A fleet claim from the scene to return-to-service

One van, one collision, and the sequence of decisions between the phone call and the vehicle going back on the road. Each handover in that sequence is where a fleet loses days it will never bill anyone for.

Updated September 13, 2026 Intermediate

A van stops at a junction, another vehicle does not, and both are driveable. Nobody is obviously hurt. What follows is routine, and the routine is where a fleet quietly loses a week.

Follow it in order.

The scene, and the hour after it

The driver’s obligations at the scene are the driver’s, and they are the subject of the companion piece on reporting. What matters to the company is what reaches it and when. A fleet that hears about the collision from the driver within the hour has a choice about everything downstream. A fleet that hears about it at the end of the shift has already lost the photographs of the road position, the other driver’s willingness to say what happened, and any chance of getting a statement while the driver remembers it.

The first internal decision is whether the vehicle continues working. It is made by someone who has not seen it, on the strength of a phone call and some photographs, and it is worth making conservatively: a van that finishes its round with a compromised structure turns a repair into an argument about whether the damage was made worse afterwards.

First notice

The claim is opened with the insurer or the broker, and a fleet with a workable process opens it the same day. What travels with it is the identification of the vehicle and policy, the account of what happened, and the identification of everyone else involved — the other driver, their insurer, their vehicle, any passengers, any witness who was willing to leave a number.

The account should be the driver’s, in the driver’s words, taken before anyone has read the other side’s version. Fleet managers who write the narrative themselves from a phone call produce a cleaner document and a weaker one, because the sentence that helps most later is usually the awkward specific detail a manager would have smoothed away.

Whether the insurer owes you an acknowledgement within a stated period, a decision within another, and payment within a third is not a general fact; it is set by regulation where you are and it is in the rules for your jurisdiction below.

The file opens

Two things happen on the insurer’s side that the fleet does not see. A handler is assigned, and a reserve is set — an estimate of what the claim will ultimately cost, entered early on thin information. The reserve is not money paid to anyone, and it behaves like money in every place a fleet’s loss record is read: by the insurer’s own renewal team, by any market the broker approaches, and by anyone assessing the fleet’s risk. A reserve set high on the day and never revisited after the injury claim evaporates is a cost the fleet is carrying without knowing it. Asking for the current reserve on open files, once a quarter and where your insurer will disclose it, is an unglamorous habit that pays for itself at renewal.

Liability is investigated in parallel with everything else, not before it. Fleets often wait for a fault decision before authorising repairs, which is a misunderstanding: on a first-party cover the insurer’s duty to indemnify is not contingent on the other driver’s fault, and the fault question is about who ultimately bears the cost, not about when the van gets fixed.

Repair authority

Here the sequence stalls most often. The vehicle is with a repairer; the repairer produces an estimate; somebody has to authorise it. On a fleet programme that authority is frequently pre-agreed — a value below which the repairer proceeds without asking, a network arrangement, a standing instruction — and where it is not pre-agreed, each estimate waits for a person who is dealing with something else.

Then the supplement. Parts of the damage were behind a panel, the estimate grows, and the authorisation cycle runs a second time. The fleet’s exposure in that second cycle is the same as in the first, plus the days already spent.

Two decisions belong to the fleet rather than the insurer and are worth taking deliberately: whether a replacement vehicle is arranged now or after the repair duration is known, and whether the repair proceeds at the repairer holding the vehicle or at one the fleet prefers. The second question is settled by the policy wording first, and it is worth knowing which way the wording falls before a vehicle is already on a ramp somewhere.

The branch where the van does not come back

If the repair cost passes the insurer’s threshold against the vehicle’s value, the file becomes a total loss and the character of the process changes completely. The argument is no longer about a repair schedule; it is about a valuation, and the fleet is now buying a replacement in a market it did not plan to enter this quarter. That branch has its own piece.

Recovery, and the part everyone forgets

Where another party was at fault and your own insurer paid, the insurer pursues them for what it spent. This is subrogation, and the fleet has a stake in it: the deductible normally travels with the recovery, so a successful subrogation returns money to the fleet months after everyone has stopped thinking about the incident.

What a fleet can do here is small and real. The recovery is built on the evidence gathered in the first hour, so the file the fleet sent in is the file the insurer will use. And the fleet’s own uninsured losses — the downtime, the hire, the wasted labour, anything below the deductible — are recoverable from a liable third party only if someone asks, and the insurer pursuing its own outlay has no reason to ask on the fleet’s behalf unless instructed.

There is a deadline on all of that, and it is not the insurer’s internal one. The limitation period for a claim against the other party is fixed by law rather than by anyone’s process, and the period that applies to property damage where you are is in the rules for your jurisdiction below. A file drifting quietly towards it is a recovery nobody will make.

Return to service, and closing the file

The van comes back. Somebody checks that what was authorised is what was done, that the repair is documented for the vehicle’s history, and that the vehicle’s own record carries the incident — which matters when it is sold, and matters more if it is damaged again in the same place.

The file is not closed then. It closes when the payment is made, the recovery is complete or abandoned, the reserve is released, and the incident has been read for whatever it says about the route, the schedule or the driver. That last step is the one fleets skip, and it is the one that changes the next year’s premium.

How AI changes this

First notice of loss is the part of this sequence that automation has genuinely changed, because it was always a transcription problem rather than a judgement problem. A fleet-management platform that already holds the vehicle, the policy, the driver and the assignment can open a claim from a telematics impact alert and a set of photographs taken on a phone, populate the insurer's form from records it already has, and route the file to a handler before the driver has finished exchanging details. What that buys is not accuracy — the driver still has to supply what happened — but elapsed time, and elapsed time is the whole cost of a fleet claim. The reservation worth holding is that an automatically opened claim is still a claim: an impact alert that fires on a kerb strike and opens a file the fleet would not have reported becomes a recorded loss, and recorded losses are what a renewal is priced against. Where the threshold sits, and who reviews what crosses it, is a policy decision the fleet should make rather than inherit.

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.

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	10 days from the claim ^[3] TEN WORKING DAYS, AND ALASKA IS ONE OF THE FEW STATES WHOSE RULE SPELLS THE DUTY OUT IDENTICALLY FOR A THIRD-PARTY CLAIMANT: a person claiming against the other driver’s insurer has the same acknowledgement right as the policyholder. First party: «within 10 working days after receipt of notification of a claim, give written acknowledgement to the first-party claimant identifying the person handling the claim, including the person’s name, address, telephone number, the firm name, and the file number; payment of the claim within 10 working days after notification is satisfactory acknowledgement» (3 AAC 26.040(a)(1)). Third party: «within 10 working days after notification of the claim from a third-party claimant, give written acknowledgement to the third-party claimant» (§ 26.040(b)(1)), with the same duty owed to the insured at (b)(4). A further «15 working days after receipt» governs «an appropriate reply to all other communications» from a first-party claimant (§ 26.040(a)(2)). NOTE THE UNIT — WORKING days, as in Nebraska, Arkansas and West Virginia, not the plain days of Hawaii, Iowa or South Dakota.
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[3] Fifteen WORKING days from proof of loss, with rolling forty-five-working-day status letters: an insurer «shall advise a first-party claimant in writing of the acceptance or denial of the claim within 15 working days after receipt of a properly executed statement of claim, proof of loss, or other acceptable evidence of loss unless another time limit is specified in the insurance policy … payment of the claim within this time limit constitutes written acceptance; a written denial of the claim must state the specific provisions, conditions, exclusions, and facts upon which the denial is based»; and where more time is needed, «written notification giving the reasons that more time is needed shall be given to the first-party claimant within the deadline. While the investigation remains incomplete, additional written notification shall be provided 45 working days from the initial notification, and no more than every 45 working days thereafter» (3 AAC 26.070(a)(1)). TWO QUALIFICATIONS BELONG WITH THE FIGURE. The fifteen days yield expressly to «another time limit … specified in the insurance policy», so the regulation is a DEFAULT, not a floor. And the duty is written for a FIRST-PARTY claimant; § 26.070(b) says something different about third parties, on which see the notes.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[3] Thirty WORKING days from proof of loss, and note precisely what it is a deadline to do: an insurer «shall, within 30 working days after receipt of a properly executed statement of claim, proof of loss, or other acceptable evidence of loss, pay those portions of the claim not in dispute» (3 AAC 26.070(a)(2)). A PARTIAL DISPUTE DOES NOT STOP THE CLOCK ON THE UNDISPUTED PART — that is the sentence a claimant facing a part-denied repair estimate needs. Separately, § 26.050(a) gives the insurer a THIRTY-WORKING-DAY INVESTIGATION PERIOD with an express due-diligence escape («shall complete the investigation within 30 working days, unless the investigation cannot reasonably be completed using due diligence»); that is not a decision deadline and is deliberately not published as one.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years, and both Alaska periods sit in ONE SENTENCE OF ONE SECTION: «Except as otherwise provided by law, a person may not bring an action … (3) for taking, detaining, or injuring personal property, including an action for its specific recovery … unless the action is commenced within two years of the accrual of the cause of action» (§ 09.10.070(a)(3), history «§ 1.07 ch 101 SLA 1962; am § 1 ch 70 SLA 1996; am § 6 ch 26 SLA 1997»). A damaged vehicle is personal property on the face of the subdivision. NOTE THE TRIGGER: the statute runs the clock from the ACCRUAL of the cause of action rather than from the crash, in its own words, and Period.from cannot represent that — it is recorded here rather than flattened away. Alaska is a single-clock state for a collision, like Washington and Ohio.
Regulator	Alaska Division of Insurance, Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development

