Bodily injury and property damage
What you owe someone else after an at fault accident, plus your legal defense. This is the limit worth spending money on.
State minimum limits and a low premium feel like the same thing right up until the accident. The gap between those two ideas is where most personal auto claims go wrong.
Minimum limits run out fast
California's minimum liability is 30/60/15. One emergency room visit and a newer vehicle clears that before anyone has spoken to an adjuster, and the rest comes out of your assets.
What the policy covers
The pieces, and what each one is actually for.
Liability
Coverage
Uninsured and underinsured motorist
Pays you when the other driver has nothing or not enough. California lets you reject it in writing, and rejecting it is usually a mistake given how many drivers here carry minimums or nothing.
Coverage
Collision and comprehensive
Damage to your own vehicle from a crash, and from theft, fire, glass, weather, and animals. Deductible choice is where you actually control the premium.
Coverage
Medical payments
Immediate medical costs for you and your passengers with no fault determination and no health insurance argument first.
Motorcycle
Custom parts and equipment
Exhaust, bags, paint, chrome, and audio are covered to a low default limit, often around three thousand dollars. Anything past that has to be scheduled or it is not there.
Motorcycle
Guest passenger liability
Injury to the person on the back of your bike. Not automatically included on every motorcycle policy in this state, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.
Read this part
The five things people get wrong
These are the calls we take after an accident, and every one of them was preventable at the quote stage.
- Uninsured motorist rejected years ago on a form nobody remembers signing.
- Custom parts on a motorcycle that were never scheduled, so the payout covers a stock bike.
- Business use of a personal vehicle, which the personal policy can decline once it becomes regular rather than occasional.
- Rideshare driving, which leaves a gap between your personal policy and the platform's coverage unless you add the endorsement.
- A teen driver added late, or not added at all, which is both a rating problem and a coverage argument waiting to happen.
How we quote it
Work the inputs before working the market.
Step 01
Set the liability limit first
We start from what you have to protect, not from the cheapest number. Raising liability limits usually costs far less per year than people assume.
Step 02
Check the discounts that actually apply
Multi policy, multi vehicle, safe driver, telematics, good student, and completion of a motorcycle safety course. Several of these stack.
Step 03
Compare deductibles honestly
We show what each deductible level saves per year against what it costs you at claim time, so the choice is arithmetic rather than a guess.
Step 04
Bundle where it helps
Home and auto together is often the single largest discount available, and it puts both policies with one carrier when a claim involves both.
What we write
Personal autoMotorcycle and cruiserSport and touring bikesClassic and collector carsRV and travel trailerBoat and personal watercraftOff road and UTVTeen and new driversSR-22 filingsMulti vehicle householdsNon owner policiesPersonal umbrella
Not on the list is not the same as not placeable. Ask.
Questions we get
Straight answers.
Is motorcycle insurance rated the same way as auto?
No. Engine size, bike type, rider age, and riding history matter more, and a completed motorcycle safety course is one of the larger discounts available. Layup or seasonal options exist if you park the bike for part of the year.
What limits should I actually carry?
Enough that a serious injury claim does not reach your savings or your home equity. For most households with any assets that means well above the state minimum, plus a personal umbrella on top, which is one of the cheapest coverages there is per dollar of protection.
Can you write me if I need an SR-22?
Yes. An SR-22 is a filing your carrier makes with the DMV, not a type of policy. Fewer carriers offer it and rates are higher for a period, but it is placeable and it does not last forever.
More in personal lines
Next step
Send us the submission
Loss runs, current declarations, and five minutes of context. You will hear back the same business day with what we can do and which markets we are approaching.