Do I Need Uninsured Motorist Coverage in California?

Uninsured motorist coverage in California is not legally required, but every auto insurer in the state has to include it in your policy automatically unless you sign a written rejection. If you have never signed one, you already have it, at limits that match your bodily injury liability. The coverage pays your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering when a driver with no insurance (or not enough of it) hurts you.

Roughly one in six California drivers carries no insurance at all. That is the problem this coverage solves: when the person who hits you has nothing, your own policy steps into the gap.

Is It Required in California

California Insurance Code Section 11580.2 does not force you to carry uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. It forces your insurer to put it on your policy unless you specifically opt out in writing. Skip the paperwork and the coverage is built in at limits that mirror your bodily injury liability limits.¹

The result is that most California drivers already have UM coverage without having thought about it. The law puts the burden on insurers to offer it, and on you to walk away from it on purpose.

What UM Coverage Actually Pays For

Bodily Injury (UMBI)

UMBI is the piece that matters most. It pays for your medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering when an uninsured driver causes your injuries. Your UMBI limits default to the same numbers as your bodily injury liability limits unless you selected something lower.²

For a policy at the current state minimum, that means $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident on the UM side. A serious ER visit, surgery, and a few weeks out of work can run through $30,000 fast. Raising your UMBI limits is usually one of the cheapest meaningful upgrades on a California auto policy.

Property Damage (UMPD)

UMPD pays for damage to your car when an identified uninsured driver is at fault. The payout is capped at $3,500 or the actual cash value of your vehicle, whichever is less. If you also carry collision coverage, UMPD only pays your collision deductible, still capped at $3,500.³

Two limits are worth knowing. The at-fault uninsured driver must be identified, so a hit-and-run with no plate number will not trigger UMPD. And you cannot carry UMPD alongside full collision coverage, because collision already pays for vehicle damage regardless of fault.

Underinsured Motorist (UIM)

UIM covers the situation where the other driver has insurance but not enough. California insurers must offer UIM together with UM as a single coverage choice. A vehicle counts as underinsured when its liability limits are lower than your own UM limits.¹

UIM only pays after the at-fault driver’s insurer has paid its full limits, and you will need proof of that payment. Your insurer then owes up to your UIM limit minus whatever you already collected. Say you carry $100,000 in UIM and the other driver’s insurer pays its $30,000 limit; your UIM insurer owes up to $70,000, not an additional $100,000.

Why the Default Limits May Not Be Enough

As of January 1, 2025, every California driver must carry at least 30/60/15 in liability coverage:

$30,000 for bodily injury or death to one person
$60,000 for bodily injury or death to all people in a single accident
$15,000 for property damage

Vehicle Code Section 16056 sets those minimums, which doubled from the old 15/30/5.⁴ Liability insurance only pays other people when you are the one who caused the crash. It does nothing for your own injuries or your own car. That gap is what UM and UIM coverage fill.

Because your default UM limits track your liability limits, a driver sitting at the state minimum is also sitting at 30/60 for UMBI. That is the floor. Buying higher UMBI is where the real protection lives.

Hit-and-Run: The Physical Contact Rule

UM coverage reaches hit-and-run accidents, with one restriction that catches people by surprise. To file a UMBI claim after a hit-and-run, there must have been actual physical contact between the other vehicle and either you or the vehicle you were in.¹

A driver who swerves into your lane, forces you off the road, and vanishes without ever touching your car is sometimes called a phantom driver. Even if you have witnesses, UM coverage likely will not apply, because no contact happened. The rule exists to curb fraud, but it does deny some legitimate claims. If you are hit and run, file a police report right away and document any paint transfer, scrapes, or dents that prove contact occurred.

You Cannot Stack Limits Across Vehicles

Some states let you stack UM limits across multiple vehicles on the same policy. California does not. Section 11580.2 says that regardless of how many vehicles are insured, how many people are covered, or how many premiums you pay, UM limits cannot be added together.¹ Insure three cars at $100,000 UMBI each, and your maximum recovery on any single claim is still $100,000. The only way to raise your protection is to raise the per-vehicle limit.

How to Decline the Coverage

If you want to drop UM coverage, you have to sign a written rejection on a form your insurer provides. The form must clearly state that you are removing the coverage. Without that signed document, the insurer is legally required to include UM and bill you for it.²

Once signed, your rejection carries through every renewal, transfer, or replacement of the policy with the same insurer. It also survives a lapse and reinstatement within 30 days. You do not re-sign every term. To put the coverage back on later, send a written request; it will be added going forward.

Declining UM saves a modest amount on your premium. The tradeoff is that if an uninsured driver seriously injures you, your only remedy is suing that driver personally. Someone driving without insurance rarely has assets worth collecting against.

The Collision Deductible Waiver

If you carry both collision coverage and UMBI, your insurer must offer you a collision deductible waiver under Insurance Code Section 11580.26.³ The waiver eliminates your collision deductible when the damage was caused by an uninsured driver. Without it, you would file a collision claim and pay the deductible out of pocket even though the crash was not your fault.

For drivers who already have collision, the waiver often makes more sense than UMPD. Collision pays regardless of fault and has no $3,500 cap, while UMPD only applies when the uninsured driver is identified and maxes out quickly. Collision plus the waiver gives you broad vehicle protection and deductible relief in one package.

How Long You Have to Act After a Crash

California gives you two years from the date of the accident to preserve a UM claim. Within that window, you must do one of three things: file a lawsuit against the uninsured driver, reach a settlement agreement with your insurer, or formally start arbitration by sending your insurer written notice via certified mail.¹ Miss the deadline and you lose the right to collect under your UM coverage. Most UM disputes in California are resolved by a single neutral arbitrator rather than by a court.

1
California Legislative Information. California Insurance Code 11580.2 – Uninsured Motorist Coverage
2
California Legislative Information. California Insurance Code 11580.2 – Uninsured Motorist Coverage
3
California Legislative Information. California Insurance Code 11580.26 – Collision Deductible Waiver
4
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 16056 – Evidence of Financial Responsibility