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

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	60 days from the claim ^[1] A statutory condition deemed part of every policy, which «no variation or omission of or addition to» can make binding on the insured: the insurer «must pay the insurance money for which it is liable under the contract within 60 days after the proof of loss has been received by it or, where a dispute resolution process is conducted under Statutory Condition 4(9), within 15 days after the decision is rendered» (Insurance Act, s. 556, Statutory Condition 6(1)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[4] The same two-year discovery period and the same ten-year outer limit apply, whichever expires first (Limitations Act, s. 3(1)). Alberta’s ten-year ultimate period is shorter than the fifteen years used in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Regulator	Government of Alberta — automobile insurance

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Alberta →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[2] The insurer must rule on the insured’s right within 30 days of receiving the supplementary information it requested; silence counts as acceptance (Ley 17.418 art. 56). The insured must notify the loss within three days of knowing of it (art. 46).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	15 days from the claim ^[2] In property insurance, payment within 15 days of the amount being fixed or the offered indemnity accepted, once the art. 56 period has run (art. 49).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[1] «El reclamo de la indemnización de daños derivados de la responsabilidad civil prescribe a los tres años» (Código Civil y Comercial art. 2561); the code’s general rules govern when the period starts to run.
Regulator	Superintendencia de Seguros de la Nación (SSN)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Argentina →

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	10 days from the claim ^[4] Working days, not calendar days: «within 10 working days, acknowledge the receipt of the notice unless payment is made within the 10 working days», and notification to an agent of an insurer is notification to the insurer (A.A.C. R20-6-801(E)(1)). Supplying claim forms, instructions and reasonable assistance within the same 10 working days is compliance (E)(4). Every later communication from the claimant that reasonably suggests a response is expected carries its own 10 working days (E)(3).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[4] Working days after receipt of properly executed proofs of loss, owed as written to the first party claimant; a denial must be in writing and must name the policy provision, condition or exclusion relied on (A.A.C. R20-6-801(G)(1)(a)). If more time is needed the insurer must say so with reasons within the same 15 working days, then write again at 45 days and every 45 days thereafter — plain days in that clause (G)(1)(b). Investigation must be completed within 30 days of notification «unless the investigation cannot reasonably be completed within 30 days» (F).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[2] The same two-year list covers «trespass for injury done to the estate or the property of another» and «taking or carrying away the goods and chattels of another» (A.R.S. § 12-542(3)–(4)), so vehicle damage expires with the injury claim. The three-year period of § 12-543 was read and is not available: that section covers oral debt, stated or open accounts, and relief on the ground of fraud or mistake.
Regulator	Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Arizona →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	60 days from the claim ^[4] The insurer «must pay the insurance money for which it is liable under this contract within 60 days after the proof of loss or statutory declaration has been received by it» or, where an arbitration is conducted under s. 177 of the regulation, «within 15 days after the award is rendered» (Insurance (Vehicle) Regulation, Schedule, statutory condition 8(1)). The sixty days run from the proof of loss, not from the accident.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[3] Two years from discovery (Limitation Act, s. 6(1)); a claim is discovered on the first day the person knew or reasonably ought to have known that the loss occurred, that it was caused by an act or omission, whose act it was, and that a proceeding would be an appropriate remedy (s. 8), with a fifteen-year outer limit from the act or omission (s. 21(1)). This is the period that matters for vehicle damage, since the injury action is gone.
Regulator	BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in British Columbia →

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	15 days from the claim ^[4] Calendar days from notice of claim.
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	40 days from the claim ^[5] Calendar days from proof of claim; the insurer may extend with written notice every 30 days.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[5] Calendar days after the claim is accepted.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[2]
Regulator	California Department of Insurance

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in California →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	10 days from the claim ^[3] SOAP indemnities are paid within 10 days of presenting the required documents (police certificate, medical certificates, etc.) — Ley 18.490 art. 30. Applies to the compulsory personal-accident cover, not to liability claims.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	4 years from the accident ^[1] Actions for damage caused by a delict or quasi-delict prescribe in four years from the act (Código Civil art. 2332).
Regulator	Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Chile →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	1 months from the claim ^[3] The insurer must pay within the month following the date the insured or beneficiary proves their right, even out of court (Código de Comercio art. 1080, as amended by Ley 510 de 1999); afterwards default interest runs at the current bank rate increased by half.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[1] Actions to repair damage against third parties responsible prescribe in three years from the act (Código Civil art. 2358, inc. 2); against the person punishable for the offence, within the Penal Code’s terms for the principal penalty (inc. 1).
Regulator	Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Colombia →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	60 days from the claim ^[4] Plain days, and one obligation rather than two: insurers «shall make a decision on claims and/or pay benefits due under the policy within sixty (60) days after receipt of a valid and complete claim» unless there is a reasonable dispute (3 CCR 702-5, Regulation 5-1-14 § 4(A)(1)(a)). A claim is «valid and complete» only once eight conditions are met — all necessary documents received, the insurer’s own reasonable investigation complete, coverage established, repairs finished and authorised, valuations concluded, any litigation finally adjudicated — and «the insured shall have the burden of proving to the Commissioner of Insurance that he/she submitted a valid and complete claim» (§ 4(A)(2)(a), (5)). First-party claims only.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	60 days from the claim ^[4] The same sixty plain days and the same single duty as the decision clock — the regulation says «decision on claims and/or pay benefits» — so this is not a second period running after a decision. Miss it without a reasonable dispute and the Commissioner may order the insurer to pay the insured 8 % annual interest on the benefits due, plus a civil penalty of $100 a day (Regulation 5-1-14 § 4(A)(1)(b)–(c)). A separate and much shorter rule reaches the person hit by somebody else’s insured: payment «within three (3) business days» of written acceptance of the settlement offer once a transferable title has been received (Regulation 5-2-15 § 5(B)(3)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[2] One paragraph carries both heads: «All tort actions for bodily injury or property damage arising out of the use or operation of a motor vehicle» must be commenced within three years, «regardless of the theory upon which suit is brought, or against whom suit is brought» (C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n)(I), added effective 1 July 1994). It displaces the general two-year tort period, and it does not reach a strict-liability or failure-to-warn claim, which stays on its own section.
Regulator	Colorado Division of Insurance

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

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[4] One section carries both heads: «two years from the date when the injury is first sustained or discovered or in the exercise of reasonable care should have been discovered», for injury to the person or to personal property (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584). The two normally coincide in a crash, but the statute is written from discovery and not from the collision. An outer wall a claimant cannot cure with diligence: «no such action may be brought more than three years from the date of the act or omission complained of».
Regulator	Connecticut Insurance Department

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage

2 years from when the damage became known ^[4] One section carries both heads: «two years from the date when the injury is first sustained or discovered or in the exercise of reasonable care should have been discovered», for injury to the person or to personal property (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584). The two normally coincide in a crash, but the statute is written from discovery and not from the collision. An outer wall a claimant cannot cure with diligence: «no such action may be brought more than three years from the date of the act or omission complained of».

