SR-22 Premium Increase by Violation: DUI vs Refusal vs Hit-and-Run

A DUI typically triggers a 70-130% rate increase over your pre-violation premium, with the SR-22 filing itself adding $25-50 annually in most states. Test refusal—declining a breathalyzer or chemical test—often produces a higher percentage increase than the DUI itself, ranging 90-150%, because carriers view refusal as consciousness of guilt combined with lack of measurable BAC data to assess actual impairment level. Hit-and-run violations fall into two pricing categories: property damage only (60-100% increase) and injury involvement (100-180% increase), with the higher end matching or exceeding DUI rates when injury or fatality was involved. The rate you actually pay depends on how your state's DMV categorizes the violation and how your carrier's underwriting model weights each offense. In states where test refusal triggers an automatic license suspension longer than the DUI suspension—common in Arizona, Texas, and Minnesota—carriers treat refusal as the more severe violation regardless of whether criminal charges followed. In states where hit-and-run with injury is classified as a felony, some standard carriers will not write you at all during the SR-22 period, forcing you into assigned risk pools with rates 200-300% above standard. Most drivers compare only the criminal penalties for these violations. The insurance consequence lasts longer and costs more. A first-time DUI might carry $2,000 in fines and a 6-month license suspension, but the SR-22 rate increase over three years totals $6,000-$9,000 in additional premiums. That financial reality makes understanding your specific violation's insurance classification critical before you shop.

Test refusal produces higher insurance rates than many DUIs because carriers cannot measure your actual impairment level—they only know you refused testing after an officer established probable cause. From an underwriting perspective, refusal suggests either prior DUI knowledge or a BAC high enough that you calculated refusal as the better legal outcome. Both scenarios signal higher risk than a measured .08 or .09 BAC. In Illinois, test refusal triggers a 12-month license suspension compared to 6 months for a first DUI. Carriers writing SR-22 in Illinois price that longer suspension period into their risk model, assuming drivers who lose licenses for a full year have higher lapse risk and worse overall driving behavior. The same pattern appears in Florida, where refusal brings a 12-month suspension and DUI brings 6 months for a first offense. Even after reinstatement, the refusal designation stays on your MVR for the same period as a DUI—typically 5-7 years depending on state—but the rate increase decays more slowly because carriers lack the BAC anchor point that would allow them to classify you as a borderline versus extreme case. If you refused testing and now carry SR-22, expect quotes 10-25% higher than a driver with a measured DUI at .08-.10 BAC. Carriers that specialize in DUI business—Progressive, The General, and state assigned risk plans—price refusal and DUI closer together than standard carriers do, which makes shopping critical. Your existing carrier sees refusal as a worst-case signal. A carrier that writes high-risk business sees it as routine.

Carriers divide hit-and-run violations into two underwriting categories based on what you left the scene of: property damage only, or injury involvement. Property-only hit-and-run—leaving the scene of a fender-bender or parking lot collision—increases rates 60-100% and requires SR-22 filing in most states for 3 years. Injury hit-and-run, even if no criminal charges resulted, increases rates 100-180% and may trigger SR-22 requirements for 5 years in states like California and Virginia where injury-involved violations carry extended filing periods. The distinction matters because your MVR lists the violation category your state assigned, and carriers price to that category without relitigating the facts. If the police report documented any injury at the scene—even a passenger's complaint of neck pain that resulted in no hospital visit—the violation codes as injury-involved. That coding alone moves you from the 60-100% rate increase tier to the 100-180% tier, and it determines whether standard carriers will write you at all. Most property-only hit-and-run drivers can find coverage with standard carriers willing to write SR-22 as a filing on top of a non-standard policy. Most injury hit-and-run drivers cannot, and end up in assigned risk or state pools. If your hit-and-run involved alcohol—leaving the scene after a collision where the officer suspected impairment but you were not present to test—some states code that as a combined violation that stacks both the hit-and-run and an implied DUI. In those cases, expect rate increases in the 150-200% range and SR-22 filing requirements that may extend to 5 years depending on your state's point system and suspension structure.

