Car Insurance in Nevada: Vegas, Reno, and Beyond

Despite relatively high costs, Nevada’s auto insurance requirements are pretty minimal. The state only requires drivers to have liability insurance coverage, which breaks down into bodily injury coverage and property damage coverage. These are the liability limits:

• Bodily injury per person: $25,000
• Bodily injury per accident: $50,000
• Property damage: $20,000¹

How much car insurance do you need? The answer is, as much as you can afford. We recommend increasing your liability limits to at least 100/300/100, adding medical payments coverage, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, and depending on the age of your car, collision and comprehensive coverage. With full coverage car insurance, you can get compensation for your injuries and damages, whether or not you caused the accident.

At an average of $1,283 annually, minimum coverage in Nevada is 135 percent higher than the national average. However, prices can dip to $800 or lower, or hit $1,855 or higher, depending on your vehicle, zip code, driver profile, and other factors. If you’re considering full coverage, it’s 19 percent more expensive than the national average, with Nevada drivers paying around $2,285 per year. Depending on your situation and insurance provider, full coverage in Nevada can range from $1,432 to $2,795 per year.

Here are some of the car insurance companies available in the Silver State:

• Allied
• Allstate
• American Family
• Auto-Owners
• Capital
• Country
• CSAA
• Farmers
• GEICO
• The General
• The Hartford
• Kemper
• Liberty Mutual
• Mercury
• MetLife
• Nationwide
• Progressive
• Safeco
• State Farm
• Travelers
• USAA

Since car insurance in Nevada is expensive, you’re probably looking for ways to save. From discounts to bundling, we’ve got you covered.

Dropping Coverages

You can drop any coverages you don’t legally need, which, in Nevada, is any coverage aside from liability. The cheapest car insurance option in Nevada would be the minimum coverage.

Raising Your Deductible

You can also raise your deductible to lower your premiums, but remember you’ll owe that amount if you have a covered collision or comprehensive claim.

Driving without proof of insurance in Nevada is illegal, and it’ll cost you both financially and legally. You must carry Nevada Evidence of Liability Insurance in the vehicle or on a mobile device.

Now that you know about the importance of insurance, read up on Nevada’s other laws surrounding car insurance and driving.

At-Fault System

Nevada is an at-fault state, meaning that the person at fault in an accident pays for the other party’s injuries and property damage. The state also has a modified comparative negligence system, which says that accident victims can recover money in an accident even if they were partially negligible. However, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault, so if you were found to be 15 percent at fault, your compensation would reduce by 15 percent.

Drivers Without Insurance

In Nevada, insurance companies aren’t required to offer uninsured motorist coverage, nor does the state require customers to have it. Maybe that’s partially due to the fact that only 8.8 percent of drivers in Nevada lack car insurance, ranking Nevada 41st in the nation for percentage of uninsured drivers by state.³

DUIs

Nevada takes drunk driving very seriously. A first or second offense DUI, assuming the conviction resulted in a misdemeanor charge, will stay on your record for at least seven years. A third offense DUI within seven years is considered a felony in Nevada and will stay on your record for life. The breakdown of charges, fines, and penalties for DUI’s in Nevada are listed below:

To learn more, read our guide to DUI’s in Nevada.

Seat Belt Laws

Nevada requires people ages 6 and older or over 60 pounds in all seats to wear seat belts. However, the law is under secondary enforcement, so police officers can’t pull you over for this offense alone; it needs to be accompanied by another traffic violation.

Distracted Driving Laws

Unlike its seat belt laws, Nevada’s distracted driving laws are under primary enforcement, including a handheld ban for all drivers. You’ll face these penalties for distracted driving, which includes the ever-popular texting and driving:

• First offense: $50 fine
• Second offense within seven years of the first: $100 fine, four points on your driving record
• Subsequent offenses: $250 fine, four points on your driving record⁴

Teen Driver Laws

It’s no surprise that new drivers are more likely to get into accidents and have covered claims, which is why car insurance for teens costs more. In the same vein, Nevada places more restrictions on teen drivers.

• Who they can transport: Teen drivers can’t transport anyone under 18, unless they’re immediate family members, for the first six months of their licenses.
• When they can drive: Nevada imposes a statewide curfew for drivers under 18 from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., except for driving to and from scheduled events and jobs (you’ll need evidence of the event or job with you). Depending on where you live, you might face additional curfews.

• Driving under the influence: The maximum BAC drivers under 21 can legally drive with is 0.02 percent. If the driver has any detectable amount of a prohibited or controlled substance, they can be arrested.⁶

Claims Statute of Limitations

In Nevada, you have three years from the date of the accident to file property damage claims and two years for personal injury claims. Beyond these statutes of limitations, you might not get your losses covered.

Notification Laws for Cancellation and Non-Renewal

If a company wants to cancel your insurance policy midterm, it has 30 days to alert you before the expiration date, or 10 if the cancellation is due to nonpayment. If a company doesn’t want to renew your policy at the end of its term, it has 30 days to alert you so you can find a new policy and avoid a gap in coverage.

Self-Insurance

Nevada allows its residents to self-insure their cars — if they have over 10 cars and the required collateral, that is. You can pay either 130 percent of your average annual claims in the previous three years or an amount based on the number of vehicles you’re insuring.

