicle, on paper or on a portable electronic device.

A phone counts. Nothing at all does not, and the officer at the window is the one who decides.

Written proof, in the form of an insurance card, can be a paper insurance card or a portable electronic device to download the insurance card.

A Kentucky student may use home-state registration and insurance to drive in Kentucky if they keep a current student identification card from a Kentucky college.

The card is what makes the exemption work, so it belongs in the wallet rather than the dorm.

Students can use their home-state registration and insurance to drive in Kentucky if they keep a current student identification card from a Kentucky college, university, or technical college.

When must a Kentucky owner have insurance on a vehicle?

Before operating it, and for as long as the registration is active. The insurance comes before the first drive, not after the first claim. Kentucky Driver Manual, p.19: “An owner may not operate a vehicle in Kentucky until insurance has been obtained. Also, if your vehicle has a current, active registration, you must maintain insurance on that vehicle.”