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The words a family meets after a death on the road

Wrongful death, survival action, estate, personal representative, trustee, next of kin, heir at law, survivor, dependant, perjudicado — each defined from the statute that creates it, and then used to say what the claim is and who the law allows to bring it. No figures.

Updated September 22, 2026 Intermediate

How a car insurance claim actually worksFull transcriptSubtitles are on by default; the player's CC button turns them off.

A claim after a death on the road is made of words that sound like each other and are not. Which word applies decides who may act, and whether there is one claim or two. This article defines those words from the statutes that create them, and then says what the claim is in them. It carries no figures of any kind.

The words

Wrongful death. Four of the instruments read here open with almost the same sentence. England and Wales: “If death is caused by any wrongful act, neglect or default which is such as would (if death had not ensued) have entitled the person injured to maintain an action … the person who would have been liable if death had not ensued shall be liable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured” (Fatal Accidents Act 1976 s.1(1)). North Dakota says it at greater length (N.D.C.C. § 32-21-01), Kansas in fewer words (K.S.A. 60-1901(a)), Minnesota in fewer still (§ 573.02 subd. 1). The test they share is conditional: there is a death claim if the person who died could have sued had they lived.

Survival action. The claim the person who died already had, continued by someone else. The English version is plainest: “on the death of any person … all causes of action subsisting against or vested in him shall survive … for the benefit of, his estate” (Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 s.1(1)). Minnesota calls its equivalent an “injury action” and confines it to a person who dies “from a cause unrelated to those injuries” (§ 573.02 subd. 2). Florida has none: “no action for the personal injury shall survive, and any such action pending at the time of death shall abate” (§ 768.20).

Estate. The thing a survival action belongs to. The 1934 Act uses the word throughout and does not define it; nor do the others read here. What it does define is what the estate’s damages leave out: no exemplary damages, and no damages for loss of income for any period after the death (s.1(2)).

Personal representative. The person who acts for the estate. Florida gives the death action to “the decedent’s personal representative, who shall recover for the benefit of the decedent’s survivors and estate” (§ 768.20); England and Wales to “the executor or administrator of the deceased” (Fatal Accidents Act 1976 s.2(1)). North Dakota lists the personal representative fifth, after four relatives (§ 32-21-03).

Trustee. Minnesota’s answer, and an unusual one. Neither the family nor the estate brings the action: a trustee does, appointed by the court “upon written petition by the surviving spouse or one of the next of kin”, who files a consent and oath before starting and a bond before receiving any money (§ 573.02 subd. 3).

Next of kin, heirs at law, survivors, dependants. Four names for the people the recovery is for, and not synonyms. Minnesota’s recovery is “for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin, proportionate to the pecuniary loss severally suffered by the death”, and the section does not define next of kin. Kansas speaks of “heirs at law of the deceased who has sustained a loss by reason of the death” (K.S.A. 60-1902). Florida’s survivors are the spouse, children, parents, and certain blood relatives and adoptive siblings who were dependent on the decedent for support or services (§ 768.18). England and Wales enumerates nine classes: spouses and former spouses, civil partners and former civil partners, a person who lived with the deceased as a spouse or civil partner for at least the two years immediately before the death, ascendants and descendants, anyone treated as a parent or as a child of the family, and any person who is, or is the issue of, a brother, sister, uncle or aunt (s.1(3)).

Perjudicado, and allegado. Spain’s words. In the event of death there are five autonomous categories of perjudicado: the widowed spouse, ascendants, descendants, siblings and allegados (TRLRCSCVM art. 62). An allegado is a person who, without qualifying under the earlier rules, had lived with the victim as family for at least the five years immediately before the death and was especially close in kinship or affection (art. 67).

Survivor’s economic loss, and funeral expense loss. These are not names for a lawsuit. They are heads of a first-party insurance benefit. Minnesota’s no-fault chapter names funeral and burial expenses, survivors economic loss and survivors replacement services loss. Survivors economic loss covers “loss accruing after decedent’s death of contributions of money or tangible things of economic value, not including services, that surviving dependents would have received from the decedent for their support” (§ 65B.44 subds. 4, 6 and 7). Florida’s compulsory personal injury protection carries a death benefits paragraph, stated to be “in addition to the medical and disability benefits” (§ 627.736(1)(c)).

The subject, in those words

Two kinds of loss, and a different number of claims from one jurisdiction to the next

The losses divide in two everywhere the instruments were read. One kind belongs to the person who died: what happened to them between the crash and the death. The other belongs to the people left. Jurisdictions differ in how many claims those two kinds are packed into, and that matters because the claims have different claimants.

England and Wales keeps them in two statutes forty-two years apart, and the older one says so: the rights it confers for the benefit of estates are “in addition to and not in derogation of any rights conferred on the dependants of deceased persons by the Fatal Accidents Acts” (1934 Act s.1(5)).

Spain reaches the same place in one article whose heading is the point: article 47, “Compatibilidad de la indemnización a los herederos con la indemnización a los perjudicados por la muerte del lesionado”. The heirs’ indemnity and the indemnity of those harmed by the death are compatible.

Minnesota folds both into one action, whose recovery covers “all damages suffered by the decedent resulting from the injury prior to the decedent’s death and the pecuniary loss resulting from the death” — two heads, one action, one trustee. Florida removes one of the two: the personal injury action abates, and the personal representative’s action recovers “for the benefit of the decedent’s survivors and estate” instead.

So the common statement that there are always two claims is not quite what the instruments say. There are two kinds of loss everywhere; the number of claims is a drafting decision each legislature made on its own.

Standing is a list, not a relationship

Most families arrive with one question: whether they are the person who can act. The instruments answer by naming people, and they name different people.

North Dakota prints an order of precedence, worth reading whole: “The action shall be brought by the following persons in the order named: 1. The surviving husband or wife, if any. 2. The surviving children, if any. 3. The surviving mother or father. 4. A surviving grandparent. 5. The personal representative. 6. A person who has had primary physical custody of the decedent before the wrongful act.” The chapter supplies the way down that list: if the person entitled to bring the action “refuses or neglects so to do for a period of thirty days after demand of the person next in order, that person may bring the action” (§ 32-21-03). Whoever brings it can also settle it for everyone: a compromise “shall be binding upon all persons authorized to bring the action or to share in the recovery” (§ 32-21-06).

Kansas does the opposite of an order: any one heir at law who has sustained a loss may commence it, an heir who did not join may intervene, and the action is “for the exclusive benefit of all of the heirs who has sustained a loss regardless or whether they all join or intervene therein” (K.S.A. 60-1902), whose named elements of damage are relationships rather than expenses (K.S.A. 60-1904(a)).

England and Wales gives standing to the executor or administrator, and to the dependants themselves only where there is none or none has acted within six months (s.2(1)–(2)), then closes the door behind them: “Not more than one action shall lie for and in respect of the same subject matter of complaint” (s.2(3)).

None of these lists is a measure of who was closest. A person can be central to the household and absent from the list, and a person can be on the list and have had nothing to do with the household for years. That is how the lists were drafted, and it is the fact most likely to differ from what a family expects.

Some money moves without anyone bringing anything

Where a jurisdiction runs a compulsory first-party injury benefit, part of what follows a death is an insurance payment, not a claim against anybody. Minnesota’s no-fault chapter presumes dependency for a spouse living with the deceased, for a child under eighteen or incapacitated from earning who was living with or regularly supported by that parent, and for an actual dependent who lived with the deceased. It then declines to make the presumption decisive — “questions of the existence and the extent of dependency shall be questions of fact, considering the support regularly received from the deceased.”

Whether the jurisdiction in the notes below runs a no-fault system of this kind at all is recorded there.

The clock

A death claim does not necessarily run on the clock that governs an injury claim. Minnesota is the clearest illustration: the ordinary death action “may be commenced within three years after the date of death provided that the action must be commenced within six years after the act or omission” — one period measured from the death, an outer limit measured from the crash.

The jurisdiction notes rendered with this article carry the bodily injury limitation period recorded for each jurisdiction we have read, and, where the instrument distinguished a death, a note saying so. Where there is no such note, the distinction was not read, which is not the same as its not existing.

What this article does not say

It prints no amount for anything. Several of the statutes read here carry figures, and every one was withheld.

It does not say whether a release signed by the injured person before they died affects a later claim by anybody else. The companion piece on releases, subrogation and liens looked for an instrument answering that and did not find one; this one did not find one either.

It does not say who, in any particular case, is on the list. The lists are in the statutes, per jurisdiction, and the only honest general statement is the one above: standing is drafted, not deduced.

How AI changes this

Nothing read for this article describes how any insurer or administrator automates this stage, and nothing is asserted about it. What the instruments show is which half of the question is machine-shaped and which is not. Standing is largely a list: North Dakota prints an order of precedence, Kansas names heirs at law, England and Wales enumerates nine classes of dependant, Spain names five categories. A list of relationships is exactly the kind of rule a system can encode and check, and a family should expect the eligibility question to be answered quickly and confidently by whoever is holding the file. The other half resists it, and the statutes say so in their own words. Minnesota's no-fault chapter, having set out a presumption of dependency, adds that «questions of the existence and the extent of dependency shall be questions of fact, considering the support regularly received from the deceased». Spain defines an «allegado» by five years of family cohabitation and by being especially close in kinship or affection — a test no dataset holds. The position offered here, as a position: where the law is a list, expect the answer to arrive fast; where the law is a question of fact, a fast answer is a guess wearing the clothes of a decision.

