Most Californians assume that if they are hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver, their own auto policy will step in and cover the difference. For years, that assumption was usually correct. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, known as UM/UIM, quietly did the heavy lifting when the at-fault driver had no insurance or carried only the state minimum.
That safety net just got a lot thinner. In 2026, Senate Bill 371 dropped the default UM/UIM limits many California drivers carry from $1,000,000 down to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. The change received almost no public attention, and most policyholders will not learn about it until they open a renewal notice, or worse, until after a serious crash.
We want to make sure our clients and neighbors are not caught off guard. Below is a plain-English breakdown of what SB 371 changed, why it matters for injured drivers, and the concrete steps you can take right now to fix the gap before you are hit.
What SB 371 Actually Changed
California has two separate sets of auto insurance rules that people often confuse.
The first set governs liability coverage, the coverage that pays other people when you cause a crash. Under the Protect California Drivers Act, mandatory liability minimums rose to $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, and $15,000 for property damage in 2025.
The second set governs UM/UIM coverage, the coverage that pays you and your passengers when someone else causes a crash and does not have enough insurance to cover your injuries. SB 371 reduced the default UM/UIM limits carriers offer from $1,000,000 down to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per accident.
In practice, this means two things. First, if you did not affirmatively select higher UM/UIM limits, your policy may have been renewed at the new, lower default. Second, if you are shopping for insurance in 2026, the quotes you see may reflect the reduced coverage even if your prior policy protected you at much higher levels.
Sixty thousand dollars sounds like a lot until you look at what a real injury costs. A single day in a California trauma center can run $15,000 or more. An MRI, orthopedic follow-up, and a course of physical therapy can burn through the rest before you even get to lost wages or a future surgery.
Why This Matters So Much for Injury Victims
California requires drivers to carry liability insurance, but enforcement is imperfect. Estimates consistently place the uninsured driver rate in California between 15 and 17 percent. Add in the drivers who carry only the $30,000 state minimum, and a huge portion of the vehicles on our roads are effectively judgment-proof for anyone with a serious injury.
When the at-fault driver has no insurance or only minimum coverage, UM/UIM is often the only realistic source of compensation. It does not matter how strong your liability case is. If the person who hit you has no assets and no policy, a jury verdict is just a piece of paper.
John Reardon spent 20 years as a chiropractor before becoming a lawyer, and he has seen this pattern hundreds of times. A client comes in after a rear-end collision, initially reports neck stiffness, and over the following weeks develops radiating arm pain, sleep disruption, and eventually an MRI showing a herniated cervical disc. By the time the treatment plan includes epidural injections and a possible discectomy, the medical bills alone are well past $60,000. If that client’s UM/UIM policy sits at the new SB 371 default, the coverage runs out long before the treatment does.
This is exactly the scenario SB 371 makes more common, and it is the scenario most drivers never imagine when they are picking a policy.
How to Check Your Coverage in Five Minutes
You do not need to call your agent to find out where you stand. Every California auto policy comes with a Declarations Page, sometimes called the “Dec Page.” It is usually the first page of your policy packet, and most carriers make it available in your online account or app.
Look for a section labeled Uninsured Motorist or Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury. You will see two numbers separated by a slash, such as 60/300 or 250/500. The first number is the per-person limit. The second is the per-accident limit.
While you are there, also check:
- Bodily Injury Liability limits, so you know how your UM/UIM compares
- Medical Payments (MedPay), which pays your medical bills regardless of fault
- Uninsured Motorist Property Damage, a smaller separate coverage for vehicle damage
- Whether you signed a UM/UIM rejection form at any point, which would eliminate the coverage entirely
If your UM/UIM limits are lower than your liability limits, you are essentially telling the world you value protecting strangers more than protecting yourself and your family. That is almost never what people actually want when they think it through.
Fixing the Gap Before You Are Hit
The good news is that UM/UIM is one of the cheapest coverages on your policy. Raising limits from 60/300 back up to 250/500 or higher usually costs a modest amount per month, especially compared with what a serious injury will cost you out of pocket if the coverage is not there.