Inspection Requirements

Annual emission tests for vehicles in Nevada are required by law as part of the registration renewal process. If you buy a car from a dealer, whether that dealer is in Nevada or in another state, you’ll need to pass an emissions test. Emissions tests are also necessary for private-party sales, family sales, new residents to the state, and cars received as gifts. Basically, if you have a gas or diesel truck or car from 1968 or later, in most areas of Las Vegas and Reno, you’ll need an emissions test. These are some possible exceptions:

• New vehicles until their fourth registrations
• Hybrid vehicles for the first five model years
• Diesel vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) over 14,000 pounds
• Motorcycles
• Mopeds
• Vehicles based in remote areas of Clark and Washoe counties
• Alternative fuel vehicles
• Transfer of ownership/registration if the last test was conducted within 90 days before transfer
• Transfer of ownership between husband and wife
• Transfer of ownership/registration between companies whose principal business is leasing vehicles if there is no change in the lessee or operator of the vehicle
• Vehicles registered as a Classic Rod, Classic Vehicle or Old Timer and driven 5,000 miles or less per year⁷

The results of an emission test are generally valid for 90 days for cars bought out of state. For vehicles purchased from a Nevada dealership, the emissions test is valid for 180 days. You can find a testing site here: https://dmvapp.nv.gov/DMV/OBL/Business_Reports/Pages/BusinessLicenses.aspx?LT=EPES.

Make sure to have your vehicle identification number (VIN) handy when you go to your local DMV (contact information below).

SR-22s

Say you were caught driving without insurance, and you haven’t purchased minimum coverage within one day for a first offense. You would then need to carry an SR-22, a form that proves minimum insurance, for three years. For the second offense, if you were found driving without insurance for more than 90 days, a three-year SR-22 would also apply.

Defensive Driving

Nevada doesn’t have overarching rules about defensive driving courses, their lengths, or the number of points they remove from your driving record. Defensive driving courses are handled at the city level, so check your city’s website to find one.

Civil Suit Thresholds

There’s no monetary or serious injury threshold you need to reach to file a civil suit against someone you got into a car accident with in Nevada. That means you can sue for both economic (medical expenses, lost wages, etc.) and noneconomic damages (pain, suffering, anxiety, etc.), no matter the amount you lost or how severe your injuries were.

Accident Reporting Requirements

If you get into a car crash in Nevada that results in injury, death, or property damage over $750, you are legally required to report the accident. You can notify law enforcement immediately, but if they are not present, you must file a report with the Nevada DMV using Form SR-1 within 10 days of the accident. If you do not report the accident, you may face license suspension.

Pricing Discriminations: Are They Legal?

Nevada doesn’t have laws preventing car insurance providers from determining prices based on credit scores or gender. That’s bad news for people with poor credit and men, who pay more for insurance than people with good credit and women, even if other factors like driving history are equal.

There was a temporary ban on using credit scores to increase premiums during the pandemic, but this expired in May 2024⁸.

Total Loss

Let’s say someone hits your car. You bring it to the repair shop, where the mechanic tells you that the car’s repairs will cost 70 percent of its actual market value (AMV). In Nevada, your car would be considered a total loss, so if you had collision coverage, you’d be reimbursed for your car’s AMV, as the total loss threshold is 65 percent. In other words, if repairs cost at least 65 percent more than your car’s AMV, it’s a total loss.

Here we’ve compiled the information for the Nevada DMV offices and Department of Insurance.

How to Register Your Car in Nevada

You can register your car or renew your registration online, or visit a DMV office in person.

• Register online: https://dmvapp.nv.gov/dmv/vr/edrs_online_reg/vehreginit.aspx
• Renew your registration online: https://dmvapp.nv.gov/DMV/VR/RegRenewal/VRRenewal/VR_Ren_Input.aspx
• Visit a DMV office in person: Find your closest location below.

How to Get a Duplicate Car Title

To get a duplicate car title, you’ll need to fill out a physical form and get it to a DMV office, as there’s no online option.

1. Get the form. Print out the Application for Duplicate Nevada Certificate of Title at https://dmv.nv.gov/pdfforms/vp012.pdf or pick it up from your local DMV.
2. Fill out the form. You’ll need to provide your VIN, car make, model number, year, and basic contact information.
3. Get $20. Your duplicate title fee is $20, so be sure to include that with your completed form.
4. Get the form notarized. Whether you’re the vehicle owner or not, the form needs to be notarized.
5. Send the form. Either drop the form off at your local DMV or mail it to any DMV office.

How to Contact the Nevada Department of Insurance

There are three ways to contact Nevada’s DOI.

• Website: https://doi.nv.gov/
• Phone number: 775-687-0700
• Mailing address:
  • Nevada Department of Insurance
    1818 E. College Parkway, Suite 103
    Carson City, NV 89706

Car repairs in Nevada cost about 6 percent more than the national average⁹. The average total car repair cost in Nevada is $398.26, which breaks down to $138.58 for labor and $259.68 for parts.¹⁰

Auto theft exists everywhere, but Nevada has high rates compared to the rest of the country. The opposite is true for traffic fatality rates, however.

Car Theft

With an annual rate of 481 motor vehicle thefts per 100,000 residents in Nevada, Nevada ranks 8th among states with the highest auto theft rates. Las Vegas seems to have an outsize influence on the theft rate. Rates are lower in Reno and Carson City.

Traffic Fatalities

According to early estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nevada’s motor vehicle fatality rate for the first quarter of 2024 is projected to increase by 39 percent compared to the previous year. The estimated fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in Nevada is expected to rise to 1.48 in 2024, up from 1.10 in 2023¹².

To learn more about car insurance in Nevada, read our car insurance FAQs below. To learn about car insurance in other states, visit our state car insurance guide.