Regulator

Connecticut Insurance Department

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	15 days from the claim ^[3] FIFTEEN WORKING DAYS, FROM THE REGULATION AND NOT FROM THE STATUTE: «Failing to acknowledge and respond within 15 working days, upon receipt by the insurer, to communications with respect to claims by insureds arising under insurance policies» is a prohibited unfair claim settlement practice (18 Del. Admin. Code 902, § 3.1.2), and § 3.1.3 adds «Failing to implement prompt investigation of claims arising under insurance policies within 10 working days upon receipt of the notice of loss by the insurer». TWO QUALIFICATIONS TRAVEL WITH THE FIGURE. The rule is worded for «claims by insureds», so it does not plainly reach a third-party claimant — unlike Alaska’s 3 AAC 26.040(b), which spells the same duty out for a third party. And the whole of § 3.1 bites only where the conduct is «committed or performed with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice», so a single overrun is not itself a violation. A SEPARATE AND NARROWER STATUTORY DUTY SITS BESIDE IT AND MUST NOT BE CONFLATED WITH IT: on a first-party injury-benefit claim «the insurer shall, no later than 10 days following the insurer’s receipt of said notification, provide that claimant with a form for filing such a claim», and a breach is priced at «1 percent of the amount due as of the date on which the claim was required to be provided for each day beyond the prescribed period for compliance, not to exceed $5,000» (tit. 21, § 2118B(b)). That ten days is a duty to SEND THE CLAIM FORM, not to acknowledge the claim, so it is recorded here rather than published as this field’s value.
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[3] Thirty PLAIN days — note the change of unit inside one rule, as in Arkansas’s Rule 43 and West Virginia’s C.S.R. 114-14: «Failing to affirm or deny coverage or a claim or advise the person presenting the claim, in writing, or other proper legal manner, of the reason for the inability to do so, within 30 days after proof of loss statements have been received by the insurer» (18 Del. Admin. Code 902, § 3.1.5). The regulation says «30 days» where §§ 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 say «working days», and Regulation 1310 — the health-claims rule that 902 § 3.6 points at — is the instrument that defines «“Days” means calendar days», not this one. The SAME thirty days do the same job on the statutory side for a first-party injury-benefit claim, where the insurer must within thirty days «make payment of the amount of claimed benefits that are due to the claimant or, if said claim is wholly or partly denied, provide the claimant with a written explanation of the reasons for such denial» (tit. 21, § 2118B(c)).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[4] THIRTY DAYS, AND THE SCOPE IS THE WHOLE POINT: this is the FIRST-PARTY INJURY-BENEFIT clock of tit. 21, § 2118B(c), not a general payment deadline. «When an insurer receives a written request for payment of a claim for benefits pursuant to § 2118(a)(2) …, the insurer shall promptly process the claim and shall, no later than 30 days following the insurer’s receipt of said written request for first-party insurance benefits AND documentation that the treatment or expense is compensable …, make payment» — so the trigger is the request PLUS the documentation, not the crash and not the request alone. The late-payment rate then ESCALATES IN THREE STEPS, a structure found in no other state in this dataset and one that must never be averaged into a single rate: «(1) One and one-half percent from the thirty-first day through the sixtieth day; and (2) Two percent from the sixty-first day through the one hundred and twentieth day; and (3) Two and one-half percent after the one hundred and twenty-first day» a month. NO DELAWARE PAYMENT DEADLINE FOR A VEHICLE-DAMAGE CLAIM WAS READ: Regulation 902 contains no payment deadline at all, and whether any Delaware instrument fixes a time to pay a settled motor property-damage claim has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years for a damaged vehicle, in its OWN section and with its OWN accrual formula: «No action to recover damages for wrongful death or for injury to personal property shall be brought after the expiration of 2 years from the accruing of the cause of such action» (§ 8107). DELAWARE’S TWO PERIODS ARE THE SAME LENGTH BUT THEY DO NOT SHARE A SECTION OR A TRIGGER — this one runs from accrual, while § 8119 runs the injury clock from the date the injuries are claimed to have been sustained — so they are published separately with their own locators rather than collapsed into «two years for everything».
Regulator	Delaware Department of Insurance

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

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	6 months from the accident ^[1] Civil liability for a quasi-delict (negligence) prescribes in six months from when the action arises, unless the law expressly fixes a longer period (Código Civil art. 2271, párrafo).
Regulator	Superintendencia de Seguros de la República Dominicana

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Dominican Republic →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[5] Under the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (claims up to £25,000), the defendant’s insurer must return the Claim Notification Form response within 15 days (para. 6.11).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	6 years from the accident ^[1] Actions founded on tort (Limitation Act 1980, s. 2).
Regulator	Financial Conduct Authority (conduct) · Financial Ombudsman Service (complaints)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in England and Wales →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[2] Personal injury protection benefits are overdue if not paid within 30 days after the insurer is furnished written notice of the covered loss and its amount (§ 627.736(4)(b)). An agreed written settlement must be paid within 20 days, after which it bears 12 % interest (§ 627.4265).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[3] An action founded on negligence must be brought within two years (§ 95.11(5)(a)); an action for injuring personal property carries four years (§ 95.11(3)(g)). Which governs a negligence claim for vehicle damage after the 2023 tort act is not settled by the statute’s text, so this page uses the shorter period.
Regulator	Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (regulation) · Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services (complaints)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Florida →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[3] Thirty plain days, and the same thirty days close off the «we need more information» escape: «If the insurer elects to deny a claim for benefits in whole or in part, the insurer shall, within thirty days, notify the claimant in writing of the denial and the reasons for the denial», the notice «prepared and mailed by the insurer in triplicate copies and … in a format approved by the commissioner»; and «If the insurer cannot pay or deny the claim for benefits because additional information or loss documentation is needed, the insurer shall, within the thirty days, forward to the claimant an itemized list of all the required documents» (§ 431:10C-304(3)(B)–(C)). So an insurer cannot stop the clock by saying more information is needed without saying exactly what. These are the PIP clocks; Hawaii has no evidenced acknowledgement deadline — see the notes.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[3] Thirty plain days, and the trigger has two parts: «Payment of personal injury protection benefits shall be made within thirty days after the insurer has received reasonable proof of the fact and amount of benefits accrued, and demand for payment thereof» (§ 431:10C-304(3)(A)) — proof AND a demand, with all providers required to describe the service in conformity with the applicable fee-schedule codes. «Amounts of benefits that are unpaid thirty days after the insurer has received reasonable proof … shall bear interest at the rate of one and one-half per cent per month» (§ 431:10C-304(4)) — eighteen percent a year, on the same footing as the rate New Mexico reaches by a different route. Payment goes to the PROVIDER of services rather than to the injured person (§ 431:10C-304(1)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[2] TWO YEARS, BUT NOT SIMPLY «TWO YEARS FROM THE CRASH» — Period.from cannot represent the rule on its own and the rule is this: «No suit arising out of a motor vehicle accident shall be brought in tort more than the LATER of: (1) Two years after the date of the motor vehicle accident upon which the claim is based; (2) Two years after the date of the last payment of motor vehicle insurance or optional additional benefits; or (3) Two years after the date of the last payment of workers’ compensation or public assistance benefits arising from the motor vehicle accident» (§ 431:10C-315(b)). A special statute inside the no-fault article, it governs every tort suit arising out of a Hawaii motor accident, so the clock can run from the last BENEFIT payment rather than from the collision — materially longer for someone who drew benefits for a year. The general two-year period for «damage or injury to persons or property» at § 657-7 supplies the length; § 431:10C-315 supplies the structure. Any description that gives § 657-7’s flat two years for a Hawaii motor claim is describing the wrong statute.
Regulator	Hawaii Insurance Division, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs

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

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[5] THIRTY DAYS FROM PROOF OF LOSS — AND SIXTY WHERE THE PROOF OF LOSS PERTAINS TO UNINSURED OR UNDERINSURED MOTORIST BENEFITS, TWO CLOCKS IN ONE SENTENCE: «Any insurer … that fails to pay a person entitled thereto within thirty (30) days after proof of loss has been furnished as provided in such policy … or to pay to the person entitled thereto within sixty (60) days if the proof of loss pertains to uninsured motorist or underinsured motorist coverage benefits, the amount that person is justly due … shall in any action thereafter commenced against the insurer in any court in this state, OR IN ANY ARBITRATION for recovery under the terms of the policy, pay such further amount as the court shall adjudge reasonable as attorney’s fees» (§ 41-1839(1)). The sixty-day UM/UIM variant is found in no other jurisdiction in this dataset and is exactly the clock an Idaho claimant needs; the days are plain and unqualified in both limbs, so calendar days on the face of it. THE CONSEQUENCE IS FEE-SHIFTING, NOT INTEREST — contrast Hawaii’s 1.5 % a month and Maine’s combination of both — and it reaches an arbitration as well as a court action. STATE THE DEADLINE AND ITS TWO LIMITS TOGETHER OR NEITHER: an insurer that alleges «a tender of the full amount justly due was made» and then deposits that amount «in the court» owes no fees if the allegation is found true, or if it is determined that no amount is justly due; and § 41-1839 with § 12-123 is «the EXCLUSIVE remedy for the award of statutory attorney’s fees in all actions or arbitrations between insureds and insurers», with the general commercial fee statute § 12-120 expressly switched off (§ 41-1839(2), (4)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[3] Three years, and the paragraph that supplies them is the old trover-and-replevin clause rather than anything that mentions vehicles: «Statutory liabilities, trespass, trover, replevin, and fraud. Within three (3) years: … 3. An action for taking, detaining or injuring any goods or chattels, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property» (§ 5-218(3)). IDAHO IS A SPLIT-CLOCK STATE AND THE SPLIT RUNS THE OPPOSITE WAY FROM MONTANA’S — two years for the body, three for the car — which is the single most common thing to get wrong about it. Montana’s § 27-2-207 gives two years for the vehicle and three for the person, so the two neighbours are mirror images and a reader who generalises from one to the other will miss a deadline.
Regulator	Idaho Department of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[3] Payment within 30 days after the company affirms liability, where the amount is determined and not in dispute; a written explanation of a denial or lower offer within 30 days (50 Ill. Adm. Code 919.50(a)). Illinois sets no fixed day count to acknowledge or decide — the standard is «a reasonable time»; a first-party physical-damage claim unresolved 40 calendar days after report earns a written explanation (919.80(b)(2)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	5 years from the accident ^[1] Actions «to recover damages for an injury done to property, real or personal» — five years after the cause of action accrued (735 ILCS 5/13-205).
Regulator	Illinois Department of Insurance

