What to Do After a Car Accident in Florida: Legal FAQs and Procedures

Most people aren’t thinking clearly in the 20 minutes after a Florida car accident. That is normal. It is also the window where a handful of small decisions — who you call, what you say, whether you take photos — end up deciding whether your medical bills get paid or come out of your pocket.

Florida’s rules are not the same as the rules in most other states, and a lot of the generic advice online does not apply here. Below is what actually matters, current as of July 2026.

At the Scene of Your Florida Car Accident

1. Stay put.

Leaving the scene of a crash that involved injury or property damage is a crime in Florida, not a traffic ticket. Depending on the facts it ranges from a misdemeanor to a felony, and it can cost you your license.

2. Move the cars safely if you can.

If the vehicles still run but they block traffic, Florida law expects you to get them out of the travel lanes. That can mean a shoulder, a median, a nearby lot, etc. If you are hurt or the cars are not drivable, leave them and get yourself somewhere safe.

3. Call 911 if anyone is hurt.

Check yourself, your passengers, and the other car. Adrenaline masks injuries, so “I feel fine” at the scene is not a reliable answer.

4. Know when to call the police.

Under Florida Statute § 316.065, you must immediately notify police, the sheriff, or the Florida Highway Patrol if the crash caused injury, death, or apparent property damage above a certain dollar threshold.

That threshold changed in 2026. It was $500 for years. Senate Bill 488 (Chapter 2026-39) raised it to $2,000 for any Florida car accident occurring on or after October 1, 2026. Crashes before that date still use the $500 figure.

5. Practical advice: Call anyway after any car accident in Florida.

A $2,000 estimate is easy to guess wrong on, bumper damage routinely runs past it, and a police report is the single most useful document in your file. If an officer writes a report, you do not need to file anything separately.

6. Get the other driver’s information.

Names, addresses, phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, insurance company and policy number, plate numbers, and the VIN if you can reach it. Get contact info for any witness who is not a passenger in either car — independent witnesses matter far more than you would expect, and they leave quickly.

7. Photograph everything.

Vehicle positions before anything moves, damage to both cars from several angles, skid marks, debris, road conditions, traffic controls, and any visible injuries. Take more than you think you need.

8. Be careful with “I’m sorry.”

You do not have to be rude to be careful. Florida has no statute that protects apologies in car accident cases the way some states do, and adjusters do use them. Answer the officer’s questions honestly and factually. Do not speculate about speed, distance, or who did what — if you do not know, say you do not know.

Florida Is Still a No-Fault State

There has been a lot of noise about this, including a fair amount of bad information generated by AI tools repeating stale articles. To be clear: Florida did not repeal PIP. Repeal bills have been filed repeatedly — Governor DeSantis vetoed one in 2021, and the most recent attempts (SB 522 and HB 769) died in committee when the 2026 session ended on March 13, 2026. Some of those bills carried a proposed effective date of July 1, 2026, which is where much of the confusion comes from. None of them became law.

PIP Pays First

Under § 627.736, most vehicles registered in Florida must carry at least $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection, alongside $10,000 in property damage liability. (Motorcycles are treated differently and are not part of the PIP system.)

Your own PIP pays first regardless of who caused the crash. It covers 80% of reasonable and necessary medical expenses and 60% of lost wages, up to the $10,000 limit.

Going over $10,000 in bills does not by itself let you sue the other driver for pain and suffering. Under § 627.737, non-economic damages require that your injury meet the statutory 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. Economic losses that exceed your PIP limits are a separate question and can be pursued against the at-fault driver.

The 14-day Rule

You must be evaluated by a qualifying provider — an ER, a physician, an osteopathic physician, a dentist, a chiropractor, or by ambulance transport — within 14 days of the crash. Miss that window and your insurer can deny the PIP claim outright. There is no good-cause exception. Day 15 is too late.

There is a second trap inside the same statute. If a qualified provider determines you did not have an Emergency Medical Condition, your PIP benefits are capped at $2,500 instead of $10,000. A chiropractor cannot make the EMC determination; that has to come from a physician, osteopathic physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse.

Fault: The 51% Bar

If your case moves to a claim against the other driver, the fault percentage becomes the whole ballgame.

Florida’s 2023 tort reform (House Bill 837) moved the state from pure comparative negligence to modified comparative negligence, codified at § 768.81(6):

• 50% or less at fault — you recover, reduced by your share. $100,000 in damages with 20% fault to you means $80,000.
• More than 50% at fault — you recover nothing at all.

That cliff is why defense adjusters spend real effort building a case that you were mostly to blame. The difference between 50% and 51% is the difference between a check and nothing. (This bar does not apply to medical malpractice claims, which remain under pure comparative negligence.)

Understanding Florida Car Accident Claim Deadlines

The same 2023 reform cut the negligence statute of limitations from four years to two years for claims accruing on or after March 24, 2023: § 95.11(4)(a). File suit or resolve the claim inside that window or lose that claim permanently.

Property damage claims are separate and still run four years under § 95.11(3). Injury claims are the ones that move fast.

Insurance policies also carry their own notice deadlines that are much shorter than the statute — including PIP paperwork and, in most policies, prompt notice to your UM carrier. Do not treat two years as breathing room.

Filing the FL Car Accident Report

If an officer investigates, the report goes to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles automatically and you are done.

If no officer responds — which happens often in minor property-damage crashes — you file it yourself. Complete the FLHSMV “Driver Self Report of Traffic Crash” and submit it within 10 days. You can email it to SelfReportCrashes@flhsmv.gov or mail it. After the October 1, 2026 threshold change, more crashes will fall into this self-report category. So, this form is going to come up more often than it used to.

If You’re Hit by an Uninsured Driver

Your PIP still pays first; it does not care whether the other driver has insurance.

Past that, you are looking at your own Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage. Florida insurers are required to offer UM, and you can only decline it by signing a written rejection. So, check your declarations page before assuming you don’t have it — a lot of people have UM they forgot about.

If you truly have no UM coverage, the remaining path is a suit against the driver personally. Honestly, that is often a poor return: A driver with no insurance usually has no assets worth collecting against. UM coverage is inexpensive relative to what it protects, and it is worth reviewing your policy today rather than after a crash.

Find Central Florida Car Accident Representation

Insurance delays, the 14-day PIP deadline, and a defense strategy built around pushing your fault past 50% are all easier to handle with someone who does this every day.

At Juan Burgos Law, we represent individuals and families throughout Central Florida in personal injury and car accident matters. Juan C. Burgos is a member of The Florida Bar (No. 84056) and handles cases directly.

Central Florida is a multicultural community, and no one should have to work through their own legal case via a third-party translator. We handle every part of your case in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, so you are getting answers from your attorney.

Call (407) 505-4190 or visit juanburgoslaw.com/contact for a free, confidential consultation.

By Juan C. Burgos, Esq. Florida Bar No. 84056. This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change and every case is different; consult an attorney about your specific situation. Information current as of July 2026.

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