Every guide to SR-22 insurance in Georgia spends its energy on the same question: SR-22 or SR-22A, and what is the difference? They almost all answer it as an ownership question, which is wrong, and then they stop — which is worse, because the answer that actually costs money is not the letter on the form at all.
It is the liability limits the form certifies. Georgia writes those into the face of the certificate itself, and they are not the same across the three rules that use them. Read the rules side by side and you find this:
The SR-22A — the form people assume is the heavier one, because it has an extra letter — certifies $25,000 / $50,000 / $25,000. That is Georgia's ordinary minimum liability.
The plain SR-22 after a first DUI certifies $50,000 / $100,000 / $50,000. Double.
The plain SR-22 after a second or subsequent DUI certifies $100,000 / $300,000 / $100,000. Quadruple the minimum on bodily injury per person.
So the letter tells you which suspension you are reinstating from. It tells you nothing about how much coverage you are buying, and the form without the letter can be the far more expensive one. If you have not read what an SR-22 actually is, the short version is that it is a certificate your insurer files with the state — and in Georgia that certificate carries a coverage promise printed on its face.
This page publishes no premium figures. Every dollar amount below is either a limit Georgia's rules require or a fee a Georgia agency publishes.
What each Georgia rule actually certifies
Georgia's Department of Driver Services publishes its rules as PDFs, each one reproducing the form face the insurer has to print. The relevant three sit in Subject 375-3-3, Revocation and Suspension. Here they are together — a comparison the state does not publish anywhere as a single view.
Georgia filing
Rule
What triggers it
Limits the form certifies (BI per person / BI per crash / property)
Notice DDS must get before cancellation
Source read
SR-22, probationary licence
375-3-3-.02
Proof of financial responsibility for a probationary licence
$25,000 / $50,000 / $25,000
20 days
2026-09-02
SR-22, first DUI
375-3-3-.24
Conviction under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391
$50,000 / $100,000 / $50,000
30 days
2026-09-02
SR-22, second or subsequent DUI
375-3-3-.24
Second or subsequent conviction under § 40-6-391
$100,000 / $300,000 / $100,000
30 days
2026-09-02
SR-22A
375-3-3-.17
Second or subsequent no-insurance conviction under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-10
The limits are not buried in a subsection. They are printed on the certificate, in the insurer's own voice. Rule 375-3-3-.24 prescribes this text for the SR-22 form face:
"The company signatory hereto certifies that there is in effect on the effective date of the certificate a Motor Vehicle Liability Policy affording limits of $50,000/$100,000 for bodily injury/death and $50,000 for property damage upon a first conviction of driving under the influence, or $100,000/$300,000 for bodily injury/death and $100,000 for property damage upon a second or subsequent conviction of driving under the influence."
The SR-22A's face, prescribed by rule 375-3-3-.17, says something quite different:
"The company signatory hereto certifies that there is in effect on the effective date of the certificate a Motor Vehicle Liability Policy, affording limits of $25,000/$50,000 bodily injury and $25,000 property damage."
Both forms carry the same title — "GEORGIA SAFETY RESPONSIBILITY INSURANCE CERTIFICATE" — and both rules require that "The form must be green in color." Same name, same colour, limits that differ by a factor of four at the top end.
Three observations from the table that the rules do not draw for you.
The extra letter is not an upgrade. A driver told "you need the SR-22A" is not being told to buy more coverage; the A form certifies Georgia's floor. A driver with a DUI told "you just need a standard SR-22" may be being quoted against the floor when rule 375-3-3-.24 requires double it. If you are reading about SR-22 after a DUI, the limits question is the one to settle before the price question, because the price follows the limits.
The DUI limits are new, and most published guidance predates them. Rule 375-3-3-.24's own synopsis says so plainly: "The purpose of this new rule is to align with SB 121, which passed in April 2025. It requires specific amounts of liability insurance after one DUI conviction and increased amounts of liability insurance for a second or subsequent DUI conviction." Under "Difference between existing and proposed rule" it says only: "This is a new rule." Any Georgia SR-22 article written before mid-2025 — which is most of them — states minimum limits for a DUI filing that the rule no longer permits.
