Car-insurance requirements in California (2026)
California moved to 30/60/15 in the usual shorthand, and a further increase is already written into statute for a date more than a decade out. California also bans more rating factors than almost any other state, and by an unusual mechanism.
- Minimum liability limits
- 30/60/15
- Fault system
- At-fault (tort)
- Tort threshold
- not applicable
- Restricted rating factors
- 6
What the statute requires
| Coverage | Amount | Status | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability, per person | $30,000 | required | Cal. Veh. Code §16056; Cal. Ins. Code §11580.1b (SB 1107, Ch. 717, 2022) |
| Bodily injury liability, per accident | $60,000 | required | Cal. Veh. Code §16056; Cal. Ins. Code §11580.1b (SB 1107, Ch. 717, 2022) |
| Property damage liability | $15,000 | required | Cal. Veh. Code §16056; Cal. Ins. Code §11580.1b (SB 1107, Ch. 717, 2022) |
Source of record: the legislature’s own statute text, corroborated against the state insurance department or motor-vehicle agency. Verification status: primary text confirmed.
The part most published tables get wrong
Proposition 103 requires that rates be determined by three factors in decreasing order of importance — driving safety record, annual miles driven, and years of driving experience — and permits a closed list of optional factors. Credit, gender, age, occupation and educational attainment are banned by omission from that list rather than by express prohibition. The legal route matters: a factor banned by omission changes when the list changes.
Already scheduled to change
- Limits move to 50/100/25 from 1 January 2035, under SB 1107 (Ch. 717, 2022).
A scheduled change is held as a dated record. The build refuses to run if any scheduled date has already passed, so this page cannot keep showing a superseded figure.
How old is this minimum?
California’s $15,000 property-damage minimum took effect in 2025. $15,000 in January 2025 corresponds to $15,769 at the June 2026 price level, measured on the Bureau of Labor Statistics all-items index (CUUR0000SA0). The limit has not moved; what it buys has.
What the property-damage minimum leaves exposed
A $42,000 property-damage claim against California’s minimum of $15,000 leaves $27,000 above the limit. That difference is the at-fault driver’s own exposure. The claim figure is an illustration; the limit is the statute.
Rating rules in California
| Factor | Status | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Credit information | Banned Banned by omission — the optional-factor list in 10 CCR §2632.5(d) is closed at 15 items, a materially different mechanism from an enumerated ban. | Cal. Ins. Code §1861.02; 10 CCR §2632.5(d) |
| Gender | Banned | 10 CCR §2632.5 (effective 1 January 2019) |
| ZIP code | Restricted Rates are determined by driving safety record, annual miles driven and years of driving experience, in decreasing order of importance; weighting mechanics are in 10 CCR §2632.8(d). | Cal. Ins. Code §1861.02(a) |
| Rating territory | No restriction found | — |
| Age | Banned Years of driving experience is the permitted proxy. | Cal. Ins. Code §1861.02(a) |
| Marital status | No restriction found | — |
| Occupation | Banned | 10 CCR §2632.5(d) |
| Education | Banned Educational attainment is banned; academic standing is allowed. | 10 CCR §2632.5(d) |
The same factor across every jurisdiction: credit-based rating by state, gender rating by state, age rating by state, marital-status rating by state, occupation and education rating by state, zip code and territory rating by state.
Premium data for California
California Department of Insurance publishes filed sample rates for 292 driver profiles across 30 territories, quoted as annual premiums. We compute the distribution of those filed rates — 386,696 of them — and publish the count, the lowest, the quartiles, the median and the highest for every published combination.
Coverage requirement checker
Pick a jurisdiction to see every coverage its statute requires, with the amount, the citation and whether it can be rejected.
California — minimum limits 30/60/15
| Coverage | Amount | Status | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability, per person | $30,000 | required | Cal. Veh. Code §16056; Cal. Ins. Code §11580.1b (SB 1107, Ch. 717, 2022) |
| Bodily injury liability, per accident | $60,000 | required | Cal. Veh. Code §16056; Cal. Ins. Code §11580.1b (SB 1107, Ch. 717, 2022) |
| Property damage liability | $15,000 | required | Cal. Veh. Code §16056; Cal. Ins. Code §11580.1b (SB 1107, Ch. 717, 2022) |
Fault system: At-fault (tort).
Scheduled change: 50/100/25 from 2035-01-01 (SB 1107 (Ch. 717, 2022)).
General information, not insurance, financial or legal advice. Requirements change; verify with your state insurance department or the statute before acting.
Questions about California
- What is the minimum car insurance required in California?
- California requires liability limits of 30/60/15 under Cal. Veh. Code §16056; Cal. Ins. Code §11580.1b (SB 1107, Ch. 717, 2022).
- Is California a no-fault state?
- California operates at-fault (tort).
- Where can I see what drivers in California actually pay?
- California Department of Insurance publishes filed sample rates for the driver profiles it defines. We compute the distribution of those filed rates and publish it, with the count behind every figure.
Statutory records for California last verified against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Price level for the real-terms restatement: June 2026, all-items index 333.952. Every figure on this page is recomputed from committed data at build time.