Can my car be parked on the road without insurance? (2026 Coverage Rules)

Can my car be parked on the road without insurance? In most states, the answer is no. A registered vehicle must have at least liability insurance to park legally on public property. An uninsured vehicle parked on the road must comply with insurance laws. Insufficient insurance can result in penalties and towing risks even if not driven.

To avoid violations, vehicles classified as Planned Non-Operable (PNO) must also remain off public roads. An uninsured car parked on the road is subject to impoundment, adding to the owner’s financial burden. Getting a parking ticket for a car without insurance can lead to increased fines and registration issues.

If you need to understand your options better, enter your ZIP code above to explore solutions from various car insurance companies that fit your needs. Compliance with insurance regulations ensures legal parking and protects your financial interests.

The Purpose of Vehicle Registration

The state has a Department of Motor Vehicles to provide identification, motor vehicle licensing, and driver licensing services to residents of the state. They monitor auto registrations, licensing, and many other things when you’re talking about driving on a public street.

The agency plays a major role in helping educate the public and enforce state legislation. All cars operated on state highways and local roads must be registered through the DMV.

Since you have to report your vehicle’s status as soon as you take ownership, you need to learn what the purpose of a vehicle registration is.

Vehicle Insurance and Parking Rules

This registration identifies a car, the car’s legal owner, where the vehicle is stored, and how much the owner must pay in taxes to drive the vehicle on public roadways. You can’t drive, tow, or park a car on public roads without valid license plates.

Read More: Can I get car insurance without registration?

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Insurance Requirements for Every Vehicle

You need to have active registration placards to drive your vehicle and park it on public roads, but does that mean that you need insurance? In most states, auto insurance is mandatory. When you’re required to purchase motor vehicle liability insurance, having a registration means that you have to have insurance.

While auto insurance is typically required, there are states where you don’t have to maintain insurance.

In Virginia and New Hampshire, you can pay an uninsured motorist fee, and you don’t have to pay premiums each and every month. Since there’s an exception to the general rule, you don’t always have to have insurance just to own a registered vehicle. If you get in an accident, you will not have any insurance coverage, leaving you vulnerable to lawsuits, injuries, etc.

So, most car owners would only want to use this option if they were storing their car on private property. Unfortunately, many parked cars on the road can be hit and damaged. They can also be towed if the city is doing work on that road.

Read more:

• What year did car insurance become mandatory?
• Learning Car Insurance Basics

Alternatives to Insurance Requirements

If you live in a state with financial responsibility laws, there are alternative ways to get around the insurance requirement. Of course, with any of these alternatives, you would need to cover your own medical bills and property damage repair bills after an accident. They’re just meant to prove you can pay for a certain amount of liability if you cause an accident.

You can deposit cash with the treasurer, apply for a self-insurance certificate, or apply for a surety bond. Like standard insurance, you can be sued if your liability coverage is not enough. More importantly, you’d have to add more money or repurchase a bond if you cause an accident depleting the funds.

If you comply with an alternative filing method and the DMV accepts the proof, you don’t technically need insurance to maintain your registration or park your car on the road. With this being said, alternative methods generally cost more than buying insurance in the first place.

Imagine depositing the full amount of your liability coverage into a fund all at once. This could be $35,000 or more at once when cheap insurance might only cost you $100 a month or less. This is more common for medium—to large companies looking to self-insure their own vehicle fleets.

Read More: Best Car Insurance for Rarely Driven Cars

Parking a Planned Non-Operable Vehicle on the Road

If you’re not driving your vehicle regularly, it may make more sense for you to report your vehicle as Planned Non-Operable. Filing the car as PNO means that you don’t plan on driving, storing, parking, or towing the vehicle on the road or a highway for the entire registration period.

If your vehicle currently has a PNO filing, you can only keep it parked in your driveway or on private property elsewhere. You don’t need insurance on the car to do this, but you can’t park the car on the road with or without insurance because it violates the conditions to pay the small PNO fee.

If you do an uninsured car parked on the street, it can be towed and impounded. (For more information, read our “How do I get my impounded car back?“).

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Legality of Parking a Car on the Road Without Insurance

You don’t need insurance on the car to do this, but you can’t park the car on the road with or without insurance because doing so violates the conditions for paying the small PNO fee. If you do park the car on the road, it can be towed and impounded.

Read more: Can I tow my car with no insurance?

If you don’t have insurance and need to move your car, it’s time to price how much liability insurance will cost. Use an online quote comparison tool, and you can find affordable insurance and apply for it all in a matter of minutes. Enter your ZIP code below to compare car insurance rates from multiple companies simultaneously.