Rules in your jurisdiction

Deadlines, fault rules and minimum coverage differ by state and country. Pick yours to see the rules that apply to this topic.

Select a jurisdiction to see its rules.

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years for “any injury to the person or rights of another”; for a wrongful death, two years from the death rather than from the crash.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[1] An action on the policy is a written promise and runs six years. The policy’s own suit clause may be shorter: no Alabama statute read for this entry sets a floor on one.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 16, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Alabama →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years, from the same sentence of the same section: «a person may not bring an action … (2) for personal injury or death, or injury to the rights of another not arising on contract and not specifically provided otherwise … unless the action is commenced within two years of the accrual of the cause of action» (§ 09.10.070(a)(2)). The section’s own catchline reads «Actions for torts, for injury to personal property, for certain statutory liabilities … to be brought in two years». As with the property clock, the trigger the statute names is ACCRUAL, not the date of the collision.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years on the policy, and Alaska INVERTS the usual pattern — the contract period is only one year longer than the tort clock, where in most states it is far longer: «Unless the action is commenced within three years, a person may not bring an action upon a contract or liability, express or implied, except as provided in AS 09.10.040, or as otherwise provided by law, or, except if the provisions of this section are waived by contract» (§ 09.10.053). THE CLOSING WORDS ARE THE TRAP, AND THEY ARE THE REASON THIS FIGURE MUST NOT BE READ AS A FLOOR: the three years apply «except if the provisions of this section are waived by contract», so an Alaska policy’s own suit clause may shorten the period, and § 09.10.053 does not say by how much. Whether any Alaska statute fixes a minimum period for such a clause has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here: §§ 21.42.160, 21.42.170 and 21.42.175 were read in full and contain no floor, but no full-text search of title 21 was possible, so the absence of a floor is NOT asserted.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Alaska →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from when the damage became known ^[4] Two years from the day the claimant first knew, or ought to have known, that the injury had occurred, that it was attributable to the defendant’s conduct and that it warrants bringing a proceeding — or ten years after the claim arose, whichever expires first (Limitations Act, s. 3(1)). Note the Alberta drafting: the Act does not bar the claim, it entitles the defendant to «immunity from liability» on pleading it.
Fault system	Hybrid

Deadline to sue for injury

2 years from when the damage became known ^[4] Two years from the day the claimant first knew, or ought to have known, that the injury had occurred, that it was attributable to the defendant’s conduct and that it warrants bringing a proceeding — or ten years after the claim arose, whichever expires first (Limitations Act, s. 3(1)). Note the Alberta drafting: the Act does not bar the claim, it entitles the defendant to «immunity from liability» on pleading it.

Fault system

Hybrid

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Alberta →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[1]
Deadline to sue your own insurer	1 years from the claim ^[2] Actions founded on the insurance contract prescribe in one year from when the obligation became enforceable (Ley 17.418 art. 58); the steps of the loss-adjustment procedure interrupt it.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Argentina →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years after the cause of action accrues «for injuries done to the person of another», and for injuries «when death ensues from such injuries, which action shall be considered as accruing at the death of the party injured» (A.R.S. § 12-542(1)–(2)).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[3] This is a floor on what the policy may impose, not a statutory limitation period: § 20-1115(A)(3) voids any clause «limiting the time within which an action may be brought to a period of less than two years from the time the cause of action accrues» for insurance other than property and marine and transportation, where the floor is one year, and § 20-1115(A)(2) voids any clause preventing suit more than six months after accrual. The operative deadline is whatever the policy says, no shorter than that floor. Section 12-548(A)(1) gives six years on «a contract in writing that is executed in this state», but the section speaks of an action for debt, and whether that framing reaches every first-party policy action has not been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Arizona →

Deadline to sue your own insurer	1 years from the accident ^[1] The most dangerous date in the province, and half the general period: an action «by an insured against the corporation in respect of benefits, insurance money or indemnification payable under the plan must be commenced within one year after the happening of the loss or damage or after the cause of action arose, or as the regulations may provide in the case of any coverage, but not afterwards» (Insurance (Vehicle) Act, s. 17). Do not read the Limitation Act’s two years into a claim against ICBC on the plan. The optional contract is different: its own statutory condition gives two years from the occurrence (Insurance (Vehicle) Regulation, Schedule, condition 8(3)).
Fault system	No-fault

Deadline to sue your own insurer

1 years from the accident ^[1] The most dangerous date in the province, and half the general period: an action «by an insured against the corporation in respect of benefits, insurance money or indemnification payable under the plan must be commenced within one year after the happening of the loss or damage or after the cause of action arose, or as the regulations may provide in the case of any coverage, but not afterwards» (Insurance (Vehicle) Act, s. 17). Do not read the Limitation Act’s two years into a claim against ICBC on the plan. The optional contract is different: its own statutory condition gives two years from the occurrence (Insurance (Vehicle) Regulation, Schedule, condition 8(3)).

Fault system

No-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in British Columbia →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[1]
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Deadline to sue for injury	4 years from the accident ^[1]
Deadline to sue your own insurer	4 years from the claim ^[2] Actions arising from the insurance contract prescribe in four years from when the obligation became enforceable; the period running against the insured is interrupted by the notice of loss and restarts when the insurer communicates its decision (Código de Comercio art. 541).
Fault system	Hybrid

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Chile →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[1] Same three-year rule of art. 2358 for the civil action against third parties responsible.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Ordinary prescription of insurance-contract actions: two years from when the interested party knew or should have known the fact giving rise to the action; extraordinary prescription five years from when the right arose, against everyone (Código de Comercio art. 1081).
Fault system	Hybrid

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Colombia →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[2] The same paragraph, the same three years, running «after the cause of action accrues» — the section fixes no accrual rule, and in a crash accrual and the collision normally coincide (C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n)(I)).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[2] Contract actions also run three years in Colorado (C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(a)), so the action on the policy is no longer than the action on the crash; § 13-80-103.5 carves out certain instruments and was not read, and the section fixes no accrual rule. Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims have their own section: three years from accrual, extendable to «two years after the insured knows that the particular tortfeasor is not covered by any applicable insurance» where the underlying action was brought in time, and «in no event shall the insured have less than three years» (§ 13-80-107.5(1)).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Colorado →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from when the damage became known ^[4] The same § 52-584, and it is the section to rely on: Connecticut’s general tort period is three years from the act (§ 52-577), but the compilation’s own cross-reference sends a negligence claim for injury to person or property to § 52-584’s two years. Publishing three would cost a claimant the case.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[1] A statutory floor on the policy’s own clock, and it is longer than the claim against the other driver: no insurer «may limit the time within which any suit may be brought against it or any demand for arbitration on a claim may be made on the uninsured or underinsured motorist provisions of an automobile liability insurance policy to a period of less than three years from the date of accident» (§ 38a-336(g)(1)). The period can be tolled only by doing both of two things — written notice to the insurer before it expires, and suit or arbitration «not more than one hundred eighty days from the date of exhaustion» of the other driver’s limits. An action on the policy as a written contract runs six years from accrual (§ 52-576(a)); whether a Connecticut motor policy may contract for a shorter period on a claim other than uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Connecticut →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years for bodily injury, and the accrual wording is unusually blunt: «No action for the recovery of damages upon a claim for alleged personal injuries shall be brought after the expiration of 2 years from the date upon which it is claimed that such alleged injuries were sustained; subject, however, to the provisions of § 8127 of this title» (§ 8119, history «20 Del. Laws, c. 594, § 1; Code 1915, § 4675; Code 1935, § 5133; 10 Del. C. 1953, § 8118; 52 Del. Laws, c. 339, § 2; 57 Del. Laws, c. 568, § 3»). THE CLOCK RUNS FROM THE DATE THE INJURIES ARE CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN SUSTAINED — not from discovery — so Period.from «accident» is right for Delaware injury claims in a way it is not for every state in this dataset.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years on the policy, as «an action based on a promise»: «No action to recover damages for trespass, … no action based on a promise, no action based on a statute, and no action to recover damages caused by an injury unaccompanied with force or resulting indirectly from the act of the defendant shall be brought after the expiration of 3 years from the accruing of the cause of such action; subject, however, to the provisions of §§ 8108-8110, 8119 and 8127 of this title» (§ 8106(a)). One year longer than either tort clock — the same inversion Alaska has. A FLOOR ON A POLICY SUIT CLAUSE EXISTS IN DELAWARE, BUT ITS REACH TO A MOTOR POLICY IS NOT ESTABLISHED AND IS NOT CLAIMED HERE: § 8106(b) provides that «a property insurance contract subject to subchapter III of Chapter 41 of Title 18: (1) May not require that an action for a claim made under the contract be filed less than 1 year from the date of the denial of the claim by the insurer», an unusually claimant-friendly anchor because it runs from the DENIAL rather than from the loss — but whether a private passenger motor policy is such a contract turns on a subchapter that was not read, and that has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Fault system	Add-on no-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[5]
Minimum injury benefit	$15,000 ^[5]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	No threshold — the ordinary claim survives ^[5] Every policy must carry «Compensation to injured persons for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred within 2 years from the date of the accident», with «a minimum limit for the total of all payments which must be made pursuant to that subparagraph of $15,000 for any 1 person and $30,000 for all persons injured in any 1 accident» (§ 2118(a)(2)). Delaware imposes no tort threshold: the claim against the at-fault driver for pain and suffering survives intact. What § 2118(h) does instead is an evidentiary bar against double recovery — a person eligible for those benefits «is precluded from pleading or introducing into evidence in an action for damages against a tortfeasor those damages for which compensation is available under paragraph (a)(2) or (3) of this section … whether or not such benefits are actually recoverable». That narrows what may be put to a jury; it does not gate the claim.