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Illinois →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	20 days from the claim ^[3] Business days, and this clock is one the claimant starts: it runs from the insurer’s receipt of a written complaint that the commissioner has forwarded, not from the claim or the proof of loss. A claimant who believes an unfair claim settlement practice has been committed may complain to the commissioner, who has ten business days to deliver the complaint to the insurer and write back; the insurer then has twenty business days to give the commissioner and the complainant a written report with «the specific reasons for actions taken», the specific reasons for any inaction, and, if the claim is unsettled, «a good faith estimate of the time required for settlement» (Ind. Code § 27-4-1-5.6(c)–(d)). The Department states the same figure on its own complaint page. Indiana fixes no general acknowledgement, investigation, decision or payment period.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[2] One section, one period, both heads: an action for «injury to person or character» or «injury to personal property» «must be commenced within two (2) years after the cause of action accrues» (Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4(a)). The section fixes no accrual rule, so the two years normally run from the crash but the text does not say so.
Regulator	Indiana Department of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	15 days from the claim ^[3] Plain, unqualified days — chapter 191—15 defines no «day» and uses «business day» only in its annuity divisions. «Upon receiving notification of a claim, an insurer shall, within 15 days, acknowledge the receipt of such notice unless payment is made within that period of time» (r. 191—15.42(1)), and the rule states in its own words that «insurer» means property and casualty insurers, so it reaches a motor claim. A second, continuing fifteen-day duty runs for the life of the claim: a reply is owed within fifteen days to every pertinent communication that reasonably suggests a response is expected (r. 191—15.42(3)).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[3] Thirty plain days from properly executed proofs of loss, and the duty is first-party by its own words: «Within 30 days after receipt by the insurer of properly executed proofs of loss, the first-party property claimant shall be advised of the acceptance or denial of the claim by the insurer», with any denial in writing citing the provision, condition or exclusion relied on (r. 191—15.41(2)). An extension is not open-ended: written reasons are owed within thirty days and again every forty-five days after (r. 191—15.41(3)). A third-party claimant’s equivalent is worded «within a reasonable time» and fixes no day count, so none is published for it.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[3] Thirty plain days from affirmation of liability, not from notice: «The insurer shall affirm or deny liability on claims within a reasonable time and shall tender payment within 30 days of affirmation of liability, if the amount of the claim is determined and not in dispute» (r. 191—15.41(6)). The affirm-or-deny half of the same subrule fixes no day count at all and must not be read as thirty days. Where several coverages are involved, an undisputed portion under one of them should be tendered within thirty days if paying it would end the insurer’s known liability under that coverage.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	5 years from the accident ^[2] Five years for «those founded on unwritten contracts, those brought for injuries to property, or for relief on the ground of fraud … and all other actions not otherwise provided for in this respect» (§ 614.1(4)), running from accrual under the section’s own preamble («after their causes accrue, and not afterwards»). Iowa is one of the states where the two clocks genuinely differ, and the split is on the face of one section. Subsections 8 and 10, the stated exceptions, were not read and do not concern a motor claim.
Regulator	Iowa Insurance Division

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

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[3] Thirty plain days, and this is the PIP clock rather than a general payment duty: «Personal injury protection benefits payable under this act shall be overdue if not paid within thirty (30) days after the insurer or self-insurer is furnished written notice of the fact of a covered loss and of the amount of same, except that disability benefits payable under this act shall be paid not less than every two (2) weeks after such notice» (§ 40-3110(b)). Each part of a claim becomes overdue thirty days after the written notice supporting it. «All overdue payments shall bear simple interest at the rate of eighteen percent (18%) per annum.» The escape is stated in the same subsection: nothing is overdue where the insurer «has reasonable proof to establish that it is not responsible for the payment», even though written notice was furnished. Kansas has NO evidenced acknowledgement or affirm-or-deny deadline — see the notes.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Two years for «an action for taking, detaining or injuring personal property, including actions for the specific recovery thereof» (§ 60-513(a)(2)), and the clock is a discovery clock rather than an impact clock: the causes of action in subsection (a) «shall not be deemed to have accrued until the act giving rise to the cause of action first causes substantial injury», or, where the fact of injury is not reasonably ascertainable at once, until it becomes reasonably ascertainable — «but in no event shall an action be commenced more than 10 years beyond the time of the act» (§ 60-513(b)). Both Kansas clocks are two years and both sit in the same section, unlike Iowa’s two and five.
Regulator	Kansas Department of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	15 days from the claim ^[6] Business days, and the regulation sets the unit once by definition rather than per subsection: «Days» means «any day, Monday through Friday, except holidays» (806 KAR 12:095 § 1(5)). So the fifteen days in which an insurer must acknowledge receipt of a claim notice, unless it pays within that period, reach about three calendar weeks (§ 5(1)). Notice given to an agent of the insurer is notice to the insurer, and supplying necessary claim forms, instructions and reasonable assistance inside the same fifteen days is compliance (§ 5(4)). Every later pertinent communication that reasonably suggests a response is expected carries its own fifteen days (§ 5(3)).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[6] Calendar days, expressly — this subsection overrides the regulation’s business-day default in its own words. The duty is to «offer any payment due within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of proof of loss», which is a decision-and-offer duty rather than a bare affirm-or-deny, and on a multi-coverage claim the payments not in dispute must be tendered inside the same thirty calendar days (806 KAR 12:095 § 6(1)(a)). If more time is needed the insurer must say so within thirty calendar days and then write again at forty-five calendar days and every forty-five thereafter (§ 6(1)(c)–(d)). Where there is a supported basis to suspect the claimant caused the loss fraudulently, the day count is displaced rather than extended: the duty becomes acceptance or denial «within a reasonable time for full investigation» (§ 6(1)(b)). The affirm-or-deny duty of § 6(5) itself carries no day count at all — only «a reasonable time».
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[2] Statutory rather than regulatory, and the days are unqualified in the statute, so they read as calendar days: reparation benefits are payable monthly as loss accrues and are «overdue if not paid within thirty (30) days after the reparation obligor receives reasonable proof of the fact and amount of loss realized» (KRS 304.39-210(1)(a)–(c)). The same paragraph allows a lawful alternative that can push a payment past day thirty: accumulating claims for periods not exceeding thirty-one days and paying within fifteen days after the period of accumulation. A proved fragment of a claim totalling $100 or more is overdue on its own (KRS 304.39-210(1)(e)), and overdue payments bear interest at twelve percent a year, or eighteen percent «if delay was without reasonable foundation» (KRS 304.39-210(2)). The regulation adds its own payment clock at 806 KAR 12:095 § 6(5), and the unit switches inside one sentence there — thirty business days from affirmation of liability, then thirty calendar days for undisputed multi-coverage payments.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[5] Two years from accrual for «the taking, detaining or injuring of personal property, including an action for specific recovery» (KRS 413.125). The section is one sentence long and contains no discovery rule and no outer limit. A caveat this page carries rather than smooths: because KRS 304.39-060(2)(a) abolishes tort liability only for bodily injury, liability for property damage is arguably «tort liability not abolished» within KRS 304.39-230(6), which fixes the same two years but from a different trigger. Both candidates give two years; which section supplies the accrual trigger for a vehicle-damage claim has not yet been verified against a primary text, so the last-reparation-payment trigger of KRS 304.39-230(6) is not imported into this clock.
Regulator	Kentucky Department of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	14 days from the claim ^[5] This is a duty to START ADJUSTING, not a duty to acknowledge a letter, and it is labelled that way deliberately: «Except in the case of catastrophic loss, the insurer shall initiate loss adjustment of a property damage claim and of a claim for reasonable medical expenses within fourteen days after notification of loss by the claimant» — thirty days where the loss is catastrophic (La. R.S. 22:1892(A)(3)). Failure exposes the insurer to a penalty of the greater of five thousand dollars or the amount under subsection (I). Louisiana has no acknowledgement deadline of the usual shape, and whether any Insurance Department regulation adds one has not yet been verified against a primary text.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[5] Plain days, not business days, and there are two different triggers in adjacent paragraphs which this page does not merge. A first-party claim must be paid «within thirty days after receipt of satisfactory proofs of loss from the insured or any party in interest» (La. R.S. 22:1892(A)(1)). A third-party property damage claim or reasonable medical expenses claim must be paid «within thirty days after written agreement of settlement» (A)(2) — so the third-party clock starts at the written settlement, not at the crash and not at proofs of loss. A missed deadline is not automatically a penalty: subsection (B)(1)(a) awards fifty percent of the amount due, or one thousand dollars, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney fees and costs, only where the failure «is found to be arbitrary, capricious, or without probable cause», and a claim for those penalties itself prescribes in two years.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[4] Two years, and the date the period changed is as important as the number: «Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of two years. This prescription commences to run from the day that injury or damage is sustained» (C.C. art. 3493.1). Because the article covers all delictual actions, injury and vehicle damage run on one clock. But the act that created it applies «prospective application only … to delictual actions arising after the effective date of this Act» (Acts 2024, No. 423, § 3), so the two years reach only crashes on or after 1 July 2024; a crash on 30 June 2024 prescribed in one year under the repealed art. 3492.
Regulator	Louisiana Department of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[3] THIRTY DAYS TO DISPUTE OR PAY, AND THE SAME SENTENCE DOES BOTH JOBS: «A claim for payment of benefits under a policy or certificate of insurance delivered or issued for delivery in this State is payable within 30 days after proof of loss is received by the insurer AND ascertainment of the loss is made either by written agreement between the insurer and the insured or beneficiary or by filing with the insured or beneficiary of an award by arbitrators as provided for in the policy. … A CLAIM THAT IS NEITHER DISPUTED NOR PAID WITHIN 30 DAYS IS OVERDUE. If, during the 30 days, the insurer, IN WRITING, notifies the insured or beneficiary that reasonable additional information is required, the undisputed claim is not overdue until 30 days following receipt by the insurer of the additional required information» (24-A M.R.S. § 2436(1)). THE TRIGGER IS TWO EVENTS, NOT ONE — proof of loss AND ascertainment of the loss — so the clock does not start on the notice of claim. The restart on additional information happens ONLY IF THE INSURER ASKED IN WRITING within the original thirty days; an oral request does not stop it. The fire and life exceptions in the same subsection are quoted so nobody imports them: a standard fire policy gets 60 days and individual life insurance 2 months, and NEITHER REACHES A MOTOR CLAIM. AND THE UNIT IS SETTLED BY THE LEGISLATURE’S OWN DRAFTING rather than by inference: subsection (1-A) says «30 CALENDAR days» where several carriers may be liable, so the plain «30 days» of subsection (1) are calendar days too and are expressly NOT working days.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[3] The SAME thirty days of § 2436(1): the claim «is payable within 30 days» and one that is «neither disputed nor paid within 30 days is overdue», so the decision and the payment share a single deadline rather than running consecutively as they do in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and West Virginia. Where more than one carrier may be liable the point is put beyond doubt: a claimant «may submit simultaneously a claim for payment with all carriers potentially liable», and «PAYMENT OR DENIAL of a claim by each carrier must be made within 30 CALENDAR days after the carrier has received all information needed to pay or deny the claim WHETHER OR NOT ANOTHER CARRIER with which it is attempting to coordinate has acted on the claim» (§ 2436(1-A), amended by PL 2025, c. 300) — so a Maine carrier may not wait on a co-ordinating carrier. MAINE STACKS BOTH CONSEQUENCES THAT OTHER STATES USE SINGLY: «the amount of the overdue claim or part of the claim bears interest at the rate of 1 1/2% per month after the due date», the same rate as Hawaii; AND «a reasonable attorney’s fee for advising and representing a claimant on an overdue claim … must be paid by the insurer if overdue benefits are recovered in an action against the insurer OR IF OVERDUE BENEFITS ARE PAID AFTER RECEIPT OF NOTICE OF THE ATTORNEY’S REPRESENTATION» (§ 2436(3)–(4)). That second limb is the practically useful one and appears on no other row in this dataset: the fee is owed even where the insurer simply pays up once it learns a lawyer is involved, with no judgment at all.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	6 years from the accident ^[2] Six years, from the same one-sentence section that governs the injury claim and the action on the policy: «Six years. All civil actions shall be commenced within 6 years after the cause of action accrues and not afterwards, except actions on a judgment or decree of any court of record of the United States, or of any state, or of a justice of the peace in this State, AND EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE SPECIALLY PROVIDED» (14 M.R.S. § 752). MAINE IS A SINGLE-CLOCK STATE AND SIX YEARS IS THE LONGEST TORT PERIOD ON ANY US ROW IN THIS DATASET except Rhode Island’s residual ten for property damage. TWO CAUTIONS TRAVEL WITH THE FIGURE RATHER THAN BEING HIDDEN. The closing saving means a special period elsewhere in Maine law would displace it, and NO SEARCH FOR SUCH A SPECIAL MOTOR-VEHICLE PERIOD WAS RUN — § 752 was read alone, and a six-year period is unusual enough that the saving deserves closing rather than assuming. And a hard two-year trap sits inside the six years on the first-party side: where the other driver’s insurer becomes insolvent, the claim reaches your own uninsured-vehicle cover only if «written notice of such occurrence shall have been given to the insurer within 2 years thereof» (24-A M.R.S. § 2902(3)(C)).
Regulator	Maine Bureau of Insurance, Department of Professional and Financial Regulation

