Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Reviewed
In this guide
When the at fault driver had no insurance, too little insurance, or was never identified, the claim moves to your own policy. The coverage has an offset, a waiver that removes it, an owner cap that shrinks the claim against a borrowed car, and its own deadlines. Collision and comprehensive coverage repair your vehicle and have nothing to do with your injury.
Why the minimum limits run out
Vehicle Code 16056 sets the least amount of liability insurance a California driver may carry. Senate Bill 1107 raised it for the first time in decades, effective January 1, 2025, and wrote a second increase into the statute for 2035. A large share of Los Angeles drivers carry exactly the floor and nothing above it.
| Period | One person | Two or more | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before January 1, 2025 | $15,000 | $30,000 | $5,000 |
| From January 1, 2025 | $30,000 | $60,000 | $15,000 |
| From January 1, 2035 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $25,000 |
The 2035 row is the statute's own arithmetic: subdivision (d) increases the 2025 figures by $20,000, $40,000, and $10,000. Read the 2025 row against a real injury. An ambulance transport, an emergency department workup, an MRI, and eight weeks of physical therapy can exhaust a minimum policy before anyone mentions an injection, let alone surgery.
How much your underinsured coverage pays
The offset is written into the statute. Under Insurance Code 11580.2, an insurer paying an underinsured motorist claim is entitled to reimbursement or credit in the amount the insured received from the at fault driver or that driver's insurer. Your coverage is not stacked on top of theirs; theirs is subtracted from yours.
| Their liability limit | Your UIM limit | They pay | Your UIM can add |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $100,000 | $30,000 | Up to $70,000 |
| $30,000 | $250,000 | $30,000 | Up to $220,000 |
| $30,000 | $30,000 | $30,000 | Nothing |
The third row, where both limits are $30,000, matters most. If you carry the same limits as the driver who hit you, the credit consumes the coverage and your underinsured motorist protection adds nothing at all. Raising your own UM and UIM limits is one of the few decisions about a car accident you can still make before the crash, and it costs far less than the liability coverage most people focus on.
Did you sign away the coverage?
Insurance Code 11580.2 requires that no bodily injury liability policy be issued or delivered in California without uninsured motorist coverage, at limits matching the policy's liability limits. The insurer and the named insured may delete the coverage entirely, or as to specific named people, but only by a written agreement in the form the statute prescribes.
The coverage is yours by default and can only be given away on paper. Pull your declarations page, the summary page at the front of your policy, and look for the letters UM and UIM and the numbers next to them. If those numbers are lower than your liability limits, or missing, someone signed something. That is a five minute check that changes the value of a claim you have not had yet.
If the driver borrowed the car
Where the at fault driver was borrowing someone else's car, people assume the owner's policy solves the problem. It frequently does not. Vehicle Code 17151 caps an owner's or bailee's liability (a bailee is someone who holds the car for the owner) for the driver's negligence at $15,000 for the death of or injury to one person, $30,000 where more than one person is hurt, and $5,000 for property damage.
That cap applies to liability imputed to the owner, meaning assigned by law, purely from lending the car. It does not apply where the owner was independently careless in handing over the keys, which is negligent entrustment and is uncapped. Either way, a $15,000 ceiling on the owner is often what turns a claim into an underinsured motorist claim, and the parent page, Los Angeles car accident lawyer, sets out the other defendants worth checking.
If you had no insurance yourself
Civil Code 3333.4 bars an uninsured owner, an operator who cannot establish financial responsibility, meaning proof of insurance, and a driver convicted of driving under the influence in the crash from recovering non-economic losses. The bills and the lost wages survive. Pain, suffering, inconvenience, and emotional distress do not, and subdivision (b) extends the bar to an insurer paying under an uninsured motorist endorsement, the add-on to a policy that carries this coverage.
Two limits apply to that bar. It attaches to owning or operating an uninsured motor vehicle, so a passenger or a person on foot is outside it. And subdivision (c) returns the claim to an uninsured owner who was hurt by a driver later convicted of driving under the influence.
The deadline against your own insurer
| Step | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Report to police, unidentified (phantom) vehicle only | 24 hours | Insurance Code 11580.2 |
| Sworn statement to your insurer, unidentified (phantom) vehicle only | 30 days | Insurance Code 11580.2 |
| Sue, settle in writing, or demand arbitration | 2 years from the crash | Insurance Code 11580.2 |
| Lawsuit against the at fault driver | 2 years from the crash | Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 |
No cause of action accrues under the coverage, meaning the claim is lost, unless, within two years of the accident, suit for bodily injury has been filed, the amount due has been agreed in writing, or arbitration has been formally instituted. Nothing about a friendly adjuster tolls it, meaning pauses the clock. If the driver was never identified, the 24 hour and 30 day conditions come first, and hit and run accidents covers those.
When an uninsured motorist claim breaks down
- You settled with the at fault driver without telling your insurer. A release, the settlement paper that ends your claim against the driver, signed before your UIM insurer consents can cost you the credit it was entitled to, and the claim with it.
- Your limits match theirs. The credit swallows the coverage, and UIM adds nothing.
- The coverage was deleted in writing. That is lawful, and it is usually discovered after the crash.
- You were the uninsured owner. Proposition 213 removes non-economic damages, which is the larger half of most claims.
- Two years passed with only negotiation to show for it. A cooperative adjuster does not pause the deadline.
- The at fault driver's insurer is still investigating. That does not pause your own deadline, and waiting for their decision is how the two years disappear.
Check your own policy this week
Find your declarations page, confirm the UM and UIM numbers, and give your insurer written notice of the claim now rather than at the end of treatment. Do not sign a release with the at fault driver's insurer until your own insurer has consented in writing. To see how the arithmetic runs once liens and fees come out, use our car accident settlement calculator.
We open both claims, keep your own insurer's investigation on the record, and handle the arbitration if it goes that way. Motorcycle riders face this problem more often than anyone, because the coverage gap is wider and the injuries are worse. If you were on two wheels, start at Los Angeles motorcycle accidents. No fee unless we recover.