South Dakota Auto Insurance Requirements

The South Dakota State laws governing auto insurance require you to carry a minimum amount of liability insurance. You will need to provide proof that you possess the minimum liability auto insurance to pay for injuries to another person or damages to their property in case of an accident. In South Dakota, this requires you to carry a motor vehicle insurance identification card, certificate of deposit, or certificate of self insurance with you every time you get in your car. If you do not have this proof of insurance with you, you can be ticketed and fined.

The South Dakota State Department of Revenue and the South Dakota State Department of Insurance are the government agencies you need to present your proof of insurance to. You may also need to contact the Motor Vehicle Division. All eligible drivers in a household must be covered under a liability auto insurance policy.

Mandatory liability auto insurance is also required on rental vehicles by the state of South Dakota. Your personal auto insurance policy generally covers rental cars but if it does not provide coverage for rental vehicles, you may want to check with the credit card that you used to rent the car. Credit card companies sometimes cover insurance on rental cars. If neither option applies to your situation, you must purchase the minimum liability insurance from the rental company. The rental company insurance will be $7.00 to $14.00 per day. You must keep the rental agreement in the vehicle throughout the term of the agreement. This will be your proof of insurance in case of an accident or traffic stop.

South Dakota is a Tort state in regards to liability auto insurance. This means that the individual responsible for causing the accident will be responsible for paying for all injuries and property damages incurred in the accident. For this reason, the insurance company may suggest that you purchase more than the recommended mandatory minimum liability insurance amounts.

You must have proof of insurance with you at all times. South Dakota’s mandatory minimum liability auto insurance limits are $25,000.00 per individual injury or death, $50,000.00 for all injured persons, and $25,000.00 for damage to property. You are also required to carry $25,000.00/$50,000.00 of uninsured/underinsured bodily injury protection. Auto insurance policies purchased in South Dakota will include the mandatory liability minimum insurance limits. However, the state of South Dakota does not require drivers to carry comprehensive or collision coverage. You can also provide the needed coverage with a $50,000.00 certificate of deposit or a certificate of self insurance.



South Dakota requires motorists to be covered by the mandatory liability auto insurance policy at all times. Should you become involved in an accident or be stopped for a traffic violation and you do not have the required liability policy, you will be ticketed and fined up to $100.00. You may lose your license for 30 days to one year. You could even face jail time and you will have to pay a $50.00 reinstatement and application fees. Even if the accident is not your fault, you can still be cited for lacking proof of insurance. The exemptions to the mandatory liability insurance are off highway vehicles and non operational vehicles which are also not registered.



You must produce proof of insurance upon request by the authorities. This proof will be your insurance identification card, a certificate of deposit or a certificate of self insurance from the state and needs to include the name of the insurance company, the dates of coverage, and the amount of liability coverage. It also needs to include the policy number, VIN number of the vehicles covered, the make and model of the vehicles as well as the name of the policy holder and those persons covered as drivers. The auto insurance needs to be authorized by a qualified auto insurance company.

Remember that you may need your proof of minimum liability auto insurance at any time. You will definitely need it at the time of registering your car, in the case of involvement in an accident either as the cause of the accident or the victim of the accident, or if you should be stopped for a traffic violation.