Quick answer: Driving without insurance in Prince George’s County is really two charges. If you owned the car, § 17-104 is a payable $290 fine with 0 points and no knowledge element. If you were the driver, § 17-107 is a must-appear criminal charge carrying 5 points and up to a year in jail — but the State has to prove you knew or had reason to know the car was uninsured. Cases are heard in the District Court in Hyattsville or Upper Marlboro, and a first-time driver who shows up with coverage restored can often reach a probation before judgment.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve handled thousands of Maryland traffic cases, including a great many uninsured-driving charges in the Upper Marlboro and Hyattsville District Courts. Most of my clients here are not people who decided to drive uninsured. They’re people something slipped past — a lapsed auto-pay, a policy a spouse handled, a cancellation notice mailed to an old address.
What Are the Two Uninsured-Driving Charges?
Maryland splits uninsured driving into an owner offense and a driver offense, and which one an officer writes changes everything about how the case is handled. Beating one does not resolve the other.
The owner charge is Md. Code, Transp. § 17-104: the registered owner failed to keep the required security in force during the registration period. There is no knowledge element — if the coverage lapsed, the owner is liable. It is a payable citation with a $290 preset fine and 0 points.
The driver charge is Md. Code, Transp. § 17-107: driving a vehicle you “know or have reason to know” is not covered. That is a criminal, must-appear charge — no mailing in a fine — carrying 5 points and, on a first conviction, up to 1 year in jail and a $1,000 fine. A second conviction goes up to 2 years.
| Owner charge (§ 17-104) | Driver charge (§ 17-107) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Registered owner of the car | Person driving it |
| Knowledge required? | No — strict on the owner | Yes — “knows or has reason to know” |
| How charged | Payable — $290 preset, 0 points | Must appear — no prepayment |
| Points | 0 | 5 |
| Max on conviction | $500 fine | Up to 1 year jail and/or $1,000 (2 years if repeat) |
Those 5 points on the driver charge often matter more than the fine. In any two-year window, 5 points triggers a mandatory driver improvement program, so a single § 17-107 conviction can push an otherwise clean driver straight into MVA action. See how the tiers work in Maryland’s point system in a nutshell.
Don’t just pay the $290. Paying the § 17-104 preset is a guilty plea, and it becomes a conviction on your record. Requesting a waiver hearing or a trial keeps a non-conviction option open — including probation before judgment under Crim. Proc. § 6-220 — but PBJ is foreclosed the moment you pay. A hearing is not free, either: a judge can reduce the fine or increase it, up to a $500 maximum. Treat that as a trade-off you get to make, not a reason to mail the ticket in.
Where Will My Prince George’s County Case Be Heard?
Prince George’s County has two District Court locations — one in Hyattsville and one in Upper Marlboro — and which one hears your case depends on where the officer wrote the ticket. A § 17-107 charge is a must-appear matter, so you will get a real court date at one of them rather than an option to prepay.
If a District Court case is appealed, or you request a jury trial, it moves up to the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County in Upper Marlboro. Both locations run heavy traffic dockets, and knowing how each tends to handle uninsured-driving cases is much of what a local lawyer is actually for.
What Happens on the Court Date?
On a must-appear § 17-107 charge you check in, the case is called, and the State has to prove its elements — including that you knew or had reason to know the car was uninsured. The State’s proof is usually the MVA’s coverage records, which § 17-107(b)(1) makes only prima facie evidence that you knew. That presumption is rebuttable — subsection (b)(2) expressly preserves your right to put in other evidence — which is exactly where a defense lives.
In practice, most first-time cases don’t end in a trial. They end in a negotiated result: a reduction, a dismissal where coverage turns out to have been in force, or a probation before judgment. A PBJ is not a conviction — no 5 points and no criminal record — and on a first offense handled properly it is very often the realistic goal. It helps enormously to walk in with the underlying problem already fixed, which is why calling early matters more on this charge than on almost any other. Whether a lawyer can appear for you or you need to be present is covered in payable vs. must-appear tickets in Maryland.
The MVA Penalty Runs Separately
The court case is only one track. The Motor Vehicle Administration runs its own penalty under Md. Code, Transp. § 17-106, and it does not care what you knew. When required coverage lapses, the registration is suspended automatically and a penalty fee accrues: $200 for a lapse of 1 to 30 days, then $7 for each additional day from day 31, capped at $3,500 per violation in a 12-month period. Older sources still quote $150 and a $2,500 cap — those figures are out of date.
Two things are worth knowing. First, you must surrender your registration plates within 48 hours of the suspension notice, or the MVA may suspend your license too. Second, there is a narrow escape hatch: the penalty may not be assessed at all if the plates are returned within 10 days of the lapse and the car was sold, salvaged, taken by a licensed dealer, or you moved out of state and mailed the tags back. Signing the car over to a relative does not work — the statute closes that door. The full money-and-plates picture is in insurance lapse and license suspension in Maryland.
How I Defend These Cases in PG County
- Attack the knowledge element. The State usually leans on the MVA records, which are only prima facie evidence. Payment records, a carrier’s reinstatement letter, and dated policy documents rebut the presumption that you knew.
- Show you were actually covered. The MVA’s system lags, and drivers get charged after handing over a valid card at the roadside. If that is your situation, start with charged with driving uninsured when you had insurance.
- Fix the underlying problem first. Coverage reinstated, the FR-19 filed, and the MVA fee addressed before the date. A driver who has already solved the problem is a very different proposition to a judge.
- Aim for probation before judgment. On a first offense handled properly, a PBJ that avoids the 5 points and the conviction is very often achievable.
Related PG County Charges I Handle
An uninsured stop often comes with other charges, and a missed court date creates its own problem. I handle these across Upper Marlboro, Hyattsville, Bowie, Largo, Lanham, Greenbelt, College Park, and the PG County portion of Laurel.
- Driving without a license
- Driving while suspended
- Driving while revoked
- Bench warrant for a missed court date
- All PG County traffic charges
Frequently Asked Questions
Legally yes, up to a year on a first conviction under the driver charge, Transp. section 17-107. It is not the usual outcome for a first-time driver who appears with coverage restored, but the exposure is real, which is why it is a must-appear charge rather than a ticket you can mail in.
Section 17-104 is the owner charge: the registered owner let the required coverage lapse. It is payable at a $290 preset with 0 points and no knowledge element. Section 17-107 is the driver charge: driving a car you knew or had reason to know was uninsured. It is must-appear, carries 5 points, and can mean jail. You can be charged under one, the other, or both.
Not automatically. The MVA penalty fee does not depend on what you knew, so if the coverage genuinely lapsed it applies regardless of the criminal outcome. If there was never a real lapse and the fee was assessed in error, that gets corrected with the MVA. Deal with both tracks, because the one you ignore will surface at registration renewal.
Fix This Before Your Court Date, Not After
Most uninsured-driving cases in Prince George’s County resolve well — but the ones that resolve best are the ones where the driver walked in with coverage already restored, the MVA side addressed, and a defense prepared on the knowledge element. That takes a little time, so call early. You can also read my statewide driving without insurance guide or the broader Maryland insurance and hit-and-run resource.
Law Offices of David R. Waranch — 301-563-9575 · toll-free 1-877-566-2408. Hablamos Español.
Last updated: August 2026. Statutory references: Md. Code, Transp. § 17-104, § 17-106, § 17-107; Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 6-220. This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.