Despite a recent increase in California’s minimum liability insurance requirements, roughly one in five drivers in the state still lacks any coverage, leaving crash victims vulnerable to significant financial losses, according to Barry P. Goldberg, a Santa Clarita personal injury attorney.
Goldberg’s firm, which handles car accident cases in the Santa Clarita Valley, is drawing attention to the problem as the number of uninsured drivers nationwide remains high. According to the Insurance Information Institute, 15.4% of U.S. drivers carried no insurance in 2023. California ranks among the worst states, with about 20% of drivers lacking liability coverage. When underinsured drivers are included, an even larger portion of motorists cannot fully pay for damages from a serious crash.
On January 1, 2025, the Protect California Drivers Act (SB 1107) raised the state’s minimum liability limits for the first time since 1967, roughly doubling required coverage to $30,000 per injured person and $60,000 per accident. However, Goldberg cautions that even these new minimums can be exhausted quickly by a single serious injury, leaving the injured driver to cover the difference.
‘Most people assume the other driver’s insurance will cover them,’ said Barry P. Goldberg, founding attorney at Barry P. Goldberg and a longtime authority on California’s uninsured motorist law. ‘However, too often, it doesn’t. When that happens, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage becomes the difference between recovering your losses and absorbing them yourself. Knowing how to use that coverage and negotiate with insurance carriers is where legal experience matters most.’
Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage pays for medical bills, lost income, and other losses when an at-fault driver cannot. However, recovering through one’s own policy often means negotiating against the same insurer the victim pays each month, and those claims can be every bit as contested as a case against the other driver.
Goldberg’s firm offers free consultations to anyone injured in a crash in Santa Clarita and surrounding communities, including collisions involving uninsured or hit-and-run drivers. The firm handles cases on a contingency basis, meaning no upfront costs and no fees unless it recovers for the client.
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