The cancellation warning window is not uniform. Rule 375-3-3-.02 requires that DDS "must be given twenty (20) days notice by the insurance carrier prior to acceptable termination or cancellation." Rules 375-3-3-.17 and 375-3-3-.24 both say thirty. Same state, same insurer, same SR-26 cancellation form — and ten days' difference in how much runway the state gets, depending purely on which rule your suspension sits under. Neither rule promises the notice reaches you.
The prepayment rule that decides whether you can finance it
This is the part of Georgia's system with the most direct effect on cash, and it is almost never covered.
Georgia does not simply require an SR-22; it regulates how you may pay for the policy underneath it, and the rules are not the same across filings.
Under rule 375-3-3-.02, a premium-financed SR-22 is acceptable from the start, subject to a lock: "Cancellation of policy for non-payment of premium is not allowable under the expiration of ninety (90) days from effective date of policy."
Under rules 375-3-3-.17 and 375-3-3-.24, financing is not available at the start at all. Rule 375-3-3-.24 puts it this way:
"After the initial SR-22 filing marked 'Paid in Full' for a period of six (6) months, the Department will accept a premium financed SR-22"
— and then the lock doubles, to "one hundred eighty (180) days from the effective date of the policy." Rule 375-3-3-.17 imposes the same structure on the SR-22A. So for a DUI filing or a second no-insurance conviction, Georgia requires six months paid up front before you may finance anything. That is the real reason these filings feel expensive at the outset, and it is a rule about payment terms, not about rating.
Rule 375-3-3-.02 adds a penalty box worth knowing about before you finance a probationary-licence filing: "If an SR-22 form filed on a premium financed policy is cancelled for non-payment of premium, another premium financed SR-22 will not be accepted by the Department for a period of twelve (12) months from the date that the original SR-22 was accepted." One missed payment can put you on cash-up-front terms with the state for a year.
There is a genuine ambiguity here that is worth taking to your insurer rather than resolving on a website. DDS's FAQ on multiple no-insurance convictions says an ordinary SR-22 "can also be accepted if it is marked 'Paid In Full'" — an affirmative marking. Rule 375-3-3-.17 approaches it from the other side: a form "that is not marked 'premium financed' is accepted on the basis that it is paid in full." Both are official and they are not contradictory, but they describe the same acceptance test from opposite directions. The safe instruction to an insurer is to mark the form paid in full and not mark it premium financed.
Two agencies, two suspensions, and only one of them wants your SR-22
Most Georgia SR-22 guides describe a single process. There are two, run by different departments, and satisfying one does nothing for the other.
DDS suspends the licence. It takes the SR-22 or SR-22A, and its FAQ sets the term: "You must maintain this coverage for three (3) years," counted from the conviction date. It also warns what a lapse does: "Your insurance company will report your SR-22A Insurance Policy cancellation to DDS, this will result in the cancellation of your driver's license." Note the verb — cancellation of the licence, not a fresh suspension to serve.
The Department of Revenue suspends the registration, and it never sees your SR-22. DOR runs the Georgia Electronic Insurance Compliance System, and its GEICS Reporting Instruction Guide for Insurance Companies (version 5.0) explains the origin: "In April of the 2003 Session, the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 191. The core of this legislation stated that by January 1st, 2004, insurers authorized to write liability insurance in the state of Georgia must begin electronically reporting information on the registered vehicles they underwrite."
The guide also states the tolerance, which is far tighter than most drivers assume: "The owner of a vehicle is assigned a $25 lapse fee if the vehicle in question goes 10 or more calendar days without insurance." Ten days. And it explains what a query against your plate returns: DOR "maintains 'Valid Insurance Coverage' status for 30 days after the receipt of a termination record (allowing a new insurer time to report new business)" — meaning the status a police officer or tag office sees can still read valid for a month after your coverage ended, which is a grace in appearance only.
The practical consequence for someone with an SR-22 open: a gap between policies can produce a DDS licence cancellation and a DOR registration suspension from the same underlying fact, on two separate timetables, with two separate sets of fees. Anyone whose filing arose from driving without insurance is exposed to both at once.
The fees each agency publishes
Neither of these is a premium. Both are published by the agency that charges them.
