SR-22 insurance cost after a DUI
A DUI is the most expensive reason to need an SR-22 — the filing costs about $25, once; the surcharge behind it runs 50% to 150%+ over a clean-record rate depending on the carrier. Expect to carry both for roughly three years, and expect real disagreement between rate studies on the exact number.
A DUI triggers two costs at once: the SR-22 filing your state now requires, and a steep jump in the premium behind it. The filing is the cheap part. The premium is where a DUI actually hurts, and it hurts differently at every carrier.
The filing vs. the surcharge
Insure.com's May 2026 data isolates this cleanly for a few carriers. Adding an SR-22 alone to a Nationwide policy raised the annual premium by just $21 — from $1,548 to $1,569. Add a DUI behind it, and the same policy jumps to $3,639. USAA shows the same shape: $1,381 to $1,422 for the filing (about 3%), then to $2,842 with a DUI attached (about 106%).
That's the pattern worth remembering: the SR-22 itself is a rounding error. The conviction is the bill.
What carriers actually charge, and why they disagree
Here's the part every SR-22 page glosses over. We checked several 2026 studies against the same question — what does a DUI-triggered SR-22 policy cost — and they don't agree with each other, sometimes by a wide margin.
For Nationwide specifically: Insure.com puts the DUI rate at $3,639/year; NerdWallet puts it at $5,359/year — a 47% gap, on different coverage levels and driver profiles. For Progressive: three studies land at $2,981, $3,486, and $3,710 a year for the same driver profile category. None of them is wrong; they're measuring slightly different things.
So treat the table below as a range of real, sourced answers rather than a single number, and get your own quotes before assuming any of them applies to you.
The company that matters most: will they even keep you
This is a bigger factor than price for a lot of DUI drivers. Some carriers keep writing you after a DUI; others quietly let you go at renewal. GEICO files SR-22s but has a well-documented pattern of non-renewing DUI drivers — one customer of ten years with no claims was dropped, with replacement quotes running about 40% higher. Allstate tends to add the filing, then non-renew at your renewal date rather than mid-term — which at least gives you a predictable window to shop before the notice arrives.
On the other side, USAA and Dairyland show real cases of writing DUI drivers other carriers had already dropped — one State Farm customer of 28 claim-free years, threatened with cancellation, moved to USAA and was written for $17 more for the FR-44.
How long a DUI keeps rates high
Most states require the SR-22 for three years after a DUI, and the premium surcharge tends to fade on a similar schedule as the conviction ages out of an insurer's look-back window. Repeat DUIs extend both. The clock only counts continuous coverage — a lapse can restart both the state's filing period and the insurer's surcharge, which is the single most expensive mistake a DUI driver on an SR-22 can make. See what happens if your SR-22 lapses.
How to pay less after a DUI
Because carriers price DUIs so differently from each other, shopping matters more here than for almost any other SR-22 trigger. Get quotes from at least three carriers, including one non-standard specialist if a standard insurer has already declined you — see The General and Dairyland. Ask about a non-owner policy if you don't own a car; those run well below owner rates at every carrier we checked. Drop to state-minimum coverage if you own your vehicle outright. And re-shop at every renewal, since the conviction's weight on your rate genuinely does decrease with time — even if no single company will tell you when.
What determines the length of the pain
Most states hold the SR-22 for three years after a DUI, but the clock-start date varies in a way that catches people out. California, South Carolina, and Nevada all start the three years from your reinstatement date, not your conviction date — which can push your actual finish line later than a simple three-years-from-arrest calculation suggests. Nevada's own DMV goes further, warning drivers not to buy an SR-22 before reinstatement at all, since the state won't count that time toward the requirement. Confirm your state's clock-start rule before you assume you know your end date; see how long you need an SR-22 for the full state-by-state picture.
A repeat DUI resets more than just the calendar. Beyond extending the filing period itself, a second or subsequent conviction typically pushes you into a higher rate tier that most carriers don't discount even years later, and can trigger an ignition interlock requirement that adds its own monthly cost on top of the insurance premium. If you're facing a second offense, budget for the interlock separately — it isn't included in any of the insurance figures above.
| Company | Rate | Source | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| USAA | $2,842/yr | Insure.com | Lowest in that study |
| Progressive | $2,981–$3,710/yr | 3 studies | Range across Insure.com, Insurance.com, MoneyGeek |
| Nationwide | $3,639/yr | Insure.com | Same policy: +$21 for the filing alone, +$2,070 for the DUI |
| Nationwide | $5,359/yr | NerdWallet | 47% higher than Insure.com's figure — different profile |
| Allstate | $5,010–$5,513/yr | 2 studies | 72% spread between MoneyGeek and Insurance.com |
| The General | $3,456/yr ($288/mo) | Insurify | Non-standard specialist; not the cheapest non-standard option |
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