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Delaware →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[1] The District has no personal-injury paragraph of its own; injury claims fall into the residual catch-all, “for which a limitation is not otherwise specially prescribed — 3 years”.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[1] Three years “on a simple contract, express or implied”, which is how you sue your own insurer.
Fault system	Choice no-fault
Personal injury protection required	No ^[3]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	No threshold — the ordinary claim survives ^[3] Personal injury protection is elective in the District: an insured «may obtain, solely at his or her option, any 1 or any combination of the 3 coverages» (§ 31-2404), and where it is bought the statutory floors are «not less than $50,000» per victim for medical and rehabilitation expenses and «not less than $12,000» per accident for work loss. Because nothing is compulsory, the default position is an ordinary tort claim with no threshold at all. The threshold is created by the victim’s own choice afterwards: a victim who elects PIP benefits within sixty days of the accident (§ 31-2405) may then sue for non-economic loss only where the injury «directly results in substantial permanent scarring or disfigurement, substantial and medically demonstrable permanent impairment …, or a medically demonstrable impairment that prevents the victim from performing all or substantially all of the material acts and duties that constitute his or her usual and customary daily activities for more than 180 continuous days», or where the costs exceed the benefits available.

Verified as ofSeptember 16, 2026 · Car insurance claims in District of Columbia →

Deadline to sue for injury	6 months from the accident ^[1] Same six-month rule for the civil action against the responsible driver; time during which the action is legally impossible to bring is not counted.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[2] Extinctive prescription from the date of the loss for any action against the insurer: two years for the insured or beneficiaries, three years for third parties (Ley 146-02 art. 47).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Dominican Republic →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Three years from the date the cause of action accrued or, if later, the injured person’s date of knowledge (Limitation Act 1980, s. 11(4)).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in England and Wales →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[3] «(5) WITHIN TWO YEARS.— (a) An action founded on negligence.» (§ 95.11(5)(a), as amended by ch. 2023-15).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	5 years from the accident ^[3] A legal or equitable action on a contract founded on a written instrument: five years (§ 95.11(2)(b)).
Fault system	No-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[1]
Minimum injury benefit	$10,000 ^[1]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a described injury test ^[1] Every complying policy carries personal injury protection of $10,000 in medical and disability benefits and $5,000 in death benefits (§ 627.736(1)); within that limit, reimbursement is capped at $2,500 where a provider determines the injured person «did not have an emergency medical condition». Tort liability is exempted to the extent those benefits are payable (§ 627.737(1)), and damages for pain and suffering are recoverable only where the injury consists of «significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function», «permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement», «significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement», or «death» (§ 627.737(2)).

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Florida →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] The same «later of» rule of § 431:10C-315(b) governs the injury claim, and it is on the injury side that it bites hardest: two years after the accident, OR two years after the last payment of motor-vehicle insurance or optional additional benefits, OR two years after the last payment of workers’ compensation or public assistance benefits arising from the accident — whichever is latest. Hawaii’s tort action is in any event only available past the § 431:10C-306(b) threshold. The general two-year rule of § 657-7 runs «after the cause of action accrued» and supplies the length rather than the trigger.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years on a FIVE-LIMBED «later of», and it is the most claimant-friendly first-party limitation structure in this dataset: «No suit shall be brought on any contract providing motor vehicle insurance benefits or any contract providing optional additional coverage more than the later of: (1) Two years from the date of the motor vehicle accident upon which the claim is based; (2) Two years after the last payment of motor vehicle insurance benefits; (3) Two years after the entry of a final order in arbitration; (4) Two years after the entry of a final judgment in, or dismissal with prejudice of, a tort action arising out of a motor vehicle accident, where a cause of action for insurer bad faith arises out of the tort action; or (5) Two years after payment of liability coverage, for underinsured motorist claims» (§ 431:10C-315(a)). The fifth limb is the one a reader needs: a Hawaii underinsured-motorist claim’s clock starts when the at-fault driver’s insurer pays, not when the crash happened.
Fault system	No-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[5]
Minimum injury benefit	$10,000 ^[5]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a stated amount of medical expense ^[5] Personal injury protection benefits are «subject to an aggregate limit of $10,000 per person» (HRS § 431:10C-103.5(c)). Section 431:10C-306(a) then abolishes the tort liability of the owner, operator or user of an insured vehicle, and § 431:10C-306(b) restores it only where death occurs, where the injury consists in whole or in part «in a significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body», where it is «a permanent and serious disfigurement which results in subjection of the injured person to mental or emotional suffering», or where «the personal injury protection benefits incurred by such person equal or exceed $5,000». Benefits above the basic $10,000 limit do not count toward that $5,000.

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Hawaii →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years, and THE ACCRUAL SENTENCE IS THE OPERATIVE ONE FOR A CRASH VICTIM: «Actions against officers, for penalties, on bonds, and for professional malpractice or for personal injuries. Within two (2) years: … 4. An action to recover damages for professional malpractice, or for an injury to the person, or for the death of one caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another … but in all other actions, whether arising from professional malpractice or otherwise, THE CAUSE OF ACTION SHALL BE DEEMED TO HAVE ACCRUED AS OF THE TIME OF THE OCCURRENCE, ACT OR OMISSION COMPLAINED OF, AND THE LIMITATION PERIOD SHALL NOT BE EXTENDED BY REASON OF ANY CONTINUING CONSEQUENCES OR DAMAGES RESULTING THEREFROM» (§ 5-219(4)). Idaho says this in terms rather than leaving it to case law, so the clock runs from the crash and a worsening injury does not restart it. NO DISCOVERY RULE IS PUBLISHED FOR IDAHO BODILY INJURY: the discovery exceptions in the same paragraph are confined to a retained foreign object and to fraudulent concealment by a wrongdoer in a professional or commercial relationship, and neither reaches an ordinary collision. Note too the contrast with Vermont, whose § 512(4) attaches its three years to «the date of the discovery of the injury» on the face of the statute — the two states differ on the trigger as well as the length.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	5 years from the accident ^[4] Five years to sue on the policy, which is an instrument in writing: «Action on written contract. Within five (5) years: An action upon any contract, obligation or liability founded upon an instrument in writing» (§ 5-216). TWO CAVEATS TRAVEL WITH THE FIGURE RATHER THAN BEING CONCEALED. No Idaho statute read for this row fixes a shorter period for a first-party motor claim, and THE POLICY’S OWN SUIT-LIMITATION CONDITION WAS NOT EXAMINED, so a contractual clause may cut this down. And § 41-1839 is not an answer to the question: it supplies a thirty-day payment clock with a fee-shifting consequence, not a limitation period.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Idaho →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[1] «Actions for damages for an injury to the person … shall be commenced within 2 years next after the cause of action accrued» (735 ILCS 5/13-202).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Illinois →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] The same § 34-11-2-4(a), and only its subsection (a): subsections (b) to (d) are a child-sexual-abuse extension and have nothing to do with a motor claim.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Indiana →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years from accrual for «those founded on injuries to the person or reputation, including injuries to relative rights, whether based on contract or tort, or for a statute penalty» (§ 614.1(2)). Read the words «whether based on contract or tort»: recasting an injury claim as a contract claim does not buy the ten years of § 614.1(5)(a). This is the shortest of Iowa’s three periods and the one that governs the claim most readers are making.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	10 years from the accident ^[2] Ten years for actions «founded on written contracts» (§ 614.1(5)(a)) — the policy itself. Two cautions travel with it. The policy may contract for a shorter suit-against-us period, and whether any Iowa statute sets a floor on how short that clause may be has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here. And § 614.1(2) reaches an injury claim «whether based on contract or tort», so the ten years is a contract period and not a way round the two.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Iowa →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Two years under the residual limb of the same section — «an action for injury to the rights of another, not arising on contract, and not herein enumerated» (§ 60-513(a)(4)) — on the same substantial-injury accrual rule and the same ten-year statute of repose (§ 60-513(b)). A far shorter clock than either of these governs the no-fault side of a Kansas claim, and it is easy to miss: «No claim for personal injury protection benefits may be made after two (2) years from the date of the injury» (§ 40-3110(a)). The Revisor’s own annotation to that section records it as a claim-submission deadline rather than a limitation on suit, citing Patterson v. Allstate Ins. Co., 31 Kan. App. 2d 919, 75 P.3d 763 (2003); the annotation was read, the opinion was not, so the distinction is attributed to the annotation and not stated as settled.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	5 years from the accident ^[2] Five years on «an action upon any agreement, contract or promise in writing» (§ 60-511(1)) — the policy itself. It does not rescue a PIP claim: the two-year claim deadline of § 40-3110(a) bites first and on its own terms, whatever the policy’s contract period. Whether any Kansas statute sets a floor on how short a motor policy’s own suit-against-us clause may be has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Fault system	No-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[4]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a stated amount of medical expense ^[4] Kansas sets no single per-person total: the act prescribes floors element by element — medical and rehabilitation each «not less than $4,500», disability «not less than $900 per month for not to exceed one year», funeral expenses «not to exceed $2,000» (K.S.A. 40-3103) — and adding them together would invent a figure the statute does not state. The gate to the other driver is in K.S.A. 40-3117: damages for pain and suffering are recoverable «only in the event the injury requires medical treatment … having a reasonable value of $2,000 or more, or the injury consists in whole or in part of permanent disfigurement, a fracture to a weightbearing bone, a compound, comminuted, displaced or compressed fracture, loss of a body member, permanent injury within reasonable medical probability, permanent loss of a bodily function or death».