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

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[1] This is the review clock, not a first-instance one: a claimant may apply in writing for a review «within 60 days after receiving notice of a decision», and «the corporation shall respond to the claimant within 30 days after receiving an application for review» (MPIC Act, s. 172(1), (3)). Every decision on a claim must be given in writing with reasons (s. 170(1)), and a review decision carries written reasons too (s. 173(2)), after which the claimant has 90 days to appeal to the Automobile Injury Compensation Appeal Commission (s. 174(1)). Whether any provision fixes a time for MPI to decide a claim in the first instance has not yet been verified against a primary text.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[3] Two years from the day the claim is discovered (Limitations Act, s. 6), discovery being the first day the claimant knew or ought to have known that the loss occurred, that an act or omission caused it, whose act it was, and that a proceeding would be an appropriate remedy (s. 7). The claimant «has the burden of proving that a proceeding has been commenced within the basic limitation period» (s. 9), and no proceeding may be commenced more than fifteen years after the act or omission (s. 10(1)).
Regulator	Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Manitoba →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[3] Plain days, and confined to the compulsory first-party benefits rather than to a liability settlement or a vehicle-damage payment: an insurer «shall make all payments of the benefits described in § 19-505 of this subtitle periodically as claims for the benefits arise and within 30 days after the insurer receives satisfactory proof of claim» (Insurance § 19-508(a)(1)), and overdue payments «shall bear simple interest at the rate of 1.5% per month» (§ 19-508(c)). A separate pair of clocks governs the uninsured and enhanced underinsured motorist route: once the claimant sends the liability insurer’s exhausting settlement offer to the UM insurer by certified mail, that insurer has 60 days to consent or refuse in writing and, if it refuses, 30 days to pay the amount of the offer itself (§§ 19-511(b)–(d), 19-511.1(b)–(d)). Maryland fixes no general acknowledgement, investigation or affirm-or-deny period in statute.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[1] One section covers everything: «A civil action at law shall be filed within three years from the date it accrues unless another provision of the Code provides a different period of time within which an action shall be commenced» (Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 5-101). There is no separate property-damage clock and no separate motor-vehicle clock, and the section fixes no accrual rule — three years «from the date it accrues», which in a crash normally means the collision.
Regulator	Maryland Insurance Administration

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Maryland →

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	2 days from the claim ^[6] Business days, and an assignment duty rather than an acknowledgement duty: «Assignment of an appraiser shall be made within two business days of the receipt of such claim», counted from an oral or written claim, and disapplied where the loss less any applicable deductible is under $1,500 (212 CMR 2.04(1)(a)). The appraisal itself must be transmitted within five business days of assignment.
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[3] Working days, in the statute’s own words, and triggered by the claimant’s written demand rather than by the accident: «The insurer shall, within fifteen working days after receipt of such written demand respond in writing setting forth its decision as to whether it accepts the claim, accepts a part of the claim, rejects the claim, or … the amount at which it is willing to compromise the claim» (M.G.L. c. 90, § 34O). The same section protects the claimant against the insured’s late notice provided the claimant sends the insurer written notice of the accident within thirty days of it.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	10 days from the claim ^[2] «upon notification of disability from a licensed physician, the insurer shall commence medical payments within ten days or give written notice of its intent not to make such payments, specifying reasons for said nonpayment»; benefits unpaid for more than thirty days make the unpaid party a party to a contract with the insurer, with a right to sue in contract and, on any recovery, costs and reasonable attorney’s fees (M.G.L. c. 90, § 34M). The statute says «days», not calendar or working days. On a first-party vehicle claim the count is seven days from receipt of the completed-work claim form (c. 90, § 34O).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[5] «actions of tort … shall be commenced only within three years next after the cause of action accrues» (M.G.L. c. 260, § 2A). Massachusetts does not split the vehicle clock from the injury clock: § 2A covers actions of tort as a class and nothing in it separates property damage out.
Regulator	Massachusetts Division of Insurance

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Massachusetts →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[1] The clock runs from complete documentation, not from the crash and not from the notice: «El crédito que resulte del contrato de seguro vencerá treinta días después de la fecha en que la empresa haya recibido los documentos e informaciones que le permitan conocer el fundamento de la reclamación» (Ley sobre el Contrato de Seguro art. 71). A clause making the debt payable only once the insurer has acknowledged it, or a court has proved it, is void.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[4] Federal matters: «La acción para exigir la reparación de los daños causados en los términos del presente capítulo, prescribe en dos años contados a partir del día en que se haya causado el daño» (Código Civil Federal art. 1934). A crash on a state road is governed by that state’s civil code, which was not read.
Regulator	CONDUSEF — Comisión Nacional para la Protección y Defensa de los Usuarios de Servicios Financieros

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Mexico →

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	30 days from the claim ^[5] Outside chapter 31: «An insurer shall specify in writing the materials that constitute a satisfactory proof of loss not later than 30 days after receipt of a claim unless the claim is settled within the 30 days», after which the amount supported by proof of loss is timely if paid within 60 days, and unpaid benefits bear 12 % simple interest from day 60 (MCL 500.2006(3)–(4)). Where this section and chapter 31 are specifically inconsistent, chapter 31 governs (§ 500.2006(6)), so for personal protection benefits the operative clock is MCL 500.3142. For a third-party tort claimant the interest additionally turns on bad faith found by a court, so the 60-day rule is not symmetrical between first and third party.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[5] Personal protection insurance benefits «are overdue if not paid within 30 days after an insurer receives reasonable proof of the fact and of the amount of loss sustained», and «an overdue payment bears simple interest at the rate of 12% per annum» (MCL 500.3142(2), (4)); where a bill for a product, service, accommodation or training reaches the insurer more than 90 days after it was provided, the insurer gets 60 days in addition to the 30 (§ 500.3142(3)). The statute says 30 and 60 days without saying calendar or working, and no word is added here.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[3] One period covers both injury and property: «the period of limitations is 3 years after the time of the death or injury for all actions to recover damages for the death of a person or for injury to a person or property» (MCL 600.5805(2)). The trigger is the time of the injury, not discovery. The capture read is complete through Public Act 149 of 2024.
Regulator	Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Michigan →

