In Florida, you have to carry FR-44 insurance for at least three years after a DUI conviction. The three-year period runs from the date your driving privileges are reinstated, not from the date of your arrest or conviction, and it only counts while you keep continuous coverage at the elevated liability limits the state requires.1Florida Senate. Florida Code Title XXIII Chapter 324 Section 324-023
When the Three-Year Clock Starts
The statute measures the filing period from reinstatement, which is a specific administrative event, not the day the judge signed your sentence. If your license was suspended for six months after conviction and you waited longer than that to complete the reinstatement steps, the FR-44 clock did not run during the gap. It starts the day the FLHSMV actually restores your driving privileges.1Florida Senate. Florida Code Title XXIII Chapter 324 Section 324-023
At the three-year mark, you become exempt from the FR-44 requirement only if you have not been convicted of another DUI or a felony traffic offense during the entire period. A second DUI inside the filing window effectively starts the process over from the new reinstatement date.1Florida Senate. Florida Code Title XXIII Chapter 324 Section 324-023
How a Lapse Can Push the End Date Out
The three years have to be continuous. Your insurance company is legally required to notify the FLHSMV within 10 days if your FR-44 policy is canceled or nonrenewed, so a lapse will not go unnoticed.2Florida Senate. Chapter 324 Section 0221 – 2025 Florida Statutes Once the department learns coverage has stopped, it suspends your license.
Getting it back requires a new FR-44 policy and a reinstatement fee that climbs with each occurrence: $150 for the first, $250 for the second, and $500 for the third or any after that. The escalating schedule resets only if you go three full years from your first reinstatement without needing another one.3Florida House of Representatives. 2025 Statutes Chapter 0324
The larger cost is time. Because the statute counts the three years from the date of reinstatement, a new reinstatement after a lapse becomes the new reference point. A missed payment partway through year two can mean starting the countdown over. Even a short gap can add months to how long you carry the filing.1Florida Senate. Florida Code Title XXIII Chapter 324 Section 324-023
Coverage You Must Keep the Entire Time
Throughout the three years, an FR-44 policy in Florida has to provide liability limits of at least:
- $100,000 for bodily injury or death of one person in a single crash
- $300,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more people in a single crash
- $50,000 for property damage in a single crash
These are ten times Florida’s standard bodily injury baseline and five times the standard property damage minimum. The requirement can also be satisfied by depositing at least $350,000 with the state, but the insurance route is what nearly everyone uses.1Florida Senate. Florida Code Title XXIII Chapter 324 Section 324-023 Dropping below these limits at any point during the three years is treated the same as letting coverage lapse.
If You Do Not Own a Car
The requirement follows you, not a vehicle. Florida allows a non-owner FR-44 policy that provides the same 100/300/50 liability coverage but is not tied to a specific car. It covers you when driving vehicles that are not registered to you or a member of your household. Not every insurer writes these, and the FLHSMV needs an active FR-44 filing on record before it will reinstate your license, so leave time to shop.4Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Bulletin – FR(4) Cases – Increased BIL/PDL Limits for DUI Cases
Confirming the Requirement Has Ended
After three continuous years, the obligation does not fall off on its own. Check your license status through the FLHSMV’s online Driver License Check tool; if it shows as valid with no FR-44 flag, the requirement has been cleared.5Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Driver License Check Then contact your insurer and ask them to remove the FR-44 certificate from your policy so you can move to standard coverage at Florida’s regular minimums. Keep records showing the filing period was completed in case the question comes up later.