Car Insurance in Vermont

What is different about car insurance in Vermont?

Vermont asks you to protect yourself more than it asks you to protect other people. The law sets your liability coverage, which pays for the other driver’s injuries and damage, at 25/50/10. That means $25,000 per injured person, $50,000 for all injuries in one crash, and $10,000 for property damage. Yet it sets your uninsured motorist coverage, which pays you when the other driver cannot, at 50/100.

Vermont is also an at-fault state. If you cause a crash, your insurer pays the other side. You do not need personal injury protection. If you are hurt by someone else, you can still collect when you share blame, but not if you are more than half at fault. You have three years to sue for an injury.

Two local details matter to most drivers. First, comprehensive coverage includes hitting a deer or moose, according to the state’s own guide, so a collision with wildlife is not a “collision” claim. Second, a car must show proof of insurance to get an inspection or a road test, so a lapse can stall you at the garage before it stalls you on the road.

This page sums up the rules and points you to the right guide. Our minimum coverage page goes deeper on what 25/50/10 pays.

Why does Vermont require uninsured motorist coverage at 50/100?

Every Vermont auto policy must include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM), and you cannot decline it. The floor is $50,000 per person and $100,000 per crash for injuries, plus up to $10,000 for property damage with a $150 deductible. If your liability limits are above 50/100, your UM limits match them unless you tell your insurer otherwise.

A driver counts as underinsured when their liability limits are lower than the UM limits on your policy. Here is an example with invented numbers. A driver with the 25/50/10 minimum hurts you, and your medical bills reach $60,000. Their insurer can pay $25,000. Your own UM coverage is built to cover the gap up to your $50,000 limit, which here means $25,000 more. You would still be $10,000 short.

The risk is real, though not the worst in the country. Insurance Research Council estimates put Vermont’s uninsured rate below the national rate in 2023. Our uninsured motorist guide explains how the coverage works in practice.

What happens if I drive without insurance in Vermont?

You face a civil traffic ticket, not a crime. The penalty can reach $500, and the DMV adds 2 points to your record. It is also the easiest ticket to avoid: keep a policy in force whenever the car is on the road.

Not having your card is a smaller problem. Without proof at a stop, the penalty is up to $100. You will not be convicted if you send valid proof, in effect at the time of the stop, to the officer’s agency within seven business days. Showing proof on your phone is allowed. Showing it does not give an officer the right to look through your phone.

The bigger risk is a crash. If you are in a crash with an injury or $3,000 or more in damage and cannot show a standard policy was in force, the DMV can require an SR-22. That is a certificate your insurer files to prove you carry liability coverage. If it lapses, your license is suspended. Vermont does not offer hardship or work licenses.

Length is where the sources disagree.

We follow the statute and flag the rest as older wording. Check your own DMV notice, and read our SR-22 page and uninsured driving page for the steps.

How much does car insurance cost in Vermont?

The most neutral number is the NAIC’s 2024 state average of $941.63 per insured vehicle for a year. It comes from the NAIC’s 2024 Auto Insurance Database supplement, released in September 2026. That is a state figure that blends every driver and every policy, so it is not a quote. It sits about 34% below the countrywide average. Only a few states report a lower number, by our reading of the NAIC table.

The state figure also lags. Vermont’s average rose about 10% in one year, so today’s prices are probably higher. The NAIC warns that comparing states directly needs caution.

For a clean-record driver, 2026 estimates from two publishers look like this.

“Fuller” means 100/300 injury limits plus collision and comprehensive. The first assumes a $500 deductible and the second a $1,000 one. Both use rates from one data supplier, so they are not two independent checks.

Your insurer matters more than the publisher. Insurance.com’s own table shows minimum-coverage prices that more than double from its cheapest insurer to its priciest. The state’s insurance guide says a past survey found up to a 50% gap for nearly identical coverage.

Our cheap car insurance page puts the figures side by side, and the full coverage page explains what the extras buy.

What can my insurer do to my policy?

Vermont limits how fast an insurer can leave you. To cancel mid-term or not renew, an insurer must give at least 45 days’ notice. A cancellation notice must also give the reasons. For nonpayment the notice is 15 days.

After a new policy’s first 60 days, an insurer can cancel it for only three reasons: nonpayment, fraud, or a suspended license for you or a household driver. If liability coverage is cancelled (except for nonpayment) or not renewed, the notice must mention the Vermont Automobile Insurance Plan. That is the state’s assigned-risk plan, for people who cannot get coverage on the open market. Ask any agent about it.

Credit history is allowed in pricing, within limits. It cannot be the only reason to deny, cancel or not renew a policy. Insurers must also make exceptions, on written request, for events such as a job loss of three months or more, a divorce, the death of a spouse, child or parent or identity theft.

Which Vermont guide should I read next?

We list no city pages for Vermont at this time, so these state pages are the best path.

For background, read no-fault vs at-fault states and how to lower your car insurance. You can also try the state minimum lookup.

Who do I call with a problem?

The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) oversees insurers. Its consumer line is 802-828-3302 or 800-964-1784, and it takes insurance complaints online. It can confirm that an agent or company is licensed in Vermont, which is worth checking before you buy online. For a DMV notice, use the contact details printed on the notice.

We could not open the legislature’s live site, so we read the statutes through a capture of the 2025-session text. We found no change to the limits, but we could not confirm what the 2026 session did. DFR can tell you if anything changed. This page is general information, not legal advice.

What to do next

1. Find your declarations page. Confirm liability at 25/50/10 or higher and UM/UIM at 50/100 or higher. Ask the price of raising both.
2. Treat 25/50/10 as a floor. It pays other people only. If you own a house or savings, ask for quotes at higher limits too.
3. Check your wildlife cover. If you drive rural roads at dusk, make sure comprehensive is on the policy and know the deductible.
4. Keep proof in your car or phone. If you are stopped without it, you have seven business days to send valid proof.
5. Re-shop each renewal. Get at least three quotes, and compare the same limits and deductibles.
6. Ask about discounts. The state lists multi-car, good student, and a student at school more than 100 miles away.

Bottom line

If you are buying or renewing, check your uninsured motorist limits first, because Vermont sets that floor above the one for liability. If you have a DMV notice or a lapse, send valid proof and check what the notice requires. For a dispute with an insurer, start with DFR.