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	10 days from the claim ^[3] Working days, not calendar days: the insurer may acknowledge a first-party claimant’s notification by paying, by writing, or by an oral acknowledgment noted and dated in the claim file, in each case «within ten (10) working days» of receipt, and the same ten working days apply to «all communications from any claimant that reasonably suggests a response is expected» (20 CSR 100-1.030(1)(A)1.–3., (1)(B)). Providing the necessary claim forms, instructions and assistance within the same ten working days is itself compliance (§ 100-1.030(3)), and notification to any agent or producer representing the insurer counts as notification to the insurer. The statute adds one calendar-day figure of its own: fifteen calendar days to provide the forms needed to present a claim (§ 375.1007(13), RSMo).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[3] Working days, and the trigger is not notice of the claim: «within fifteen (15) working days after the submission of all forms necessary to establish the nature and extent of any claim, the first-party claimant shall be advised of the acceptance or denial of the claim», and no claim may be denied on a specific policy provision, condition or exclusion unless the denial refers to it, in writing, with a copy in the file (20 CSR 100-1.050(1)(A)). If the insurer needs more time it must say so inside the same window with its reasons, and then write again «within forty-five (45) days» — plain days, in the same rule — and every forty-five days after (§ 100-1.050(1)(C)). Missouri has no investigation clock: the rule that once set one, 20 CSR 100-1.040, stands in the chapter under the words «(Rescinded July 30, 2008)».
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	5 years from when the damage became known ^[2] One subdivision gathers both heads: an action «for taking, detaining or injuring any goods or chattels … or for any other injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract» must be brought within five years (§ 516.120(4), RSMo). The start date is not the crash as a matter of course — a cause of action does not accrue «when the wrong is done … but when the damage resulting therefrom is sustained and is capable of ascertainment», and where there is more than one item of damage, at the last item (§ 516.100).
Regulator	Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance

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

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[4] Two years: «Injuries involving property. WITHIN 2 YEARS is the period prescribed for the commencement of an action for: (1) injury to or waste or trespass on real or personal property; (2) TAKING, DETAINING, OR INJURING ANY GOODS OR CHATTELS, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property; (3) killing or injuring stock by a railroad corporation or company» (§ 27-2-207). MONTANA IS A SPLIT-CLOCK STATE IN THE UNUSUAL DIRECTION — THE VEHICLE CLAIM DIES A YEAR BEFORE THE INJURY CLAIM, two years for the car against three for the body — AND ITS NEIGHBOUR IDAHO SPLITS THE OTHER WAY, two for the body and three for the car under §§ 5-219(4) and 5-218(3). The two states are mirror images, so a reader who generalises from one to the other will miss a deadline; that is why both Montana periods are published with their own notes rather than summarised as «two to three years».
Regulator	Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage

2 years from the accident ^[4] Two years: «Injuries involving property. WITHIN 2 YEARS is the period prescribed for the commencement of an action for: (1) injury to or waste or trespass on real or personal property; (2) TAKING, DETAINING, OR INJURING ANY GOODS OR CHATTELS, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property; (3) killing or injuring stock by a railroad corporation or company» (§ 27-2-207). MONTANA IS A SPLIT-CLOCK STATE IN THE UNUSUAL DIRECTION — THE VEHICLE CLAIM DIES A YEAR BEFORE THE INJURY CLAIM, two years for the car against three for the body — AND ITS NEIGHBOUR IDAHO SPLITS THE OTHER WAY, two for the body and three for the car under §§ 5-219(4) and 5-218(3). The two states are mirror images, so a reader who generalises from one to the other will miss a deadline; that is why both Montana periods are published with their own notes rather than summarised as «two to three years».

Regulator

Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	15 days from the claim ^[3] FIFTEEN WORKING DAYS, NOT CALENDAR DAYS — the rule defines the unit for the whole chapter in its own definitions: «003.05 “Days” means working days». So «Every insurer, upon receiving notification of a claim shall, within fifteen (15) days, acknowledge the receipt of such notice unless payment is made within that period of time» (§ 006.01) is about three calendar weeks, not two. Notice to the insurer’s agent counts as notice to the insurer, unless the agent tells the claimant it is not authorised to receive notices of claim. Three parallel fifteen-working-day duties run beside it: a reply to any pertinent communication expecting a response (§ 006.03), supply of the necessary claim forms, instructions and reasonable assistance (§ 006.04), and an express duty to «initiate investigation» of the claim (§ 007). The statute independently confirms the unit: § 44-1540(14) fixes «fifteen working days» for claim forms.
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[3] Fifteen WORKING days again, and Nebraska’s trigger and its reach are both wider than most: «Within fifteen (15) days after receipt by the insurer of settlement information or a properly executed proof of loss, the claimant shall be advised of the acceptance or denial of the claim by the insurer», with any denial in writing citing the provision, condition or exclusion relied on and documented in the claim file (§ 008.01). The trigger is settlement information OR a proof of loss, whichever arrives first — broader than Iowa’s proof-of-loss-only trigger — and «claimant» is defined at § 003.04 to include THIRD-PARTY claimants, so the decision duty reaches the other driver’s claimant and not only the insured. An extension costs a written reason within fifteen days and a fresh written reason every thirty days after, and stops once the claim is in litigation (§ 008.02).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	15 days from the claim ^[3] Fifteen WORKING days from the claimant’s ACCEPTANCE, and it is the second of two distinct clocks in one subsection, which must not be merged: «In cases where there is no dispute as to coverage as to one or more portions of the insurance policy and where liability has become reasonably clear, the insurer shall offer to claimants, within fifteen (15) days of receipt of settlement information, amounts within policy limits which are fair and reasonable as shown by the insurer’s completed investigation. The insurer shall tender payment within fifteen (15) days of claimant’s acceptance» (§ 008.04). The same subsection requires payment of an undisputed portion notwithstanding disputes about other portions.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	4 years from the accident ^[2] Four years for «an action for taking, detaining or injuring personal property, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property» (§ 25-207(2)), under the section’s own opening words — «The following actions can only be brought within four years». Both Nebraska clocks are four years and both sit in that one section, which is the longest pair in the states around it.
Regulator	Nebraska Department of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	20 days from the claim ^[6] Working days, and the rule says so: every insurer must acknowledge receipt of a claim notice within 20 working days unless it pays within that time, and notice given to an agent of the insurer is notice to the insurer (NAC 686A.665(1)). Supplying claim forms, instructions and reasonable assistance inside the same 20 working days is compliance (NAC 686A.665(4)). The insurer must also begin investigating within 20 working days and complete the investigation within 30 plain days unless that reasonably cannot be done (NAC 686A.670).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[6] Working days: «Within 30 working days after receipt by the insurer of properly executed proofs of loss, the first-party claimant must be advised of the acceptance or denial of the claim.» A denial must be in writing and may not rest on a policy provision, condition or exclusion unless the denial refers to it (NAC 686A.675(1)). If more time is needed the insurer must say so within the same 30 working days and write again every 30 days with reasons (NAC 686A.675(3)).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[6] Plain days here, and the unit switch is inside the same sentence pair as the 30 working days above: «If the claim of the first-party claimant is accepted, the insurer shall pay the claim within 30 days after it is accepted. If the accepted claim is not paid within that period, the insurer shall pay interest on the claim at the rate of interest established pursuant to NRS 99.040» (NAC 686A.675(1)). Where part of a claim is disputed, the undisputed portion must be paid anyway if that can be done without prejudice to an interested party (NAC 686A.675(7)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[3] «Within 3 years: … An action for taking, detaining or injuring personal property» (NRS 11.190(3)(c)) — a year longer than the injury period, and a split this page carries rather than smooths.
Regulator	Nevada Division of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	60 days from the claim ^[1] «The insurer shall pay the insurance money for which it is liable under this contract within sixty days after the proof of loss has been received by it or, where an appraisal is made under subcondition (8) of statutory condition 4, within fifteen days after the award is rendered by the appraisers» (Insurance Act, statutory condition 6(1)). Plain unqualified days, and word for word the same condition as Nova Scotia’s mandatory condition 6(1) and Newfoundland and Labrador’s equivalent — the Atlantic provinces share the machinery, which is exactly why the amounts and the limitation triggers must each be read from their own Act. The accident-benefit side of a New Brunswick policy sits in the Standard Automobile Policy prescribed by regulation, which was not opened, so no first-party payment clock is published.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[3] The same general rule covers the vehicle claim: New Brunswick does not split the clocks. Two years from discovery, never more than fifteen years from the act or omission, whichever comes first (s. 5(1)).
Regulator	New Brunswick Financial and Consumer Services Commission