Charged by
For what
Amount
Source read
DDS
No proof of insurance, first offence — by mail
$200
2026-09-02
DDS
No proof of insurance, second or more — by mail
$300
2026-09-02
DDS
No proof of insurance, second or more — in person
$310
2026-09-02
DDS
DUI, first offence, age 21+ — by mail
$200
2026-09-02
DOR
Lapse fee, 10 or more days without insurance
$25
2026-09-02
DOR
Registration reinstatement after suspension
$60
2026-09-02
DOR
First suspension penalty (suspension plus assumed lapse)
Two things fall out of putting them in one table, which no agency does.
Georgia charges $10 for walking in. Every DDS licence fee above has an in-person version exactly $10 higher than the mail version — $200 becomes $210, $300 becomes $310. It is a small number, but it is the only fee on the schedule that is purely about the channel you choose. Reinstatement fees by state shows how unusual it is to price the counter separately.
The escalation is on the registration side, not the licence side. DDS's no-insurance fee rises from $200 to $300 between a first and a subsequent offence. DOR's escalates further and adds time: the GEICS guide provides that a second insurance suspension in five years "will result in an $85 fine and a 90-day suspension period," and a third or subsequent "will result in a $185 fine and a 6-month suspension period." Repeat lapses cost you the plate for longer, not just more money — and the guide notes these penalties "will be tracked and counted separately VIN and the primary owner."
DDS attaches an explicit caveat to its own schedule, and it is the right note to end the money section on: "The effective conviction date, the possibility of multiple convictions and/or suspensions, and other factors in your specific case, can contribute to a different fee." Treat the table as the published schedule, not as your bill.
How to shop this, given what the rules actually say
This page names no insurer for Georgia. It has no source that ranks or prices carriers in the state, and a name printed without one is a recommendation it has not earned. What the rules do support is a specific set of questions.
Ask which rule your suspension sits under — 375-3-3-.02, .17 or .24 — and get the answer from DDS, not from the insurer. It determines your limits, your notice period and whether you may finance.
Name the limits, not the form. Ask for a quote at $50,000/$100,000/$50,000 if it is a first DUI, or $100,000/$300,000/$100,000 for a second or subsequent one. Quoting "an SR-22" invites a quote at the $25,000 floor, which rule 375-3-3-.24 will not accept.
Ask whether the carrier can file the SR-22A specifically, if that is what your notice names, and not only an SR-22.
Say whether you own a vehicle. DDS's FAQ refers to an "SR-22/SR-22A 'Non-Owners' Insurance Policy," so both forms have a non-owner version — which is precisely why SR-22A is not itself the non-owner filing. The non-owner SR-22 page covers what that policy does and does not cover.
Budget six months, not one. For a DUI or second no-insurance filing, the rules require the first six months paid in full before financing is available at all.
Confirm your end date with DDS. The three years run from the conviction date, so a new conviction opens a fresh period rather than extending the old one, and only DDS can say which conviction yours is counted from. Where each state starts counting sets Georgia's conviction-date rule beside the states that count from reinstatement instead.
What I could not verify
The text of O.C.G.A. § 40-6-10 and § 40-6-391 from the legislature's own site. The Georgia General Assembly publishes statutes at legis.ga.gov through an application that renders its content with JavaScript; a plain request returns only a loading screen, so no statutory text could be read there. Every section number cited on this page is quoted as the authority the DDS rule itself names — rules 375-3-3-.17 and 375-3-3-.24 cite § 40-6-10 and § 40-6-391 respectively, and rule 375-3-3-.02 cites O.C.G.A. § 40-5-4 as its authority. The statutory wording behind them was not read and is not quoted.
Senate Bill 121 as passed. Its existence, its April 2025 passage and its effect on DUI liability limits are stated in rule 375-3-3-.24's own synopsis, which is an official DDS publication. The bill text itself could not be opened for the reason above, so the rule's account of it is the only source used.
Whether the DUI limits in rule 375-3-3-.24 have taken effect for all filings. The rule's synopsis describes it as a proposed new rule, and I could not find a DDS page stating an effective date for it. If your conviction predates the rule, ask DDS which limits apply to your filing rather than assuming the higher ones.
Whether an SR-22A must be marked "Paid In Full" affirmatively or merely left unmarked as premium financed. The DDS FAQ and rule 375-3-3-.17 describe the same acceptance test from opposite directions, as set out above. Doing both satisfies either reading.
