Every California auto insurance policy renewing in 2026 now carries higher mandatory liability limits, completing a transition that began on January 1, 2025 under Senate Bill 1107. The law, known as the Protect California Drivers Act, raised the state's minimum coverage to 30,000 dollars for injury to one person, 60,000 dollars per accident, and 15,000 dollars for property damage, a combination the industry writes as 30/60/15.
The increase replaced limits of 15/30/5 that had stood since 1967, according to the California Department of Insurance. Lawmakers phased the change in through renewals across 2025, so drivers saw the new floor at different times depending on their policy term. By the 2026 renewal season, the old 15/30/5 policies have cycled out, and the higher limits apply to nearly every private passenger vehicle on the road in the state.
What the 30/60/15 floor actually covers
The three numbers map to three separate promises your policy makes after an at-fault crash. The first figure, 30,000 dollars, is the most an insurer pays for bodily injury to any single person. The second, 60,000 dollars, caps total bodily injury payments when more than one person is hurt. The third, 15,000 dollars, covers damage you cause to another driver's vehicle or to property such as a fence or storefront. The California Department of Insurance notes these are minimums, not recommendations, and that a single hospital stay or a totaled late-model vehicle can exceed them quickly.
Drivers who never updated their declarations page do not need to call anyone. Carriers including State Farm, Mercury, GEICO, Progressive, and CSAA built the new floor into renewal paperwork automatically. The change shows up as a revised limits line and, for many policies still sitting at the old minimum, a higher premium.
Why premiums moved with the limits
Raising the property damage minimum threefold and doubling the bodily injury figures means insurers are now on the hook for larger payouts on the cheapest policies in their books. That cost flows back into rates. The effect is concentrated among drivers who carried the bare 15/30/5 minimum, often the most price-sensitive customers in the market. The Insurance Information Institute warned before the law took effect that the higher floor, layered on top of rising medical, repair, and litigation costs, could push some of those drivers to drop coverage altogether rather than absorb the increase.
That risk matters in California more than almost anywhere. The Insurance Information Institute estimates the state has the largest uninsured-driver population in the country, somewhere between 3.6 and 4.1 million motorists. Every driver who exits the insured pool raises the odds that an insured Californian will need their own uninsured motorist coverage to pay for a crash.
The low-cost option that did not change
For income-eligible drivers, the state's California Low Cost Automobile program kept its existing limits of 10,000 dollars per person, 20,000 dollars per accident, and 3,000 dollars for property damage. Those figures sit below the new statewide floor by design, giving lower-income drivers a legal, regulated way to stay insured without paying for the higher standard limits. Shoppers who find the 30/60/15 floor pushing their renewal out of reach can check eligibility before deciding to drive uninsured, which carries its own fines and license consequences.
For most California drivers, the practical takeaway is to read the limits line on the 2026 renewal, confirm it reads 30/60/15 or higher, and compare that revised premium against competing quotes rather than renewing on autopilot.