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Kansas →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[4] The trigger is unusual and no generic description of it is safe: two years «after the injury, or the death, or the date of issuance of the last basic or added reparation payment made by any reparation obligor, whichever later occurs» (KRS 304.39-230(6)). A claimant drawing reparation benefits for eighteen months therefore has a clock that starts at the last payment, not at the collision. A 2017 amendment added that a reissued «replacement payment» does not extend the date, and that a claimant may ask the obligor in writing whether a payment was one. Cite this section and not KRS 413.140, whose general personal-injury period is one year and does not govern a motor claim.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from when the damage became known ^[4] Where no reparation benefits have been paid: two years after the injured person suffers the loss and knows, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should know, that it was caused by the accident — «or not later than four (4) years after the accident, whichever is earlier», so the discovery rule is capped by an absolute four-year bar. Where benefits have been paid, the period is two years from the last payment (KRS 304.39-230(1)). Survivor’s benefits are shorter still: one year after the death or four years after the accident, whichever is earlier (KRS 304.39-230(2)). Legal disability does not toll any of these — the statute expressly counts the period of disability inside the limit (KRS 304.39-230(5)). The general written-contract period for a modern Kentucky policy is ten years under KRS 413.160, but KRS 304.39-230(1) displaces it for reparation benefits.
Fault system	Choice no-fault
Personal injury protection required	Limited ^[1]
Minimum injury benefit	$10,000 ^[1]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a stated amount of medical expense ^[1] Basic reparation benefits «shall be paid without regard to fault» (§ 304.39-040(1)) and are capped at «ten thousand dollars ($10,000)» for all economic loss to any one person from any one accident (§ 304.39-020(2)). Kentucky is a choice state: a person may reject the tort limitation in writing before an accident, and «Any rejection shall result in the full retention by the individual of his or her tort rights and tort liabilities» (§ 304.39-060(4), (7)) — but a person who rejects may not collect the benefits (§ 304.39-060(8)). Without a rejection, damages for pain and suffering are recoverable «only in the event that the benefits which are payable for such injury as ‹medical expense› … exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or the injury or disease consists in whole or in part of permanent disfigurement, a fracture to a bone, … permanent injury within reasonable medical probability, permanent loss of bodily function or death» (§ 304.39-060(2)(b)). The money route and the listed injuries are independent: either one opens the claim.

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Kentucky →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[4] The same article and the same limit: two years from the day injury or damage is sustained (C.C. art. 3493.1), and the same prospectivity rule — the two years apply only to crashes on or after 1 July 2024, because Acts 2024, No. 423, § 3 gives the act «prospective application only». Louisiana’s famous one-year delictual prescription is gone: art. 3492 now reads «Repealed by Acts 2024, No. 423, §2, eff. July 1, 2024», and art. 3493 was repealed by the same section. Any page still saying one year is describing pre-July-2024 law.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	10 years from the accident ^[4] An action on the policy is a personal action, so the residual ten-year prescription of C.C. art. 3499 applies «unless otherwise provided by legislation». That is the ceiling, not the operative deadline: the policy’s own suit clause is what usually bites, and La. R.S. 22:868(B) only sets a floor on it — no less than twenty-four months from the inception of the loss for a first-party claim in the classes of insurance it enumerates by cross-reference to R.S. 22:47, and no less than one year from accrual for all other insurance, with any shorter condition void. Those enumerated classes were not read, so which floor reaches a private passenger auto policy has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here. Filing against the driver protects the insurers too: R.S. 22:1269(B)(3) makes that filing interrupt prescription as to every insurer covering the claim.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Louisiana →

Deadline to sue for injury	6 years from the accident ^[2] The SAME six years of 14 M.R.S. § 752, published separately only because the field requires it: one sentence covers the bodily-injury claim, the vehicle-damage claim and the action on the policy, all running «after the cause of action accrues». Maine names no «personal injury» period of its own, which is why the injury claim arrives through the general civil-actions rule rather than through a section that mentions injuries. THE SAME «EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE SPECIALLY PROVIDED» SAVING APPLIES AND WAS NOT CLOSED, so the six years must never be described as though nothing in Maine law could shorten them.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[2] The same six years again: the action on the policy is a civil action under 14 M.R.S. § 752, and no shorter first-party period was found in anything read for this row. THE POLICY’S OWN SUIT-LIMITATION CONDITION WAS NOT EXAMINED. Note what Maine gives the insured instead of a shorter clock — a statutory first-party cause of action against their own insurer under 24-A M.R.S. § 2436-A, carrying damages, costs, reasonable attorney’s fees and interest at 1.5 % a month, whose own limitation period was not separately fixed by anything read here.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Maine →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[1] This is a claim deadline, not a limitation period for a lawsuit: there is no injury action to commence. A claim for compensation must be made «within two years after the day of the accident» or, where symptoms not apparent immediately after the accident are observed by a practitioner within those two years, within two years of that first observation (MPIC Act, s. 141(1)); a death claim runs two years from the death (s. 141(2)) and a claimant who was a minor has two years from turning eighteen (s. 141(3)). MPI «may waive a time limit» where satisfied there was a reasonable excuse — a discretion, not a right (s. 141(5)).
Fault system	No-fault

Deadline to sue for injury

2 years from the accident ^[1] This is a claim deadline, not a limitation period for a lawsuit: there is no injury action to commence. A claim for compensation must be made «within two years after the day of the accident» or, where symptoms not apparent immediately after the accident are observed by a practitioner within those two years, within two years of that first observation (MPIC Act, s. 141(1)); a death claim runs two years from the death (s. 141(2)) and a claimant who was a minor has two years from turning eighteen (s. 141(3)). MPI «may waive a time limit» where satisfied there was a reasonable excuse — a discretion, not a right (s. 141(5)).

Fault system

No-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Manitoba →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[1] The same § 5-101 and the same three years for the injury claim as for the car.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[1] The same three years, as a contract action under Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 5-101. Whether a Maryland motor policy may contract for less has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here: twenty sections of the Insurance Article and the limitations section were read without finding a provision voiding or flooring such a clause, and that finding is bounded to the sections read. The one statutory floor located in the Maryland material is on claim filing rather than suit — a policy may set a period of «not less than 12 months» after the accident within which the original first-party benefits claim must be filed, and the insurer must write and tell the insured the latest date on which a claim may be filed (Insurance § 19-508(a)(2)(i), (b)(1)).
Fault system	Add-on no-fault
Personal injury protection required	Limited ^[3]
Minimum injury benefit	$2,500 ^[3]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	No threshold — the ordinary claim survives ^[3] Maryland adds the benefit without taking the claim away. «Unless waived in accordance with § 19–506 of this subtitle or rejected in accordance with § 19–506.1 of this subtitle, each insurer that issues, sells, or delivers a motor vehicle liability insurance policy in the State shall provide coverage for the medical, hospital, and disability benefits described in this section» (§ 19-505), with a floor of «up to $2,500» and income loss at «85% of income lost within 3 years after, and resulting from, a motor vehicle accident». The first named insured may sign «an affirmative written waiver of those benefits» (§ 19-506). Neither section limits the right to sue the at-fault driver, and no Maryland statute creates a threshold — this is a checked absence in the two sections read, not a provision that could be quoted.

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Maryland →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[5] Three years under M.G.L. c. 260, § 2A, and confirmed by § 4, which names «actions of tort for bodily injuries or for death the payment of judgments in which is required to be secured by chapter ninety» at the same three years — so the two sections agree and no tie-break is needed.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[5] General contract period: «Actions of contract, other than those to recover for personal injuries … shall … be commenced only within six years» (M.G.L. c. 260, § 2) — the route § 34M gives an unpaid personal injury protection claimant. A motor policy commonly carries a shorter suit clause of its own, and no Massachusetts provision governing such clauses was read for this page, so six years is not the practical deadline. Separately, the claimant must present the PIP claim to the insurer within two years of the accident (c. 90, § 34M).
Fault system	No-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[4]
Minimum injury benefit	$8,000 ^[4]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a stated amount of medical expense ^[4] Personal injury protection is defined as «at least eight thousand dollars on account of injury to or death of any one person» (c. 90, § 34A), and § 34M lets a policyholder elect a deductible of up to that same amount, which can reduce what is actually paid without changing the statutory minimum. The gate to the other driver is a sum of money: damages for pain and suffering are recoverable «only if the reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in treating such injury … are determined to be in excess of two thousand dollars», unless the injury causes death, «consists in whole or in part of loss of a body member», of «permanent and serious disfigurement», of the sight or hearing loss described in c. 152, § 36, or «consists of a fracture» (c. 231, § 6D).

