Florida is a no-fault state: your own PIP pays first $10K regardless of fault, and you must meet the 'serious injury' threshold to sue. Many drivers carry no bodily-injury coverage, making underinsured-motorist coverage critical.
Filing deadline
2 years
Reduced from 4 years to 2 for accidents after March 24, 2023.
Fault rule
Modified comparative (51% bar)
Florida switched in 2023 from pure comparative to a modified rule: 51% or more at fault bars recovery entirely.
Required coverage
No BI required — only $10K PIP + $10K property damage
Florida is a no-fault state — your own PIP pays first.
Florida is a no-fault state. Every registered driver must carry $10,000 in personal injury protection, and PIP pays your own medical bills first regardless of who caused the crash — 80% of medical expenses and 60% of lost wages, up to the $10,000 limit.
There is a 14-day rule that ends more Florida claims than any other single provision: you must receive initial medical treatment within 14 days of the crash or your PIP benefits are lost entirely. Not reduced — lost.
PIP also splits into two tiers. Without an emergency medical condition diagnosis from a qualifying provider, your PIP benefit is capped at $2,500 rather than $10,000. That diagnosis has to come from a physician, osteopath, dentist, or hospital — not a chiropractor or massage therapist.
To step outside no-fault and sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering, you must meet the serious injury threshold: significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.
Legislative attempts to repeal PIP have failed repeatedly — HB 1181 and SB 1256 in the 2025 session both died without passage, so mandatory PIP remains Florida law.
The 2-year statute of limitations gets the headlines, but it is almost never the deadline people actually miss.
| Deadline | Window | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Initial medical treatment | 14 days from the crash | Miss it and PIP benefits are forfeited entirely. This is the single most consequential deadline in Florida injury law. |
| Personal injury lawsuit | 2 years from the crash | Reduced from four years to two for crashes on or after March 24, 2023. Crashes before that date still carry the four-year window. |
| Wrongful death | 2 years from the date of death | Separate from the injury statute and runs from death. |
| Claim against a government entity | 3 years to present the claim, plus a 180-day investigation period | You generally cannot file suit until the agency denies the claim or 180 days pass. |
Provisions that are specific to Florida and routinely surprise claimants who assumed the national norm applied.
Florida is the only state with this provision, and it is unforgiving. Symptoms that surface on day 16 do not qualify. If you were in a crash and feel anything at all, get evaluated inside two weeks — it costs a copay and preserves $10,000 in benefits.
Under no-fault, you cannot claim pain and suffering from the at-fault driver unless your injury is permanent. That makes the treating physician's permanency opinion the single most important document in a moderate Florida claim.
Florida's tort reform shortened the personal injury statute of limitations from four years to two for crashes on or after March 24, 2023. Anyone relying on remembered advice about a four-year window is working from a rule that no longer applies.
The same reform package moved Florida from pure comparative negligence to a modified system with a 51% bar. A claimant found more than 50% at fault now recovers nothing, where previously they would have recovered a reduced share.
Florida requires at least No BI required — only $10K PIP + $10K property damage in bodily injury liability coverage, uninsured motorist coverage is optional, and fault is decided under modified comparative (51% bar).
Bodily injury per person / per accident. This is the ceiling on the at-fault driver's policy, not a valuation of your injury.
Florida does not require it, which is exactly why so many claims stall at the at-fault driver's minimum limits. Check your own declarations page anyway; most people carry it without knowing.
Your own PIP pays medical bills first regardless of who caused it, and a statutory injury threshold gates the pain-and-suffering claim. Motorcycles are excluded from PIP in most no-fault states — confirm it before you count on that coverage.
Florida switched in 2023 from pure comparative to a modified rule: 51% or more at fault bars recovery entirely.
Coverage minimums and helmet requirements are set by statute and change. Verified August 2026 against the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety helmet law table and state insurance department filings; confirm the current rule before relying on it.
National ranges adjusted for Florida's legal climate. Click an injury for the full Florida breakdown.
| Injury | Typical range | Severe cases |
|---|---|---|
| Whiplash | $3K – $28K | up to $100K |
| Back Injury | $10K – $100K | up to $525K |
| Herniated Disc | $43K – $150K | up to $725K |
| Broken Bones | $15K – $100K | up to $375K |
| Concussion / Mild TBI | $20K – $125K | up to $1.1M |
| Shoulder Injury | $15K – $100K | up to $325K |
| Knee Injury | $15K – $100K | up to $425K |
| Neck Injury | $15K – $125K | up to $625K |
| Spinal Cord Injury | $275K – $1.6M | up to $10.5M |
| Traumatic Brain Injury | $100K – $1.1M | up to $10.5M |
| Internal Injuries | $53K – $275K | up to $1.1M |
| Burn Injuries | $28K – $200K | up to $5.3M |
| PTSD / Emotional Distress | $10K – $80K | up to $275K |
| Wrongful Death | $525K – $2.1M | up to $10.5M |
| Soft Tissue Injuries | $3K – $20K | up to $80K |
| Amputation & Limb Loss | $275K – $2.1M | up to $10.5M |
| Electrocution & Electrical Injury | $53K – $525K | up to $10.5M |
| Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) | $28K – $525K | up to $5.3M |
How the claim is built changes with how you were hurt. Each guide applies FL law to that specific kind of accident.
Car Accident
$3K – $58K
Truck Accident
$28K – $375K
Motorcycle Accident
$20K – $200K
Pedestrian Accident
$28K – $275K
Bicycle Accident
$15K – $150K
Rideshare Accident
$10K – $125K
Slip and Fall
$6K – $63K
Workplace Injury
$6K – $80K
Dog Bite
$15K – $63K
Medical Malpractice
$53K – $525K
Product Liability
$28K – $275K
Nursing Home Abuse
$33K – $325K
Electric Scooter Accident
$10K – $80K
Falling Object Injury
$15K – $150K
These apply to every claim, and each one is a mistake insurers count on.
