California minimum auto liability insurance
$30,000
Minimum bodily injury liability per person, per the state's own statute or insurance department page, quoted below.
For California minimum auto liability insurance, bodily injury per person is $30,000; bodily injury per accident is $60,000; property damage per accident is $15,000, recorded from its source on 2026-08-10.
- State
- California our reading
- Bodily injury per person
- $30,000 verified
- Bodily injury per accident
- $60,000 verified
- Property damage per accident
- $15,000 verified
- Alternative to buying insurance
- a cash deposit of $35,000 with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), or a surety bond for $35,000 from an insurance company licensed to do business in California
- Issuing authority
- California Department of Insurance verified
- Notes
- The California Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program (CLCA) offers lower income-eligible limits of $10,000 bodily injury or death per person and $20,000 bodily injury or death per accident, which the source states still satisfy state financial responsibility law.
Values marked our reading are our classification of what the source says — the source does not print them in those words. The quote below is the evidence for each one; judge it yourself.
What the source says
Minimum Bodily Injury Liability Limits $30,000 for the death or injury of any one person. If one person is injured in the accident, your coverage pays up to $30,000. A total of $60,000 for the death or injury of more than one person in any one accident. If two or more people are injured, the coverage pays up to $60,000. The coverage will not pay more. The injured people share the money. This coverage applies to injuries that you cause to someone else. Minimum Property Damage Liability Limits $15,000 for damage to the property of other people.
— insurance.ca.gov, retrieved 2026-08-10
Source
- insurance.ca.govhttps://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/105-type/95-guides/01-auto/auto101.cfm