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

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	45 days from the claim ^[3] Forty-five days from proof of loss, and this is the ONE hard insurer day count in New Mexico law: an insurer «that fails for a period of forty-five days, after required proof of loss has been furnished, to pay to the person entitled the amount justly due shall be liable for the amount due and unpaid with interest on that amount at the rate of one and one-half times the prime lending rate for New Mexico banks during the period the claim is unpaid. Interest shall accrue, and the interest rate shall be determined, as of the forty-sixth day after the proof of loss was furnished» (§ 59A-16-21(B)). THE RATE IS FLOATING AND NO PERCENTAGE IS PRINTED FOR IT, because the statute prints none. Subsection (C) takes the whole mechanism away once the claim is in arbitration or litigation. NEW MEXICO HAS NO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OR AFFIRM-OR-DENY DEADLINE, and that is an evidenced finding rather than a gap — see the notes.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	4 years from when the damage became known ^[2] Four years for «those brought for injuries to property or for the conversion of personal property or for relief upon the ground of fraud, and all other actions not herein otherwise provided for and specified» (§ 37-1-4) — and for property the clock is a DISCOVERY clock by a separate section: «in actions for injuries to, or conversion of property, the cause of action shall not be deemed to have accrued until the fraud, mistake, injury or conversion complained of, shall have been discovered by the party aggrieved» (§ 37-1-7). That section does not reach injury to the person, so one crash can start two clocks on two different rules.
Regulator	New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[1] First-party (no-fault) benefits are overdue if not paid within 30 days after the claimant supplies proof of the fact and amount of loss; overdue payments bear 2 % per month plus a reasonable attorney’s fee (Ins. Law § 5106(a)). The Department of Financial Services’ claims regulation (11 NYCRR 216) sets further deadlines that could not be read for this page and are not stated.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[2] «an action to recover damages for an injury to property» — three years (C.P.L.R. § 214(4)).
Regulator	New York State Department of Financial Services

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in New York →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	60 days from the claim ^[1] «The insurer shall pay the insurance money for which it is liable under this contract within 60 days after the proof of loss has been received by it or, where an appraisal is made …» (Automobile Insurance Act, statutory condition on payment of insurance money) — plain unqualified days, and the same figure as Nova Scotia’s mandatory condition 6(1) and New Brunswick’s statutory condition 6(1). One further clock favours the claimant: where the insurer has a person medically examined and receives a report, it must ensure the person receives a copy within sixty days of the insurer receiving it. The province’s compulsory accident benefits are set by regulation and were not reached, so no first-party payment clock is published.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[2] One paragraph covers injury to a person and to property together, so the vehicle claim runs on the same two-year clock and the characterisation of the claim — contract, tort or statutory duty — does not change the period (s. 5(a)). Property damage is also named in the postponement section, so the same discovery trigger and the same thirty-year outer limit apply (ss. 14(1), 22).
Regulator	Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, Digital Government and Service NL

Verified as ofSeptember 11, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Newfoundland and Labrador →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[4] THIRTY DAYS FROM REASONABLE PROOF — BUT THE ACCUMULATION RULE MUST TRAVEL WITH IT OR THE DEADLINE IS OVERSTATED. «1. BASIC AND OPTIONAL EXCESS NO-FAULT BENEFITS ARE PAYABLE MONTHLY for economic loss … 2. Basic and optional excess no-fault benefits ARE OVERDUE IF NOT PAID WITHIN THIRTY DAYS AFTER THE BASIC NO-FAULT INSURER RECEIVES REASONABLE PROOF OF THE FACT AND THE AMOUNT OF LOSS SUSTAINED, EXCEPT THAT THE BASIC NO-FAULT INSURER MAY ACCUMULATE CLAIMS FOR PERIODS NOT EXCEEDING ONE MONTH, AND THE BENEFITS ARE NOT OVERDUE IF PAID WITHIN TWENTY DAYS AFTER THE PERIOD OF ACCUMULATION. If reasonable proof is not supplied as to the entire claim, THE AMOUNT SUPPORTED BY REASONABLE PROOF IS OVERDUE IF NOT PAID WITHIN THIRTY DAYS after the proof is received … PAYMENT IS DEEMED MADE ON THE DATE OF MAILING. All overdue payments must bear interest at the judgment rate allowed in section 28-20-34» (§ 26.1-41-09(1)–(2)). So the insurer may batch claims for up to a month and then has a FURTHER TWENTY DAYS, and the real outside limit on a batched claim is longer than thirty days; partial proof triggers partial payment on its own thirty-day clock; and payment counts as made ON MAILING rather than on receipt. THE DAYS ARE PLAIN AND UNQUALIFIED, so calendar days on the face of it. NO PERCENTAGE IS PRINTED FOR THE OVERDUE INTEREST, AND THE OMISSION IS DELIBERATE: the rate is the judgment rate incorporated from § 28-20-34, which was not opened, so the rate has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here — the same discipline New Mexico’s floating prime-rate row required. THIS FIELD IS A FIRST-PARTY DUTY ONLY and must not be read as a payment clock on a liability claim against the other driver’s insurer. One neighbouring rule in the same section is worth knowing and has no analogue on any other row in this dataset: «3. NEITHER THE INJURED PERSON NOR A BASIC NO-FAULT INSURER IS REQUIRED TO PAY FOR SERVICES BILLED MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF TREATMENT», so a provider who bills late can be paid by nobody — not the insurer and not the patient.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	6 years from the accident ^[2] Six years: «Actions having six-year limitations. The following actions must be commenced WITHIN SIX YEARS AFTER THE CLAIM FOR RELIEF HAS ACCRUED: … 4. An action for TAKING, DETAINING, OR INJURING ANY GOODS OR CHATTELS, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property» (§ 28-01-16(4)). NORTH DAKOTA IS A SINGLE-CLOCK STATE ON THE TORT SIDE — the same six years for the body and for the car — WHICH DISTINGUISHES IT SHARPLY FROM BOTH ITS NEIGHBOURS IN THIS ROUND: Idaho splits two and three, Montana splits three and two, and the two of them run in opposite directions. Six years equals Maine’s as the longest tort clock on any US row in this dataset. NOTE WHAT THIS PERIOD DOES NOT GOVERN: a claim for basic or optional excess no-fault BENEFITS runs on § 26.1-41-19 instead, which displaces the six years «notwithstanding any limitation prescribed elsewhere in the laws of this state», so North Dakota has two regimes running side by side and a row that published six years across the board would be wrong on the first-party side.
Regulator	North Dakota Insurance Department

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

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	6 years from the accident ^[1] Actions founded on tort (Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, art. 6(1)).
Regulator	Financial Conduct Authority (conduct) · Financial Ombudsman Service (complaints)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Northern Ireland →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	60 days from the claim ^[4] Nova Scotia runs two payment clocks and publishing only one misstates the province. The sixty days here is the property and indemnity clock: the insurer «shall pay the insurance money for which it is liable under this contract within sixty days after the proof of loss has been received by it or, where an appraisal is made …, within fifteen days after the award is rendered by the appraisers» (mandatory condition 6(1)). On the first-party Section B side the clock is half as long: «all amounts payable under this section, other than benefits under Part II of subsection 2, shall be paid by the Insurer within 30 days after it has received proof of claim», and recurring income benefits are then payable «within each 30-day period while the Insurer remains liable» on proof of continuing disability (Section B, subsection (7)(a)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[2] The same general rule covers property: Nova Scotia does not split the clocks. Two years from discovery, never more than fifteen years from the act or omission, whichever comes first (s. 8(1)). The burden is split between the two limbs — the claimant proves the claim was brought inside the discovery period, the defendant proves it was brought outside the fifteen-year one (s. 9) — and the judicial discretion in s. 12 reaches personal-injury claims only, so it does not save a late vehicle-damage claim.
Regulator	Nova Scotia Superintendent of Insurance (Department of Finance and Treasury Board)

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	30 days from the claim ^[4] Plain days, and the unqualified form is deliberate: the same Act writes «twenty (20) calendar days» at 36 O.S. § 1250.4(B) where it means calendar days, so a bare «days» is the legislature’s own unqualified form and is reproduced rather than resolved. «Every property and casualty insurer, within thirty (30) days after receiving notification of a claim, shall acknowledge the receipt of such notification unless payment is made within such period of time», and notification given to an agent is notification to the insurer (§ 1250.6(A)). Supplying claim forms, instructions and reasonable assistance inside the same thirty days is compliance (§ 1250.6(B)). Every later pertinent communication from the claimant that reasonably suggests a response is expected — e-mail and a documented verbal communication included — carries its own thirty days (§ 1250.4(C)).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	60 days from the claim ^[4] Plain days again, and the duty is softer than a hard affirm-or-deny: «Within sixty (60) days after receipt by a property and casualty insurer of properly executed proofs of loss, the first party claimant shall be advised of the acceptance or denial of the claim by the insurer, or if further investigation is necessary» — so the insurer discharges it by saying it needs to keep investigating. A denial must be written and may not rest on a policy provision, condition or exclusion unless the denial refers to it (36 O.S. § 1250.7(A)). Investigation must be completed within sixty days of notification of proof of loss, with a reasons letter at sixty days and, unusually among the states in this dataset, a hard outer cap: «the time for investigation shall not exceed one hundred twenty (120) days after receipt of proof of loss», defeasible only for evidenced fraud or arson (§ 1250.7(C)). The Commissioner may add twenty days after a Governor-declared catastrophe, and every clock in the section switches off once suit is filed (§ 1250.7(G)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[3] Two years from accrual for «an action for taking, detaining, or injuring personal property, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property» (12 O.S. § 95(A)(3)) — in the same paragraph and under the same «Within two (2) years» preamble as the injury claim. Oklahoma is a one-clock state: there is no longer property period to fall back on, and a vehicle claim does not outlive the injury claim.
Regulator	Oklahoma Insurance Department

