California's 2025 minimum car insurance limits One surgery can pass the minimum.
On January 1, 2025 the floor moved from 15/30/5 to 30/60/15, and it moves again in 2035. If the driver who hit you carries the minimum, $30,000 is the ceiling on their liability policy no matter what your treatment costs.
On this page
For any California auto policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, the minimum liability limits are $30,000 for one person's injuries, $60,000 for everyone hurt in the crash, and $15,000 for property damage. That is double the old floor, and if the driver who hit you bought exactly that, $30,000 is the most their liability coverage pays you.
What changed in 2025
Vehicle Code section 16056 carries both sets of numbers in its own text. Paragraph (a)(1) holds the old floor of $15,000, $30,000, and $5,000. Paragraph (a)(2) replaces it for any policy or bond issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025 with $30,000, $60,000, and $15,000. The change traces to Senate Bill 1107, passed in 2022, which also scheduled a further increase of $20,000, $40,000, and $10,000 for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2035. Commercial policies, rideshare coverage, and claims against a public agency run on their own rules and are not covered here.
| Policy issued or renewed | One person's injuries | Everyone hurt in the crash | Property damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before January 1, 2025 | $15,000 | $30,000 | $5,000 |
| On or after January 1, 2025 | $30,000 | $60,000 | $15,000 |
| On or after January 1, 2035 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $25,000 |
The column for everyone hurt in the crash is the one people misread. That number is a total for the whole crash, not a per person figure. Four people in a minivan hit by a minimum limits driver are dividing $60,000 among four claims, and the insurer will often interplead the money, meaning deposit it with a court, and let the claimants argue about the split.
How quickly a minimum policy runs out
We do not publish an average settlement or an average medical bill, because an average of unlike cases anchors people to a number that has nothing to do with their injury. What can be said precisely is the shape of the problem. A single ambulance transport, an emergency department visit, imaging, and one orthopedic consultation is a routine sequence after a highway speed collision in Los Angeles, and it is billed as four separate accounts. Add a surgical repair and the bills passed the liability limit weeks ago.
When that happens the case does not end. The work becomes finding every other source of payment, in a specific order, and protecting what is recovered from the liens attached to it, the repayment claims from whoever paid for your care.
Where the remaining money comes from
- 1The at-fault driver's liability limits
Ask early for a certified copy of the declarations page, the one or two page summary of the policy. A minimum limits insurer will often offer the full $30,000 quickly once the medical records show the limit is exhausted, and there is rarely a reason to fight over the first dollar of a policy that small.
- 2Every other party who may be liable
The driver's employer if the driver was working, the vehicle's owner, a bar or a commercial defendant, a road contractor. Under Civil Code section 1431.2 each defendant pays only its own percentage of the non-economic damages, the pain and suffering part of the claim, but each one brings its own insurance.
- 3Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
Governed by Insurance Code section 11580.2, and abbreviated as UM and UIM on most policies. This is the coverage that exists for a driver with a $30,000 policy and a $200,000 problem, and it is the coverage most people have never checked.
- 4Medical payments coverage on your own policy
MedPay pays medical bills regardless of who caused the crash and it pays quickly. Whether it must be repaid out of a settlement depends on the policy language.
- 5Your health insurance, then care on a lien
Health coverage pays at negotiated rates and asserts a lien capped by Civil Code section 3040. A lien-based provider treats now and bills the settlement later, at higher numbers. Both are better than not treating.
What your underinsured motorist coverage pays
Underinsured motorist coverage, UIM for short, pays the difference between the at-fault driver's limit and your own limit. It does not stack on top. Insurance Code section 11580.2 defines an underinsured motor vehicle as one insured for an amount less than the uninsured motorist limits carried on the vehicle of the injured person, and it reduces the insurer's liability by the amount paid to you by or for anyone legally liable for the injury.
| Your UM and UIM limit | At-fault driver's limit | Most your UIM can add |
|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $30,000 | $0, because their vehicle is not underinsured relative to yours |
| $100,000 | $30,000 | $70,000 |
| $250,000 | $30,000 | $220,000 |
| $500,000 | $30,000 | $470,000 |
The first row is the one to study. A driver who carries the state minimum has, in practice, no underinsured motorist protection against another minimum limits driver, because there is no gap between the two policies for the coverage to fill.
When this does not apply
- You were uninsured when it happened. Proposition 213, codified at Civil Code section 3333.4, bars an uninsured driver from recovering non-economic damages in most cases. Our post on a crash that was not your fault covers where that rule applies and where it does not.
- A commercial vehicle or a rideshare was involved. Different floors apply. For Uber and Lyft the coverage depends on what the app was doing, which we cover in rideshare coverage by period.
- A public agency was involved. A Metro bus, a city truck, or a dangerous roadway condition puts you on a six month claim deadline instead of the two year one. See the Metro claim rules.
- The driver fled. An uninsured motorist claim for a hit and run requires physical contact between the vehicles under section 11580.2, and a police report is what proves the collision happened at all.
Read your own declarations page
Open the declarations page for your auto policy, the one or two page summary your insurer sends at renewal, and find four lines.
- Bodily injury liability. If it reads 30/60, you are carrying the floor. This is what protects you from a claim against you.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist bodily injury. Frequently written to match your liability limit. This is what protects you from everyone else.
- Medical payments. Small, fast, and paid regardless of fault. Many policies do not include it unless it was requested.
- Uninsured motorist property damage and collision. Which one pays for your car when the other driver has nothing.
The California Department of Insurance keeps consumer information and complaint tools at insurance.ca.gov if you want to check a company or read the coverage definitions yourself. After a crash it is too late to buy the coverage you wish you had.
Questions about California's new minimum limits
What are California's minimum car insurance limits now?
Do the new limits apply to a crash that happened in 2026 if the policy is older?
What happens when several people are hurt by one minimum limits driver?
Does my underinsured motorist coverage pay on top of the other driver's policy?
Will California's minimum limits change again?
Should I raise my own limits?
What the 2025 increase means for you
The floor under the driver who hit you is $30,000 instead of $15,000. If your treatment costs more than the policy holds, the claim becomes a search: every liable party, your own underinsured coverage with the offset applied, MedPay, and then health coverage or treatment on a lien with the lien capped and negotiated at the end.
Start by getting the other driver's declarations page and your own. Our Los Angeles car accident lawyer page explains how a claim is built when the limits are small, our post on dealing with insurance after an accident covers the adjuster calls that come next, and there is no fee unless we recover.