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Massachusetts →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[4] Same two-year rule of art. 1934 for injury, with the same federal-only caveat.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[1] Actions deriving from an insurance contract prescribe in two years, counted from the event that gave rise to them (Ley sobre el Contrato de Seguro art. 81 fr. II; five years for death cover in life insurance). Where the loss itself is concerned the period runs from the day the interested parties learned of it, which they must prove (art. 82), and no clause may shorten or lengthen it (art. 83).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Mexico →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[3] Three years after the time of the death or injury, the same period the statute gives to property claims (MCL 600.5805(1)–(2)); the capture read is complete through Public Act 149 of 2024.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	1 years from the accident ^[4] An action for personal protection insurance benefits «may not be commenced later than 1 year after the date of the accident that caused the injury unless written notice of injury … has been given to the insurer within 1 year after the accident or unless the insurer has previously made a payment» (MCL 500.3145(1)); where notice was given or a payment made, the action runs one year from the most recent loss incurred, and «the claimant may not recover benefits for any portion of the loss incurred more than 1 year before the date on which the action was commenced» (§ 500.3145(2)). The clock is tolled from a specific claim until the insurer formally denies it, and only if the claim is pursued with reasonable diligence (§ 500.3145(3)); property protection benefits carry a flat year from the accident (§ 500.3145(5)). Other contract claims on the policy run six years (MCL 600.5807(9)), and a personal auto policy may not shorten any of these — a shortened limitation of action clause is forbidden and void (Mich. Admin. Code R 500.2212(2)–(3)).
Fault system	No-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Michigan →

Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[1] The general contract period, for an action on the policy itself.
Fault system	No-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[5]
Minimum injury benefit	$40,000 ^[5]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a stated amount of medical expense ^[5] Basic economic loss benefits «shall provide a minimum of $40,000 for loss arising out of the injury of any one person», split «$20,000 for medical expense loss» and «a total of $20,000 for income loss, replacement services loss, funeral expense loss, survivor’s economic loss, and survivor’s replacement services loss» (§ 65B.44, subd. 1(a)). No damages for noneconomic detriment are recoverable unless a computed sum of medical expense benefits «exceeds $4,000» — with diagnostic x-rays and rehabilitative treatment subtracted from it — or «the injury results in: (1) permanent disfigurement; (2) permanent injury; (3) death; or (4) disability for 60 days or more», where disability means «the inability to engage in substantially all of the injured person’s usual and customary daily activities» (§ 65B.51, subd. 3).

Verified as ofSeptember 16, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Minnesota →

Deadline to sue for injury	5 years from when the damage became known ^[2] The same five years and the same subdivision as the vehicle claim, so there is no shorter injury clock to miss (§ 516.120(4), RSMo), running from when the damage «is sustained and is capable of ascertainment» (§ 516.100).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Missouri →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[3] Three years, and Montana routes a personal-injury claim through the residual paragraph rather than through a section that names it: «27-2-204. (Temporary) Tort actions — general and personal injury. (1) Except as provided in 27-2-216, the period prescribed for the commencement of AN ACTION UPON A LIABILITY NOT FOUNDED UPON AN INSTRUMENT IN WRITING is within 3 years.» Subsection (2) gives three years for a death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another, «except when the wrongful death is the result of a homicide, in which case the period is within 10 years»; subsection (3) gives two years for libel, slander, assault, battery, false imprisonment or seduction, so the three years are the NEGLIGENCE period specifically. THIS SECTION TOO CARRIES TWO LABELLED TEXTS AND THE FIGURE IS SAFE EITHER WAY: the text «(Effective October 1, 2026)» keeps the same three years and changes only the list of cross-referenced exceptions, adding § 27-2-219 beside § 27-2-216 (history line «amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 709, L. 2025»). SO THE FIGURE IS PUBLISHED AND THE EXCEPTIONS ARE NOT: neither § 27-2-216 nor § 27-2-219 was opened, so whether either reaches a motor-vehicle injury claim has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the denial ^[5] TWO YEARS, NOT SIX, AND PUBLISHING SIX ALONE WOULD BE ACTIVELY MISLEADING. Montana’s operative deadline for a claim-handling action is its own: «The period prescribed for commencement of an action under this section is: (a) for an insured, WITHIN 2 YEARS FROM THE DATE OF THE VIOLATION OF 33-18-201; and (b) for a third-party claimant, WITHIN 1 YEAR FROM THE DATE OF THE SETTLEMENT OF OR THE ENTRY OF JUDGMENT ON THE UNDERLYING CLAIM» (§ 33-18-242(8)). Two years for the insured is the shortest first-party clock on any row in this dataset, and the third-party claimant’s ONE year is shorter still. A NOTE ON THE TRIGGER, BECAUSE THIS DATASET HAS NO ENUM VALUE FOR IT: the statute runs from «the date of the violation of 33-18-201», which is neither the accident, nor the filing of the claim, nor strictly a denial; the nearest available value is used and the statute’s own words are given here so nothing is hidden — the clock starts when the insurer commits the practice complained of, which in most cases is a refusal or a failure to settle. THE SEPARATE CONTRACT ROUTE IS SIX YEARS AND IS NAMED BESIDE THIS ONE RATHER THAN INSTEAD OF IT: «the period prescribed for the commencement of an action on any contract, covenant, obligation, or liability founded on an instrument in writing is within 6 years» (§ 27-2-202(1)), with five years where it is not founded on a writing and three on a non-contractual obligation. A claimant who assumes six years for everything against an insurer will be out of time on the statutory route.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Montana →

Deadline to sue for injury	4 years from the accident ^[2] Four years for «an action for an injury to the rights of the plaintiff, not arising on contract, and not hereinafter enumerated» (§ 25-207(3)) — twice the two years Kansas allows immediately to the south, on materially the same claim. The section reaches trespass, conversion, other torts and frauds and states its own four-year limit in its opening sentence.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	5 years from the accident ^[2] Five years on «a specialty, or any agreement, contract, or promise in writing, or foreign judgment» (§ 25-205(1)) — the policy itself. Subsection (2), the stated exception, is a farm-collateral carve-out and does not reach a motor policy. Whether any Nebraska statute sets a floor on how short a motor policy’s own suit-against-us clause may be has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Nebraska →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[3] «Within 2 years: … an action to recover damages for injuries to a person or for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another» (NRS 11.190(4)(e)). The same two years cover a death claim.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[3] Six years on «an action upon a contract, obligation or liability founded upon an instrument in writing» (NRS 11.190(1)(b)). This is the residual, not the operative deadline: the policy’s own suit-limitation clause may be shorter, and whether any Nevada instrument sets a floor on such a clause is not stated here — NRS chapter 687B was searched and contains none, but that is one chapter of Title 57 and not the whole title.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Nevada →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from when the damage became known ^[3] «No claim shall be brought after the earlier of (a) two years from the day on which the claim is discovered, and (b) fifteen years from the day on which the act or omission on which the claim is based occurred», and a claim is discovered when the claimant first knew or ought reasonably to have known that the loss occurred, that it was caused by or contributed to by an act or omission, and that the act or omission was the defendant’s (Limitation of Actions Act, S.N.B. 2009, c. L-8.5, s. 5(1)–(2)). The discovery test has three limbs where neighbouring Nova Scotia’s has four: New Brunswick has no «sufficiently serious to warrant a proceeding» limb, so the clock can start earlier here on identical facts. A continuous act or omission is deemed a separate act or omission on each day it continues (s. 6). Nothing read establishes a New Brunswick analogue of Nova Scotia’s judicial power to disallow a limitation defence, and none is asserted either way.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[1] «Every action or proceeding against the insurer under this contract in respect of loss or damage to the automobile shall be commenced within two years next after the happening of the loss and not afterwards, and in respect of loss or damage to persons or property shall be commenced within two years next after the cause of action arose and not afterwards» (Insurance Act, statutory condition 6(3)). The two years published here is the vehicle-damage clock, which runs from the happening of the loss; the clock for loss or damage to persons or property runs instead from when the cause of action arose. Note the divergence from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, whose equivalent condition runs the indemnity clock from the date the insured’s liability is established by a court — the Atlantic provinces share this statutory-conditions text but not its triggers.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in New Brunswick →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years for “an injury to the person caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of any person within this State”. The section opens “Except as otherwise provided by law”, and the certification clock inside a limitation-on-lawsuit case is one of the things otherwise provided.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[1] The general contract period, “upon a contractual claim or liability, express or implied, not under seal”. The policy may contain a shorter suit clause of its own: the approved New Jersey policy form was not read for this entry, and the Department’s own rules assume such a clause can exist, so read your policy rather than relying on the six years.
Fault system	Choice no-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 16, 2026 · Car insurance claims in New Jersey →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years, and the section it lives in reads oddly because the injury period is a clause at the end of a provision mostly about surety bonds: «Actions must be brought against sureties on official bonds … within two years after the liability of the principal … is finally established …, and for an injury to the person or reputation of any person, within three years» (§ 37-1-8). The discovery rule of § 37-1-7 is confined by its own words to property and conversion and is not extended here; § 37-1-1 puts this clock at accrual.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[2] Six years for «actions founded upon any bond, promissory note, bill of exchange or other contract in writing» (§ 37-1-3(A)) — the policy itself, and the longest first-party contract period in its round. It does not lengthen the tort clocks, and whether any New Mexico statute sets a floor on how short a motor policy’s own suit-against-us clause may be has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in New Mexico →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[2] «an action to recover damages for a personal injury» — three years (C.P.L.R. § 214(5)).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[2] General period for «an action upon a contractual obligation or liability» (C.P.L.R. § 213(2)); when a first-party no-fault action accrues is governed by case law not read for this page.
Fault system	No-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[1]
Minimum injury benefit	$50,000 ^[1]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a described injury test ^[1] Basic economic loss is «up to fifty thousand dollars per person» of the combined items the statute lists (§ 5102(a)), and every owner’s policy must provide it (§ 5103(a)). The door to the other driver is definitional rather than monetary: § 5104(a) allows no recovery for non-economic loss between covered persons «except in the case of a serious injury», and «serious injury» is only what § 5102(d) defines it to be — a list of described categories that begins with death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture and loss of a fetus. No amount of medical expense opens or closes that door. Read § 5102(d) in full before relying on the categories: the official rendering we fetched on 2026-09-22 served the definition only as far as «significant limitation of use of a body function or system».

