From 15/30/5 to 30/60/15 to 50/100/25: The Minimum's Timeline

The minimum is not a fixed number. It moved once recently and is scheduled to move again, and the way it moves, at renewal rather than on a single night, affects what your policy says on any given date.

The timeline in the statute

Vehicle Code 16056 keeps the older 15/30/5 figures in the text and applies 30/60/15 to any policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. For a policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2035, it raises the minimum by $20,000 per person, $40,000 per accident and $10,000 for property damage. Vehicle Code 16430, which defines proof of financial responsibility, schedules the same increase, and directs the Insurance Commissioner to send insurers a bulletin soliciting rate applications for it by July 1, 2033.

Myth and fact

Myth: "Every policy jumps to the new limits on January 1, 2035."
Fact: The statute ties the change to policies issued or renewed on or after that date. A policy renewed in late 2034 renews at the new minimum at its next renewal after the date.

Myth: "30/60/15 has been the minimum for years."
Fact: It applies to policies issued or renewed from January 1, 2025. Before that, the minimum was 15/30/5.

Myth: "Once the minimum rises, minimum coverage will be enough."
Fact: A higher floor is still a floor. Whether it is enough depends on what you could be exposed to, not on the year.

Numbers that did not move

Some older figures in the Vehicle Code were not changed by the new minimums. Vehicle Code 16377 still deems an unpaid accident judgment satisfied, for license-suspension purposes, once $15,000, $30,000 or $5,000 has been credited, and Vehicle Code 17151 still caps an owner's statutory liability for a permitted driver's negligence at $15,000, $30,000 and $5,000. Those are separate rules with their own purposes, but they show why "the minimum" is not one number everywhere in the code.

What it means for you now

• If you carry 30/60/15, nothing changes until your first issue or renewal on or after January 1, 2035.
• If you are deciding limits today, 50/100/25 is available now; the law simply makes it compulsory later.
• If you have an SR-22, the filing certifies the proof-of-financial-responsibility amounts in Vehicle Code 16430, which is the section that schedules the 2035 increase.

Why the law moves at renewal

Tying the change to issue and renewal dates means no policy has to be rewritten in the middle of its term. It also means that for a while after each change, two drivers with identical "minimum" policies can carry different limits, depending only on when their policies renew. If you ever compare your declarations page with someone else's around a change date, that is why they may not match.

To see where 50/100/25 sits against your current limits, get both priced here; there is no reason to wait a decade to compare.