Get treated within 72 hours, and do not skip visits
Treatment delay and gaps in care are the two most common reasons claims get discounted. If you have to pause treatment for money, work, or childcare, tell the provider so the reason appears in the chart rather than reading as recovery.
Photograph everything while it is fresh
Both vehicles from multiple angles, the scene, road conditions, skid marks, traffic controls, and your visible injuries as they develop. Bruising often looks worse on day three than on day one — photograph it again.
Keep a dated symptom journal
Pain scores, sleep disruption, and specific activities you could not do. Contemporaneous notes carry weight that a recollection twelve months later does not, and they are what make non-economic damages concrete.
Document work impact through your employer
A letter confirming missed shifts, modified duty, or lost overtime turns lost income from an assertion into a provable number.
Decline the early recorded statement
You are not obligated to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. Early statements are taken before symptoms peak and are quoted back for the life of the claim.
Report every symptomatic area at the first visit
Injuries that hurt less at first get mentioned later, and the delay becomes the insurer's causation argument. List everything that hurts, even mildly.
Six phases, and the first is the longest — nothing can be valued until treatment ends or plateaus.
Nothing can be valued until your doctor says you have stopped improving — maximum medical improvement. Settling before that point means paying for your own future care.
Records, bills, wage documentation, and a written demand go to the adjuster. Assembling complete records from every provider is usually what takes the time.
The adjuster reviews the file, often runs it through claims-evaluation software, and sets an authority range. Complex or disputed claims go to a supervisor or a committee.
Offers and counters. Straightforward claims resolve in a handful of exchanges; disputed liability or serious injury can take many rounds, and sometimes a lawsuit filing to move.
You sign a release ending the claim permanently. Read it — a broad release can extinguish claims against parties you did not intend to release.
The check goes to your attorney's trust account. Liens and medical providers are paid first, then fees and case costs, then the balance reaches you. Many states require the insurer to pay within roughly 30 days of the signed release.
The questions people actually search for on this topic, answered in full.
You must receive initial medical treatment within 14 days of a crash to be eligible for PIP benefits. Miss the window and your $10,000 in no-fault coverage is forfeited entirely — not reduced. Get evaluated even if symptoms seem minor, because soft-tissue and concussion symptoms routinely surface after day three.
PIP covers 80% of medical expenses and 60% of lost wages, up to a $10,000 combined limit. Without an emergency medical condition diagnosis from a physician, osteopath, dentist, or hospital, the limit drops to $2,500.
Two years from the crash for accidents on or after March 24, 2023. Crashes before that date fall under the previous four-year rule. The change came from the 2023 tort reform package and it caught a lot of people relying on the old number.
Only when your injury meets the serious injury threshold: significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death. Below that threshold, no-fault confines you to PIP.
No. Repeal bills have been introduced repeatedly — HB 1181 and SB 1256 in the 2025 session — and none has passed. Mandatory PIP remains Florida law, and every registered vehicle must carry $10,000 of it.
Since the 2023 reform, Florida applies modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar. If you are more than 50% responsible you recover nothing; at 50% or less your recovery is reduced by your share. This replaced the previous pure comparative system.
Florida does not require it for most drivers — the mandatory minimum is $10,000 PIP and $10,000 property damage liability. That is why so many Florida crashes involve an at-fault driver with no bodily injury coverage at all, and why uninsured motorist coverage is close to essential here.
Yes, chiropractic care is covered, but a chiropractor cannot make the emergency medical condition determination that unlocks the full $10,000 benefit. That has to come from a physician, osteopath, dentist, or hospital, so the sequence of who you see first matters financially.
The questions people actually search for on this topic, answered in full.
Contingency fees typically run 33% to 40%. The common structure is one third if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed, rising to 40% once litigation begins or the case approaches trial. Case expenses — filing fees, records, expert reports — are usually deducted on top of the fee rather than out of it, so ask specifically which structure the agreement uses.
Compensation for physical injury or physical sickness is generally not taxable federally. Portions allocated to lost wages, punitive damages, and interest generally are, and previously deducted medical expenses can be taxable when reimbursed. How the settlement is allocated among those categories has real consequences, so it is worth addressing before the documents are signed rather than at tax time.
The order of payment is liens and medical providers first, then attorney fees and case expenses, then you. On a $100,000 settlement with a one-third fee, $4,000 in costs, and $15,000 in medical liens, the net is roughly $48,000 — and lien negotiation is frequently where the largest gains are available, because providers often accept substantial reductions.
The insurer typically issues the check within two to four weeks of receiving the signed release, and most states require payment within a reasonable period commonly understood as 30 to 45 days. Disbursement to you then depends on how quickly liens are resolved, which can add several weeks.
Usually not. Industry analysis consistently places first offers at roughly half of a claim's fair value, and adjusters are evaluated in part on savings against reserves. Cases involving a genuine lowball frequently resolve for several times the opening number once the file is properly documented — but the first offer is also final if you accept it, because the release closes the claim permanently.
In most cases yes. Health insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, and hospitals hold subrogation or lien rights against injury recoveries. Those liens are frequently negotiable — sometimes substantially — and reducing them raises your net recovery dollar for dollar without any further negotiation with the insurer.
Answer six questions and your range appears right here — free, no sign-up, no email wall. It is already set to Florida, so the modified comparative (51% bar) rule and this state’s settlement climate are built into the number.
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Laws summarized for general education and may change; verify current deadlines and rules with a licensed Florida attorney before acting. Not legal advice. InjurySage is not a law firm. Page updated August 2026.