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in New York →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Two years, and the trigger comes from a second section. On its face s. 5 runs the period from «the date on which the right to do so arose», barring after two years an action «for damages in respect of injury to a person or property, including economic loss arising from the injury whether based on contract, tort or statutory duty» (Limitations Act, S.N.L. 1995, c. L-16.1, s. 5(a)). But for personal injury and property damage the period «does not begin to run against a person until the person knows or, considering all circumstances of the matter, ought to know that the person has a cause of action» (s. 14(1)), so in practice it is a discovery rule — a one-limb formulation against Nova Scotia’s four and New Brunswick’s three. The outer limit is the largest divergence in the region: «no action to which this Act applies shall be brought after the expiration of 30 years from the date on which the event which gave rise to the cause of action last occurred» (s. 22) — thirty years, where Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each impose fifteen.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[1] Two years, from two different triggers, and neither is the accident for the indemnity claim. An action against the insurer «in respect of a claim for indemnification for liability to the insured … shall be started within 2 years after the liability of the insured is established by a court and not afterwards», while «all other actions or proceedings against the insurer, under this contract, in respect of loss or damage to the automobile shall be started within 2 years from the time the loss or damage was sustained» (Automobile Insurance Act, statutory condition on limitation of actions). The two years published here is the vehicle-damage clock, which does run from the loss. This follows Nova Scotia rather than New Brunswick, whose equivalent condition runs the indemnity clock from when the cause of action arose — three provinces, a shared statutory text, two different triggers.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Newfoundland and Labrador →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from when the damage became known ^[1] Three years under the clause for “any other injury to the person or rights of another”, on the same discovery-based accrual rule — so in North Carolina the injury claim and the vehicle claim expire together, which is not true in most states.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[1] The general contract period. Unusually, the policy cannot shorten it: § 58-3-35(b) forbids an insurer to limit the time for suit “to less than the period prescribed by law”, and subsection (c) makes any such condition void.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 16, 2026 · Car insurance claims in North Carolina →

Deadline to sue for injury	6 years from the accident ^[2] Six years from accrual, and as in Montana and Wyoming the personal-injury claim arrives through a RESIDUAL paragraph rather than through a section that names it: «5. An action for criminal conversation or for ANY OTHER INJURY TO THE PERSON OR RIGHTS OF ANOTHER NOT ARISING UPON CONTRACT, WHEN NOT OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY PROVIDED» (§ 28-01-16(5)). THE CLOSING SAVING IS LOAD-BEARING AND IS NOT DECORATION: «when not otherwise expressly provided» is precisely what § 26.1-41-19(4) uses to displace this period for no-fault benefit claims, so the six years govern the TORT claim against the other driver and not a claim for benefits against your own insurer. Note also the shape of the tort claim itself in a no-fault state: the six years are of no use for pain and suffering unless the injury is a «serious injury» within § 26.1-41-01(21), and are of use for economic loss only above what the no-fault benefits paid or will pay.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from when the damage became known ^[3] TWO YEARS FROM DISCOVERY WITH A FOUR-YEAR OUTER LIMIT FROM THE ACCIDENT, «WHICHEVER IS EARLIER» — AND THE STRUCTURE IS THE OPPOSITE OF HAWAII’S CLAIMANT-FRIENDLY «LATER OF», WHICH MAKES NORTH DAKOTA’S THE MORE DANGEROUS OF THE TWO TO MISREAD. «26.1-41-19. Limitation of actions. 1. IF NO BASIC OR OPTIONAL EXCESS NO-FAULT BENEFITS HAVE BEEN PAID for loss, an action for the benefits may be commenced NOT LATER THAN TWO YEARS AFTER THE INJURED PERSON SUFFERS THE LOSS AND EITHER KNOWS, OR IN THE EXERCISE OF REASONABLE DILIGENCE SHOULD KNOW, THAT THE LOSS WAS CAUSED BY THE ACCIDENT, OR NOT LATER THAN FOUR YEARS AFTER THE ACCIDENT, WHICHEVER IS EARLIER. IF BASIC OR OPTIONAL EXCESS NO-FAULT BENEFITS HAVE BEEN PAID for loss, an action for recovery of further benefits for the loss by either the same or another claimant MAY BE COMMENCED NOT LATER THAN FOUR YEARS AFTER THE LAST PAYMENT OF BENEFITS.» So a paid claim gets four years from the LAST PAYMENT, while an unpaid one is caught by whichever of the two periods expires first. The field carries the two-year discovery period because it is the one that bites first in the ordinary case; the four-year cap and the four-years-from-last-payment rule are stated here because neither can be represented by a single value. TWO FURTHER PERIODS IN THE SAME SECTION ARE RECORDED RATHER THAN PUBLISHED: subsection 2 adds separate two-year and six-year periods for survivors’ benefits, and subsection 3 gives an assigned-claim claimant SIXTY DAYS from written notice of rejection. AND THIS SECTION DECIDES THE CONFLICT BEFORE IT ARISES: «4. THE TIME PERIOD LIMITATIONS PRESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION GOVERN ALL ACTIONS FOR BASIC AND OPTIONAL EXCESS NO-FAULT BENEFITS UNDER THIS CHAPTER NOTWITHSTANDING ANY LIMITATION PRESCRIBED ELSEWHERE IN THE LAWS OF THIS STATE», so it displaces § 28-01-16’s six years for benefit claims only, and § 28-01-16(1)’s six years on «a contract, obligation, or liability, express or implied» remain the route for a non-benefit contract dispute with the insurer.
Fault system	No-fault
Personal injury protection required	Yes ^[7]
Minimum injury benefit	$30,000 ^[7]
Claiming pain and suffering from the other driver	Only past a described injury test ^[7] Basic no-fault benefits «may not exceed thirty thousand dollars» for all economic loss to any one person from any one accident, with sub-caps of «one hundred fifty dollars per week» for work or survivors’ income loss and «three thousand five hundred dollars» for funeral, cremation and burial (§ 26.1-41-01(2)). A secured person is exempt from liability for «Noneconomic loss unless the injury is a serious injury» (§ 26.1-41-08(1)(a)), and «serious injury» is defined as an accidental bodily injury «which results in death, dismemberment, serious and permanent disfigurement or disability beyond sixty days, or medical expenses in excess of two thousand five hundred dollars» (§ 26.1-41-01(21)) — the money route sits inside the definition rather than beside it.

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in North Dakota →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Three years from the date the cause of action accrued or, if later, the injured person’s date of knowledge (art. 7).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Northern Ireland →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from when the damage became known ^[2] A claim «may not be brought after the earlier of (a) two years from the day on which the claim is discovered; and (b) fifteen years from the day on which the act or omission on which the claim is based occurred» (Limitation of Actions Act, S.N.S. 2014, c. 35, s. 8(1)). The discovery test has four limbs, and the fourth is the one that moves the start date in a soft-tissue claim: the claimant must have known, or ought reasonably to have known, that the loss occurred, that it was caused or contributed to by an act or omission, that the act or omission was the defendant’s, and «that the injury, loss or damage is sufficiently serious to warrant a proceeding» (s. 8(2)). For personal-injury claims only, a court «may disallow a defence based on the limitation period and allow the claim to proceed if it appears to the court to be just» on a balance of hardship, but never «if the claim is brought more than two years after the expiry of the limitation period» (s. 12(2)–(3), (6)).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[4] Two years, and the figure hides two different triggers — neither of which is the accident for the indemnity claim. Every action against the insurer «in respect of a claim for indemnification for liability of the insured … shall be commenced within two years after the liability of the insured is established by a court of competent jurisdiction and not afterwards», while «every other action or proceeding against the insurer under the contract in respect of loss or damage to the automobile shall be commenced within two years from the time the loss or damage was sustained» (Automobile Insurance Contract Mandatory Conditions Regulations, mandatory condition 6(3)). The two years published here is the vehicle-damage clock, which does run from the loss; the indemnity clock starts only when a court has established the insured’s liability, so a row reading «two years from the accident» would be wrong for it.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Nova Scotia →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[3] Two years under the residual negligence limb of the same paragraph, «an action for injury to the rights of another, not arising on contract, and not hereinafter enumerated» (12 O.S. § 95(A)(3)). The one-year period in the next paragraph was tested and rejected: § 95(A)(4) reaches «libel, slander, assault, battery, malicious prosecution, or false imprisonment» — the intentional torts by name — and a negligently inflicted crash injury is none of them.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	5 years from the accident ^[3] Five years on «any contract, agreement, or promise in writing» (12 O.S. § 95(A)(1)), and unlike some states’ equivalents the paragraph is not confined to an action for debt. But this is the statutory backstop, not the operative deadline: the policy’s own suit-limitation clause governs, bounded by the floor in 36 O.S. § 3617 — a clause «preventing the bringing of an action against any such insurer for more than six (6) months after the cause of action accrues» is void, as is any clause cutting the period below two years for non-property insurance or below one year from the date of the occurrence for property insurance, and the void clause «shall not affect the validity of the other provisions of the policy». Read the suit-limitation clause in the policy, because that, bounded by this floor, is the deadline that will be argued.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Oklahoma →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from when the damage became known ^[1] Same basic two-year period; a claim is discovered when the person knew, or ought to have known, that the injury occurred, was caused by an act or omission of the defendant, and that a proceeding was the appropriate remedy (s. 5).
Fault system	Hybrid