A driver with a DUI requiring SR-22 typically pays $150-$240/mo for state minimum liability coverage during the first year of the filing period, depending on state, age, and prior insurance history. That same driver with full coverage—collision and comprehensive added—pays $220-$380/mo. Test refusal drivers pay $165-$280/mo for state minimum and $240-$420/mo for full coverage. Hit-and-run drivers with property damage only pay $140-$220/mo for state minimum and $200-$340/mo for full coverage. Hit-and-run drivers with injury involvement pay $180-$300/mo for state minimum and $260-$450/mo for full coverage. These ranges assume a 35-year-old driver with no prior violations, no lapse in coverage before the SR-22 requirement, and a clean record other than the triggering violation. Drivers under 25 or over 65 pay 15-30% more. Drivers with prior violations or a lapse longer than 30 days before filing SR-22 pay 25-50% more. Drivers in urban counties with high uninsured motorist rates—Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, Harris County Texas, Cook County Illinois—pay another 10-20% above the statewide average. Estimates based on available industry data; individual rates vary by driving history, vehicle, coverage selections, and location. The lowest rates come from carriers that specialize in SR-22 business and price each violation type separately rather than grouping all high-risk drivers into a single tier. The highest rates come from standard carriers writing SR-22 as an accommodation to existing customers, where the underwriting model was not built for post-violation risk.

Progressive, The General, Bristol West, and Acceptance Insurance operate separate underwriting models for DUI, test refusal, and hit-and-run violations because each offense correlates with different future claim patterns in their book of business. DUI drivers have higher at-fault accident rates in years two and three post-conviction than in year one. Test refusal drivers have higher lapse rates than DUI drivers. Hit-and-run drivers with prior lapses have the highest re-offense rate of all three categories. Carriers that write enough high-risk volume to measure these patterns price them separately; carriers that write SR-22 as a small percentage of their book group all three into a generic high-risk tier. If your current carrier is State Farm, Allstate, GEICO, or another standard carrier, they likely moved you to their highest tier after your violation and are not differentiating between DUI and refusal in their rate calculation. Those carriers write SR-22 to retain existing customers, not to compete for new high-risk business. If you request quotes from Progressive, The General, or a regional non-standard carrier that actively writes SR-22 in your state, you will see your specific violation type priced independently—and that difference can be $40-$80/mo on identical coverage. Standard carriers also limit coverage options for SR-22 filers in ways specialty carriers do not. Many will not write comprehensive or collision on vehicles older than 10 years for drivers with DUI or refusal violations, forcing you to carry liability-only even if your lien holder requires full coverage. Non-standard carriers writing SR-22 as core business offer full coverage on older vehicles because they understand that high-risk drivers often cannot afford new cars and need coverage on what they own.

The SR-22 filing requirement lasts 3 years in most states, but the violation itself stays on your driving record for 5-10 years depending on state law and violation type. In California, a DUI stays on your MVR for 10 years. In Texas, it stays for 7 years. In Florida, 75 years. The rate increase does not disappear when the SR-22 requirement ends—it decays gradually as the violation ages and you demonstrate continuous coverage without new incidents. During the first 3 years post-violation while SR-22 is active, expect to pay the full rate increase described above. In years 4-5 after the violation, expect rates to drop 20-40% as the SR-22 filing requirement ends and the violation moves past the 3-year lookback window most carriers use for high-risk pricing. In years 6-7, expect another 15-25% drop as the violation moves past the 5-year lookback window. By year 8-10, most drivers with a single violation and no other incidents return to within 10-20% of clean-record rates. Test refusal and injury hit-and-run violations decay more slowly than DUI because fewer carriers are willing to move you back to standard pricing until the violation falls off your MVR entirely. If your state keeps violations on record for 10 years, expect to pay non-standard or preferred-risk rates—not standard rates—until year 9 or 10 even if you have no other incidents. The exception: drivers who move to a new state where the violation does not transfer to the new MVR. Some states share violation data through NDR and PDPS systems; some do not. If your new state's DMV does not show the out-of-state violation when you apply for a license, carriers in the new state will not see it either.

Request quotes from at least three carriers that specialize in SR-22 before you renew with your current carrier. Your current carrier already has your business and is not competing for it. Carriers that write SR-22 as their core product are competing for it, and that competition produces lower rates. Provide each carrier with the exact violation type as it appears on your MVR—DUI, refusal, or hit-and-run—and confirm whether injury was involved. Do not let the agent summarize it as generic high-risk. The specific violation code determines your rate tier. If you are currently paying month-to-month, ask about 6-month paid-in-full discounts. Carriers that write high-risk business offer 5-12% discounts for paying the full term up front because it reduces lapse risk, which is their largest loss driver. If you cannot pay the full term, ask about automatic payment discounts. Most SR-22 carriers offer 3-5% off for enrolling in autopay from a checking account. If your violation involved injury or if you have a prior violation in addition to the SR-22 trigger, ask whether your state operates an assigned risk plan and what the current rate is. In some states—Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maryland—the assigned risk rate is lower than the voluntary market rate for drivers with multiple violations. In other states, assigned risk is 200-300% above voluntary market. Know the floor before you accept a high quote from a voluntary carrier.