Florida car accident law: deadlines, fault and your claim

Filing deadlines in Florida#

Florida's statute of limitationsStatute of limitations. The law that sets the last day to file a lawsuit. After it passes, a court will usually dismiss the case, however strong it is. Glossary for "an action founded on negligence," which covers most crash claims, is 2 years. It used to be 4 years: a 2023 law cut it for claims that arose after March 24, 2023.

Vehicle damage is less clear. The statute lists 4 years for "injuring personal property" and 2 years for negligence, and this guide has not confirmed which one Florida courts apply to a crash that damages a car since the 2023 change. A licensed Florida attorney can tell you the deadline for a property claim.

Florida rarely pauses the clock for an injured child: a child's deadline is paused only while the child has no parent or guardian, or the parent or guardian has interests adverse to the child or is legally incapacitated; otherwise it runs as usual. That is narrower tolling than in many states.

Claims against a government body follow Florida's waiver of sovereign immunitySovereign immunity. The rule that governments cannot be sued unless a law allows it. Tort claims acts allow some claims, with limits. Glossary, which requires a written claim to the agency involved, and for a state agency also to the Department of Financial Services, before any lawsuit. You generally cannot sue until the claim is denied or 6 months pass, and payments are capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.

How fault is shared in Florida#

Florida uses modified comparative faultModified comparative fault. Comparative negligence with a cut-off: once your share of blame reaches the state's bar (50% or 51%), you recover nothing. Glossary under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6). Each side gets a percentage of fault, your damages are reduced by yours, and if your share is more than 50% you recover nothing. The more-than-50%-at-fault bar applies to cases filed after March 24, 2023, and does not apply to medical-negligence claims.

Try the fault-rule explainer to see how Florida compares with other states.

Insurance in Florida#

To register a car, Florida requires only personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability (PDL): at least $10,000 of PIP and $10,000 of property damage liability.

• PIP. It pays 80% of reasonable medical bills and 60% of lost income, whoever caused the crash, but only if you get initial care within 14 days. If a provider finds no emergency medical condition, medical benefits stop at $2,500.
• Bodily injury liability. It is not required for most drivers, so the driver who hit you may have none. Under the Financial Responsibility Law, after a crash that police must report, the state can suspend the license and all vehicle registrations of a driver or owner who had no liability policy, unless an exemption applies, such as a release from the injured people or a security deposit. That policy needs at least $10,000 per person, $20,000 per crash and $10,000 for property. After a DUI conviction, the minimum rises to $100,000 / $300,000 / $50,000 for at least 3 years.
• Uninsured motorist coverage. It must be part of any policy that includes bodily injury liability coverage, unless the named insured rejects it in writing. Underinsured coverage is included in uninsured motorist coverage, which also pays when the at-fault driver's bodily injury limits are less than your damages. The Insurance Information Institute estimates 20.6% of Florida drivers were uninsured in 2023.

The Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services answers insurance questions at 1-877-693-5236 (1-877-MY-FL-CFO).

After a crash in Florida#

If a crash causes injury, death or apparent property damage of at least $2,000, the driver must report it immediately, by the quickest means, to the city police department or, outside a city, to the sheriff's office or the nearest Florida Highway Patrol station. An officer must write a long-form report when a crash involves a death or injury (including complaints of pain), leaving the scene, impaired driving, a vehicle that had to be towed away, or a commercial vehicle, and submit it within 10 days of finishing the investigation. If a crash damaged property but no police report was required, a driver must send FLHSMV a written report within 10 days.

To get a copy, buy it from FLHSMV through the Florida Crash Portal. Each report costs $10, plus $2 per online order, and may take up to 10 days to appear. For the first 60 days, only the people involved, their lawyers, insurers and certain agencies can get it. What a driver tells the officer to complete the report generally cannot be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal. The police report guide explains how to read one.

Special rules in Florida#

The no-fault tort threshold. Florida limits who can step outside no-fault. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.737, you can recover pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience from the at-fault driver only if the injury involves significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, a permanent injury (other than scarring or disfigurement), significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death. This is Florida's serious injury thresholdSerious injury threshold. A rule in some no-fault states that lets you sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your injury meets a legal definition of serious, or a dollar level of medical bills. Glossary. Below it, a claim against the other driver is generally limited to losses PIP does not cover, such as medical bills above the PIP limit.

Medical bills at trial. Evidence of past medical bills that have been paid is limited to the amount actually paid, regardless of the source of payment. This rule also came from the 2023 law.

Drunk drivers. Under Florida's dram shop lawDram shop law. A law that can make a bar or store liable for serving alcohol to someone who then causes a crash. Glossary, a seller is not liable for serving an adult, except for willfully and unlawfully serving someone under the legal drinking age or knowingly serving a person habitually addicted to alcohol. Florida normally caps punitive damages, but the usual limits on punitive damages do not apply to a defendant who was impaired by alcohol or drugs or had a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 or higher.

Crashes on Florida roads#

IIHS counted 3,138 motor vehicle crash deaths in Florida in 2024, or 13.4 per 100,000 people, above the national rate of 11.5 per 100,000 people. IIHS classed 11% of those deaths as speeding-related and 21% as on rural roads. Local figures are in the guides for Miami, Tampa and Orlando.

Finding a lawyer in Florida#

The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service takes calls at 1-800-342-8011 and requests online. It arranges a consultation of up to 30 minutes for no more than $25. Local bar associations run their own services in major cities, charging between $25 and $50. Florida Bar rules treat a contingency fee in an injury case as presumed excessive above set levels, starting at 33 1/3% of any recovery up to $1 million if the case resolves before the defendant answers. Check any lawyer in The Florida Bar's member directory.