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Ontario →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[3] «An action for assault, battery, false imprisonment, or for any injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract, and not especially enumerated in this chapter, shall be commenced within two years» (ORS 12.110(1)).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[3] Six years on the policy as a contract (ORS 12.080(1)); the policy’s own suit-limitation clause may be shorter and was not read, and whether Oregon law sets a floor on such a clause was not searched. A uninsured or underinsured motorist claim is on a far shorter and quite different clock: under ORS 742.504(12)(a) no cause of action accrues at all unless, within two years of the accident, the amount due has been agreed, arbitration has been formally instituted, an action against the insurer has been filed, or suit has been filed against the uninsured motorist — and negotiating with your own insurer is none of those four things.
Fault system	Add-on no-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Oregon →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] «An action to recover damages for injuries to the person or for the death of an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect … of another» — two years (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2)).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	4 years from the accident ^[1] An action for unpaid first-party benefits: four years from the accident, or four years from the last payment if benefits were paid (75 Pa.C.S. § 1721(a)); a general action on the policy as a written contract also runs four years (42 Pa.C.S. § 5525(a)(8)).
Fault system	Choice no-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Pennsylvania →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[1] Same two-year rule of art. 2001 inc. 4 for the extracontractual indemnity action.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[4] This is the SOAT claim only: the right to ask the insurer for the compulsory indemnity «se extingue dentro del plazo de prescripción de la acción indemnizatoria por responsabilidad extracontractual, conforme al numeral 4 del artículo 2001 del Código Civil» (TUO art. 18, as substituted by D.S. 009-2019-MTC), and for a death claim that period does not begin until the insurer’s publication and notification duty under art. 42 has run out. It is a separate clock from actions founded on an insurance contract, which prescribe in ten years from the loss (Ley 29946 art. 78) — the two are not merged here.
Fault system	Hybrid

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Peru →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[1] This is a claim to a public insurer, not a court action: the bodily-injury action is abolished, and entitlement to SAAQ compensation «is prescribed by three years from the accident or the time the injury appears and, with regard to a death benefit, from the time of death» (Automobile Insurance Act, art. 11). A claim to the Société interrupts the Civil Code prescription until a final decision is rendered.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[3] The action on the insurance contract has no special period, so the general three years of art. 2925 applies, with art. 2926 postponing the start where the harm appears late. The Civil Code fixes no shorter contractual deadline.
Fault system	No-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Quebec →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years from accrual: «(b) ACTIONS FOR INJURIES TO THE PERSON SHALL BE COMMENCED AND SUED WITHIN THREE (3) YEARS NEXT AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION SHALL ACCRUE, AND NOT AFTER, except as provided for otherwise in subsection (c) herein. Notwithstanding anything herein, any claim based on sexual abuse or exploitation of a child shall be governed by § 9-1-51» (§ 9-1-14(b)). QUOTE SUBSECTION (b) AND NOT THE SECTION: subsection (a) of the same section is the ONE-YEAR period for «words spoken», which is what a careless read of «§ 9-1-14» produces. AND NOTE WHAT THE SECTION DOES NOT CONTAIN — there is no property-damage paragraph in it at all, which is why the vehicle claim runs on § 9-1-13(a)’s residual ten years and not on these three. A reader who assumes one Rhode Island period for the whole crash will be wrong in one direction or the other.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[2] THREE YEARS, EXTENDABLE BY A FURTHER 120 DAYS IN THE DIRECT-ACTION CASE ONLY — AND THE CONDITIONS MUST BE STATED EXACTLY, BECAUSE THE EXTENSION IS NOT A GENERAL GRACE PERIOD. «(c) As to an action for personal injuries wherein an injured party is entitled to proceed against an insurer pursuant to § 27-7-2, WHERE AN ACTION IS OTHERWISE PROPERLY FILED AGAINST AN INSURED WITHIN THE TIME LIMITATIONS PROVIDED FOR BY THIS SECTION, AND PROCESS AGAINST THE INSURED TORTFEASOR HAS BEEN RETURNED “NON EST INVENTUS” AND FILED WITH THE COURT, THEN THE STATUTORY LIMITATION FOR FILING AN ACTION UNDER § 27-7-2 DIRECTLY AGAINST AN INSURER SHALL BE EXTENDED AN ADDITIONAL ONE HUNDRED TWENTY (120) DAYS after the expiration of the time limitation provided for in subsection (b) herein» (§ 9-1-14(c)) — a 120-day extension found in no other jurisdiction in this dataset. All three conditions are cumulative: the suit must ALREADY have been properly filed against the insured within the three years, AND process against the tortfeasor must have been returned «non est inventus», AND that return must have been filed with the court. THE NO-JOINDER RULE IS THE REASON THE MECHANISM EXISTS AND IS PUBLISHED WITH IT: an injured party «in his or her suit against the insured, SHALL NOT JOIN THE INSURER AS A DEFENDANT», and may proceed directly against the insurer only where process is returned «non est inventus», or in three situations involving the insured’s death, or «after having obtained judgment against the insured alone … in a separate action against the insurer»; and «the time limitations for filing such actions shall be governed by the provisions of § 9-1-14 as appropriate, including … any extension of the statute of limitations for injuries to the person provided by § 9-1-14(c)» (§ 27-7-2). A FIRST-PARTY DISPUTE ON YOUR OWN POLICY IS A DIFFERENT CLOCK AND IS NAMED SEPARATELY: an action on the policy as a contract falls into § 9-1-13(a)’s residual TEN years.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Rhode Island →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[1] In the default no-fault stream this is a claim deadline, not a limitation period: a claimant must apply for a benefit «within two years after the date of the accident» or, where symptoms not apparent immediately after the accident are observed by a practitioner within those two years, within two years of that first observation; a death claim runs two years from the death and a claimant who was a minor has two years from turning eighteen (Automobile Accident Insurance Act, s. 164(1)–(3)). A claimant who has filed a tort election sues instead, and the two-year discovery period of the Limitations Act applies to that action.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	90 days from the denial ^[1] Far shorter than any general limitation period: a claimant may appeal a decision of the insurer «to either the Court of King’s Bench or the appeal commission within the later of: (a) 90 days after the date of insurer’s written decision; and (b) if a claimant has requested mediation … 90 days after the date of the mediator’s written statement … declaring that the mediation is completed» (Automobile Accident Insurance Act, s. 191(1)), and choosing the court closes the commission (s. 191(2)). Mediation itself must be requested within 90 days of the written decision (s. 190(2)). Two decisions carry 180 days instead: benefits withheld after a criminal charge (s. 107(4)) and a non-resident’s responsibility determination (s. 109(2)).
Fault system	Choice no-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Saskatchewan →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Three years from the date the injuries were sustained or, if later, from when the pursuer became (or could reasonably have become) aware of the key facts (s. 17(2)).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Scotland →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from when the damage became known ^[5] Three years for «an action for assault, battery, or any injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract and not enumerated by law» (§ 15-3-530(5)), and the accrual rule is discovery because § 15-3-535 attaches it to that paragraph in terms: «all actions initiated under Section 15-3-530(5) must be commenced within three years after the person knew or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known that he had a cause of action.» The Editor’s Note on both sections records that the period was reduced from six to three years in 1988.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[5] Three years for «an action upon a contract, obligation, or liability, express or implied» (§ 15-3-530(1)) — the same three years as the tort periods, so suing your own insurer buys no extra time, which is unusual in this dataset. And the paragraph that would override a policy’s own shortened suit clause «any clause, condition, or limitation contained in the policy to the contrary notwithstanding» is § 15-3-530(8), which on its face reaches policies «either fire or life» and so does not protect an insured suing under an automobile policy. Read the suit-limitation clause in the motor policy, because nothing on this text disapplies it. Whether any other provision of Title 38 sets a floor on such a clause has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here; chapters 38-59, 38-61, 38-63 and 38-77 were read in full and contain none.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in South Carolina →

Deadline to sue for injury

3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years from accrual, and the subdivision that fixes it is three words long: «Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, the following civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can be commenced only within three years after the cause of action shall have accrued: … (3) An action for personal injury» (§ 15-2-14(3), history «SDC 1939, § 33.0232 (5); SL 1945, ch 144»). South Dakota fixes the injury period by that phrase alone, and NO MOTOR-VEHICLE-SPECIFIC PERIOD WAS FOUND in anything read.