Whether the published DDS fee schedule is complete for SR-22 cases. The schedule read on 2 September 2026 lists reinstatement fees by suspension type — no proof of insurance, DUI, points, failure to appear, child support and Super Speeder — but it does not itemise any charge for the filing itself, and DDS's own caveat about "other factors in your specific case" means the schedule is not a quotation. Whether a given record attracts a fee not on that list was not established.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between SR-22 and SR-22A in Georgia?
Not ownership, and not severity. The SR-22A is what DDS requires after a second or subsequent conviction for no proof of insurance under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-10, per rule 375-3-3-.17; the plain SR-22 covers probationary licences under rule 375-3-3-.02 and DUI convictions under rule 375-3-3-.24. The difference that matters is the limits printed on the form: the SR-22A certifies $25,000/$50,000/$25,000, while the SR-22 after a first DUI certifies $50,000/$100,000/$50,000 and after a second or subsequent DUI $100,000/$300,000/$100,000. Both forms are titled "GEORGIA SAFETY RESPONSIBILITY INSURANCE CERTIFICATE" and both must be green.
How much liability coverage does a Georgia SR-22 have to certify after a DUI?
Not less than $50,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $100,000 for all persons in one crash, and $50,000 for property damage on a first conviction under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391 — and not less than $100,000, $300,000 and $100,000 respectively on a second or subsequent conviction. Those figures come from DDS rule 375-3-3-.24, whose synopsis attributes them to Senate Bill 121, passed in April 2025. They are well above Georgia's ordinary $25,000/$50,000/$25,000 minimum, so a quote built on state-minimum limits will not satisfy the rule.
How long do I need an SR-22 in Georgia?
Three years from the conviction date. DDS states it as "You must maintain this coverage for three (3) years," and rules 375-3-3-.17 and 375-3-3-.24 both say the filing must be "maintained for three (3) years from the date of conviction." Because the clock hangs on a conviction rather than on reinstatement, a new conviction inside the window opens its own three-year period rather than lengthening the existing one. Ask DDS which conviction your period is counted from; your insurer cannot tell you.
Can I pay monthly for an SR-22 in Georgia?
Not at the start, for a DUI or a second no-insurance filing. Rules 375-3-3-.17 and 375-3-3-.24 both allow a premium-financed filing only "after the initial SR-22 filing marked 'Paid in Full' for a period of six (6) months," and then bar cancellation for non-payment for 180 days. A probationary-licence SR-22 under rule 375-3-3-.02 may be premium financed from the outset, with a 90-day bar instead — but if such a policy is cancelled for non-payment, that rule blocks another premium-financed SR-22 for twelve months.
What does an SR-22 cost in Georgia, and which part of it can I check?
This page publishes no premium and names no company, because no insurer quotes a rate for a record it has not seen and an average built from other drivers is not a price for yours. What is worth knowing is where Georgia's money actually sits: DDS publishes $200 to $310 to reinstate a licence depending on offence and channel, the Department of Revenue publishes a $25 lapse fee, a $60 registration reinstatement fee and penalties reaching $185 with a six-month suspension for repeat lapses, and the rules require the first six months of a DUI or second-offence filing to be paid in full before you may finance. Get three quotes at the limits your rule actually requires, and ask each insurer for the premium and the filing charge as two separate numbers.
Official Georgia sources
These link to the specific page, form or codified section that states the requirement, with the date I read it. Where a state's own site blocks my connection, the link goes to an archived copy of that same official page and says so, rather than dressing an unchecked figure up as a checked one. Agencies revise these pages without notice, so confirm anything you are about to act on.
Alonso Pinar Jiménez writes ClearRoad Guide. He is a web developer, not an insurance agent or a lawyer. On the state guides, legal requirements come from the state agency that sets them, linked to the page that says it and dated. Every dollar amount on this site is a statutory limit or a fee the agency itself publishes; no premium figures appear here, because no insurer publishes a rate for an individual record. Where two sources disagree, both are shown with their origin instead of averaged into a number nobody confirmed. See the Editorial Policy for how this site is researched, verified, and updated, and How This Site Is Made for how it was written.
Published July 31, 2026 · Last updated September 2, 2026
Corrections and withdrawn figures on this site are recorded, dated, in the corrections log.
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