Here is what we recommend Californians do right now:
- Match your UM/UIM limits to your liability limits. If you carry 250/500 in liability, carry the same in UM/UIM. Insurers are required to offer UM/UIM up to your liability limits under California Insurance Code Section 11580.2.
- Add or increase MedPay. MedPay is no-fault coverage that pays medical bills for you and your passengers up to the policy limit. It stacks on top of UM/UIM and health insurance, and it can be a lifeline in the early weeks after a crash when bills arrive faster than any settlement.
- Ask about an umbrella policy. A personal umbrella can extend UM/UIM coverage well beyond what a standard auto policy offers, often for a few hundred dollars a year.
- Get any changes in writing. Ask for an updated Declarations Page reflecting your new limits, and keep it somewhere you can find quickly after a crash.
- Never sign a UM/UIM rejection form unless you fully understand what you are giving up. Under California law, that rejection has to be in writing, and once signed it dramatically shrinks your protection.
If your agent tells you higher UM/UIM is not available or not worth it, get a second quote. Carriers are required to offer it, and any suggestion otherwise should be a red flag.
Using UM/UIM After a Crash: It Is Not a Favor
One of the biggest misconceptions we correct is the belief that a UM/UIM claim is friendly territory because it is your own insurance company. It is not. A UM/UIM claim is an adversarial process against the same insurer you have been paying premiums to, and they use the same playbook they use against third-party claimants.
Common tactics we see:
- Fast, low offers made before you have finished treatment or fully understood your injuries
- Recorded statement requests designed to lock you into a version of events before symptoms fully develop
- Independent Medical Exams, which are neither independent nor performed by your doctor, aimed at generating a report that minimizes your injuries
- Disputes over future care, especially for soft tissue injuries, disc herniations, and pain management that carriers routinely undervalue
- Delays that push you toward California’s two-year statute of limitations under Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, or toward the shorter contractual deadlines buried in your policy
There are also strict notice requirements in most UM/UIM policies. You typically must notify your insurer of a potential UM/UIM claim within a specific window and, in many cases, obtain written consent before settling with the at-fault driver’s carrier. Settling too early with the other driver, even for policy limits, can jeopardize your UM/UIM claim if you have not coordinated with your own carrier first.
John’s medical background matters here in a specific way. When a UM/UIM adjuster argues that a herniated disc was “degenerative” or that treatment was excessive, we can push back with clinical detail, not just legal argument. We read the imaging, understand the treatment progression, and can explain why a particular course of care was medically appropriate. That is very different from simply forwarding records and hoping the adjuster reaches a fair number.
What to Do If You Are Already Injured
If you have been hit and are worried your UM/UIM coverage may not be enough, do not assume the case is hopeless. There are often more sources of recovery than people realize:
- Stacked coverage across multiple vehicles in the same household, depending on policy language
- Resident relative coverage, which can allow you to access a family member’s UM/UIM policy if you live in the same home
- MedPay on your policy or a household member’s policy
- Health insurance, which pays medical bills while the liability and UM/UIM claims are being worked out
- Employer coverage if you were in a work vehicle or on a work errand
- Rideshare coverage if you were a passenger or driver in an Uber or Lyft at the time
Pulling these together correctly, in the right order, and without waiving rights against any of them is where experienced counsel earns their keep. Missing a notice deadline or settling with one carrier without preserving claims against another can cost you tens of thousands of dollars or more.
Talk to Us Before You Renew, and Before You Sign
SB 371 did not make headlines, but it changed the math for every California driver. The default UM/UIM coverage many people rely on is now a fraction of what it used to be, and most policyholders will never know until it is too late.
If you want a straightforward look at what your policy actually protects, or if you have already been in a crash and are trying to figure out whether your UM/UIM will cover your injuries, we are happy to help. We review policies at no charge, and if you have an active claim, the consultation is free and you pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Call Reardon Injury Law at (657) 522-7122 to speak with our team. A five-minute policy review today can be the difference between a full recovery and a life-changing shortfall tomorrow.