Fault system

At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in South Dakota →

Deadline to sue for injury	1 years from when the damage became known ^[1] Same one-year period; for injuries the clock runs from stabilisation of the injuries, not the crash date, under settled case law.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	2 years from the accident ^[2] Actions arising from the insurance contract: two years for property insurance, five for insurance of persons (LCS art. 23).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Spain →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[1] For a death, the two years run from the date of death.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Texas →

Deadline to sue for injury	4 years from the accident ^[3] A crash injury falls under the four-year catch-all, «for relief not otherwise provided for by law» (§ 78B-2-307(4)), because no section of the limitations chapter enumerates personal injury — the chapter was read end to end to establish that. A wrongful-death action is the trap: it runs only two years (§ 78B-2-304(3)), half the injury period, on the same crash.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[4] «A person shall commence an action on a written policy or contract of first party insurance within three years after the inception of the loss» (§ 31A-21-313(1)(a)) — shorter than the four-year tort period and running from the loss, not from a denial. Two coverages are carved out to four years, each with its own retroactivity date: uninsured motorist since 14 May 2019 (§ 31A-22-305(11)) and personal injury protection since 3 May 2023 (§ 31A-22-307(7)). A Utah policy may not shorten any of these: § 31A-21-313(3)(a) voids a clause limiting the time «to a time less than that authorized by statute». In the other direction, § 31A-21-313(4)(a) generally bars suing the insurer for payment until the earlier of 60 days after proof of loss, waiver of proof of loss, or the insurer’s denial of full payment.
Fault system	No-fault

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Utah →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Three years — AND, UNUSUALLY, FROM DISCOVERY ON THE FACE OF THE STATUTE, WHICH IS THE DETAIL A PARAPHRASE RELIABLY DROPS. «Actions for the following causes shall be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrues, and not after: (1) assault and battery; (2) false imprisonment; (3) slander and libel; (4) except as otherwise provided in this chapter, INJURIES TO THE PERSON SUFFERED BY THE ACT OR DEFAULT OF ANOTHER PERSON, PROVIDED THAT THE CAUSE OF ACTION SHALL BE DEEMED TO ACCRUE AS OF THE DATE OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE INJURY» (12 V.S.A. § 512(4)). So Period.from is «discovery» rather than «accident», and publishing «accident» for Vermont bodily injury would be wrong. THE CONTRAST WITH ITS NEIGHBOUR IS EXACT AND WORTH STATING: Idaho’s § 5-219(4) says the opposite for its own two years — the cause of action accrues at the occurrence and the period «shall not be extended by reason of any continuing consequences or damages resulting therefrom» — so the two states differ on the TRIGGER as well as on the length, and a regional generalisation fails in both directions. Note the paragraph’s own opening saving, «except as otherwise provided in this chapter», which was not tested here.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[3] Six years for an action on the policy, which arrives through Vermont’s residual civil period rather than through any insurance provision: «§ 511. Civil action. A civil action, except one brought upon the judgment or decree of a court of record of the United States or of this or some other state, AND EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED, SHALL BE COMMENCED WITHIN SIX YEARS AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES AND NOT THEREAFTER» (Amended 1959, No. 261, § 3). TWO THINGS THIS ROW DOES NOT CLAIM ARE STATED RATHER THAN LEFT IMPLICIT. The saving «except as otherwise provided» was not tested, and no Vermont statute read for this jurisdiction fixes a shorter period for a first-party motor claim; and THE POLICY’S OWN SUIT-LIMITATION CONDITION WAS NOT EXAMINED, so a contractual clause may cut the six years down. Note also that § 941(g)’s thirty days is not a limitation period of any kind — it is a disclosure duty on the insurer.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Vermont →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[2] The same subdivision carries both clocks: «any other injury to the person or rights of another not hereinafter enumerated» — three years (RCW 4.16.080(2)).
Deadline to sue your own insurer	6 years from the accident ^[2] «An action upon a contract in writing, or liability express or implied arising out of a written agreement» — six years (RCW 4.16.040(1)). This is the statutory ceiling, not the practical deadline: the policy’s own suit-limitation clause governs, and RCW 48.18.200(1)(c) only forbids that clause from running shorter than one year, voiding anything shorter. Whether collision cover on a motor policy is «property insurance» under that subsection — which decides whether the one year runs from accrual or from the date of loss — is not settled by the text and is not stated here.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Washington →

Deadline to sue for injury	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years «next after the right to bring the same shall have accrued if it be for damages for personal injuries» (§ 55-2-12(b)), from the section headed «Personal actions not otherwise provided for». But the deadline that catches West Virginians is neither of the two-year clocks: a third-party claimant’s only remedy for an unfair claims settlement practice is an administrative complaint to the Insurance Commissioner, and that is due within ONE YEAR of actual or implied discovery — see the deadline recorded against the insurer.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	1 years from when the damage became known ^[5] THIS IS NOT A DEADLINE TO SUE — IT IS THE ONLY REMEDY A THIRD-PARTY CLAIMANT HAS, AND IT IS AN ADMINISTRATIVE ONE. West Virginia has abolished the third-party bad-faith action outright: «A third-party claimant may not bring a private cause of action or any other action against any person for an unfair claims settlement practice. A third-party claimant’s sole remedy against a person for an unfair claims settlement practice or the bad faith settlement of a claim is the filing of an administrative complaint with the Commissioner … A third-party claimant may not include allegations of unfair claims settlement practices in any underlying litigation against an insured» (§ 33-11-4a(a)). The complaint «shall be filed as soon as practicable but in no event later than one year following the actual or implied discovery of the alleged unfair claims settlement practice» (§ 33-11-4a(b)) — half the two-year limitation period for the underlying claim, and on a different clock. It must state the statutory provision if known, the facts, the people involved and the relevant policy language; if it is deficient «the Commissioner shall contact the third-party claimant within fifteen days of receipt of the complaint to obtain the necessary information». No West Virginia limitation period for a SUIT on a motor policy was read this round, and none is stated here.
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in West Virginia →

Deadline to sue for injury	3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years for an action to recover damages for injuries to the person, «including an action to recover damages for injuries to the person caused or sustained by or arising from an accident involving a motor vehicle» (Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(a)) — the statute names the motor case expressly, so no interpretive step is needed. A wrongful-death claim arising from a motor vehicle accident is shorter: two years (§ 893.54(2m)), against three years for other wrongful-death claims, and shorter than the injured survivor’s own period for the same crash.
Deadline to sue your own insurer	3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years, not the general six: «An action upon a motor vehicle insurance policy described in s. 632.32(1) shall be commenced within 3 years after the cause of action accrues or be barred» — and the accrual rule removes the usual trap, because «a cause of action involving underinsured motorist coverage … or uninsured motorist coverage … accrues on the date there is final resolution of the underlying cause of action by the injured party against the tortfeasor» (Wis. Stat. § 893.43(2)). The policy cannot shorten it: no insurance policy may «limit the time for beginning an action on the policy to a time less than that authorized by the statutes», prescribe the court, or provide that no action may be brought (§ 631.83(3)(a)–(c)). You must, however, wait — no action to compel payment may be brought until at least sixty days after proof of loss (§ 631.83(4)).
Fault system	At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Wisconsin →

Deadline to sue for injury

4 years from the accident ^[2] Four years from accrual, and WYOMING NAMES NO «PERSONAL INJURY» PERIOD OF ITS OWN — an injury claim lands in the residual tort clause: «(iv) Within four (4) years, an action for: … (C) An injury to the rights of the plaintiff, not arising on contract and not herein enumerated» (§ 1-3-105(a)(iv)(C)). Note the carve-out that makes four years the NEGLIGENCE period specifically: subdivision (v) gives only one year for assault or battery, libel and slander.

Fault system

At-fault (tort)

Verified as ofSeptember 12, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Wyoming →

Frequently asked questions

Is there one claim or two?

It depends on the jurisdiction, and the instruments read here split three ways. England and Wales keeps two: the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 makes the causes of action that were vested in the person survive «for the benefit of his estate», and section 1(5) says those rights are «in addition to and not in derogation of» the rights the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 gives dependants. Spain reaches the same result in one sentence with a heading that states it: article 47 of the motor liability law makes the indemnity due to the heirs compatible with the one due to those harmed by the death. Minnesota folds both into a single action, whose recovery is «all damages suffered by the decedent resulting from the injury prior to the decedent's death and the pecuniary loss resulting from the death» (Minn. Stat. § 573.02 subd. 1). Florida removes the first one: under § 768.20, «no action for the personal injury shall survive, and any such action pending at the time of death shall abate».

Who is allowed to bring it?

The people a statute names, which is not the same question as who was closest. North Dakota prints an order and a rule for moving down it: the surviving husband or wife, the surviving children, the surviving mother or father, a surviving grandparent, the personal representative, and a person who has had primary physical custody of the decedent before the wrongful act; if the person entitled to bring it «refuses or neglects so to do for a period of thirty days after demand of the person next in order, that person may bring the action» (N.D.C.C. § 32-21-03). Kansas allows «any one of the heirs at law of the deceased who has sustained a loss by reason of the death», for the exclusive benefit of all of them whether they join or not (K.S.A. 60-1902). England and Wales gives it to the executor or administrator, and to the dependants themselves only where there is none or none has acted within six months (Fatal Accidents Act 1976 s.2). Minnesota requires a trustee appointed by the court on the written petition of the surviving spouse or one of the next of kin (§ 573.02 subd. 3). Florida requires the personal representative (§ 768.20).

Does a death claim run on the same deadline as an injury claim?

Not necessarily, and Minnesota is the plainest illustration of the difference. Section 573.02 subd. 1 sets the ordinary death action at three years after the date of death, «provided that the action must be commenced within six years after the act or omission» — two limits at once, one running from the death and one from the crash, which is not how a personal-injury period is usually written. What each jurisdiction we have read records is in the jurisdiction notes rendered with this article; that block carries the bodily injury limitation period, and a note on how it runs after a death only where the instrument we read said so.

This guide explains how car insurance claims generally work. It is not legal advice, does not create a lawyer–client relationship, and is not a statement of any insurer's or regulator's position. Rules change and differ by jurisdiction; check the cited instrument and, where money or injury is at stake, consult a licensed professional in your jurisdiction. It is also not medical advice. It describes what a claim file has to contain, never what care anyone should seek: decisions about treatment belong to you and a qualified clinician, not to an insurer, an adjuster or this page.

The words

The subject, in those words

Two kinds of loss, and a different number of claims from one jurisdiction to the next

Standing is a list, not a relationship

Some money moves without anyone bringing anything

The clock

What this article does not say

Rules in your jurisdiction

Frequently asked questions

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