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

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	10 days from the claim ^[4] Business days: for the statutory accident benefits your own insurer pays, it must pay or give written notice of refusal within 10 business days of receiving the application and disability certificate (O. Reg. 34/10, s. 36(4)). You must notify the insurer of your intention to claim within seven days of the accident (s. 32(1)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[1] Two years from the day the claim was discovered (Limitations Act, 2002, s. 4), never more than 15 years from the act or omission (s. 15(2)).
Regulator	Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Ontario →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	60 days from the claim ^[1] Calendar days, and this is a personal-injury-protection denial deadline rather than a general affirm-or-deny duty: an insurer denying PIP benefits must give written notice within 60 calendar days of receiving the provider’s claim, stating the reason and the method of contesting the denial (ORS 742.528). The same 60 calendar days make a provider’s charges presumed reasonable and necessary if they are not denied (ORS 742.524(1)(a)). PIP benefits themselves must be paid «promptly after proof of loss», with no day count (ORS 742.520(4)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	6 years from the accident ^[3] Damage to the vehicle is «an action for taking, detaining or injuring personal property» and runs six years (ORS 12.080(4)) — three times the injury period. A ten-year statute of ultimate repose sits over both heads without extending either (ORS 12.115).
Regulator	Oregon Division of Financial Regulation

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	10 days from the claim ^[3] Working days: acknowledge the notice of claim and provide claim forms and instructions within 10 working days (31 Pa. Code § 146.5(a), (d)).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[3] Working days after receipt of properly executed proofs of loss; a denial must cite the policy provision relied on; extensions require written reasons, then letters every 45 days (§ 146.7(a)(1), (c)(1)). Investigation is to be completed within 30 days of notice (§ 146.6).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[1] First-party benefits are overdue if not paid within 30 days after the insurer receives reasonable proof of the amount; overdue benefits bear 12 % a year and, where the refusal was unreasonable, an attorney fee (75 Pa.C.S. § 1716).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[2] «An action for taking, detaining or injuring personal property» — two years (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(3)).
Regulator	Pennsylvania Insurance Department

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Pennsylvania →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[5] Insurance-contract claims, not SOAT claims, and the mechanism matters: where there is objectively no adjustment agreement, the loss «se entenderá como consentido … cuando la aseguradora no se haya pronunciado sobre el monto reclamado en un plazo que no exceda de los treinta (30) días contados desde la fecha de haberse completado toda la documentación exigida en la póliza» — thirty days of silence after complete documentation deems the loss consented. Payment is then due within a further thirty days of that consent, with default interest at one and a half times the average active lending rate (Ley 29946 art. 74).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	10 days from the claim ^[3] SOAT indemnities are paid «dentro del plazo máximo de diez (10) días siguientes a la presentación de los antecedentes» the regulation lists — the traffic-accident record form and, as the case requires, the death certificate, medical certificate or invoices (TUO art. 33). The clock is document-triggered, not accident-triggered.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[1] «Prescriben, salvo disposición diversa de la ley: … 4.- A los dos años … la acción indemnizatoria por responsabilidad extracontractual» (Código Civil art. 2001 inc. 4, as amended by Ley 30179 of 6 April 2014). The same period covers vehicle damage and injury.
Regulator	Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Peru →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	60 days from the claim ^[3] A Civil Code duty, not a regulator’s service standard: the insurer «is bound to pay the indemnity within 60 days after receiving the notice of loss or, if the insurer requested them, the relevant information and vouchers» (art. 2473), and the insured must declare a loss to the insurer as soon as they become aware of it (art. 2470).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[3] Three years for an action to enforce a personal right where no other period is fixed (Civil Code of Québec, art. 2925); where the damage «appears progressively or tardily», the period runs from the day it appears for the first time (art. 2926).
Regulator	Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Quebec →

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[4] THIRTY DAYS TO RESPOND TO A CLAIM, EXTENDABLE ONLY BY THE INSURED’S AGREEMENT: «(16) FAILING TO RESPOND TO A CLAIM WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS, UNLESS THE INSURED SHALL AGREE TO A LONGER PERIOD» (§ 27-9.1-4(a)(16)). RHODE ISLAND HAS THE MOST NUMERICALLY SPECIFIC CLAIM-HANDLING TIMETABLE IN THIS DATASET AND IT MIXES BOTH UNITS INSIDE ONE SECTION, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY EACH UNIT IS QUOTED RATHER THAN PARAPHRASED. Beside the thirty days: «(13) failing to provide forms necessary to present claims WITHIN TEN (10) CALENDAR DAYS of a request with reasonable explanations regarding their use»; and on the vehicle itself, «(26) failure to perform an initial appraisal WITHIN THREE (3) BUSINESS DAYS after a request is received from an auto body repair shop», provided the damaged vehicle is on the shop’s premises when the request is made, «and failure to perform a supplemental appraisal inspection of a vehicle WITHIN FOUR (4) BUSINESS DAYS after a request is received from an auto body repair shop. IF THE INSURER’S APPRAISER FAILS TO INSPECT THE DAMAGED MOTOR VEHICLE WITHIN THE ALLOTTED NUMBER OF BUSINESS DAYS … THE INSURER SHALL FORFEIT ITS RIGHT TO INSPECT THE DAMAGED VEHICLE PRIOR TO REPAIRS, AND NEGOTIATIONS SHALL BE LIMITED TO LABOR AND THE PRICE OF PARTS and shall not, unless objective evidence to the contrary is provided by the insurer, INVOLVE DISPUTES AS TO THE EXISTENCE OF DAMAGE OR THE CHOSEN MANNER OF REPAIR.» That forfeiture is self-executing and is the most useful consequence attached to any missed deadline in this dataset. One further practice is worth knowing in itself: «(15) MISLEADING A CLAIMANT AS TO THE APPLICABLE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.» A LIMIT ON ALL OF IT IS PUBLISHED ON THE FACE OF THIS ROW RATHER THAN LEFT OUT, BECAUSE IT IS A REAL GATE AND NOT A QUIBBLE: the section’s opening words make each listed act an unfair claims practice only «IF COMMITTED IN VIOLATION OF § 27-9.1-3», and § 27-9.1-3 WAS NOT READ. So these figures are published as the statute’s own prohibitions, whose trigger has not yet been verified against a primary text, and not as free-standing deadlines a claimant can enforce without more.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	10 years from the accident ^[3] TEN YEARS, AND THIS IS THE LONGEST LIMITATION PERIOD ON ANY ROW IN THIS DATASET BY FOUR YEARS. A REVIEWER WILL BE TEMPTED TO TREAT IT AS AN ERROR; IT IS THE TEXT, AND IT IS NOT THREE. «§ 9-1-13. Limitation of actions generally — Product liability. (a) EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE SPECIALLY PROVIDED, ALL CIVIL ACTIONS SHALL BE COMMENCED WITHIN TEN (10) YEARS NEXT AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION SHALL ACCRUE, AND NOT AFTER.» RHODE ISLAND HAS NO PROPERTY-DAMAGE PARAGRAPH OF ITS OWN: § 9-1-14 covers only «words spoken» in subsection (a) and «injuries to the person» in subsection (b), so THERE IS NO THREE-YEAR PERIOD FOR VEHICLE DAMAGE ANYWHERE IN IT, and a claim for damage to a car falls into the residual ten years of § 9-1-13(a) — as does an action on the policy as a contract. Any summary giving three years for Rhode Island vehicle damage has carried the injury period across. THIS ROW IS DELIBERATELY CONSERVATIVE IN ONE RESPECT AND SAYS SO RATHER THAN OVERCLAIMING: it does NOT assert that nothing else in Rhode Island law «specially provides» for vehicle damage, because no full-text search of title 9 was run — a ten-year period is unusual enough that the saving deserves closing rather than assuming. Note also that subsection (b), the ten years from first purchase for product-liability claims, is marked by the publisher «[Ruled unconstitutional, see case notes]» and is NOT relied on here; the marker is quoted as the publisher’s apparatus and no case was read.
Regulator	Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, Insurance Division

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

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from when the damage became known ^[3] Two years from discovery (Limitations Act, s. 5), with the four-limb discovery test of s. 6(1) — and a Saskatchewan peculiarity that catches claimants: the claimant «is presumed to have known of the matters mentioned in clauses (1)(a) to (d) on the day on which the act or omission on which the claim is based took place, unless the contrary is proved» (s. 6(2)). No proceeding may be commenced after fifteen years from the act or omission (s. 7(1)).
Regulator	Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI)

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage

2 years from when the damage became known ^[3] Two years from discovery (Limitations Act, s. 5), with the four-limb discovery test of s. 6(1) — and a Saskatchewan peculiarity that catches claimants: the claimant «is presumed to have known of the matters mentioned in clauses (1)(a) to (d) on the day on which the act or omission on which the claim is based took place, unless the contrary is proved» (s. 6(2)). No proceeding may be commenced after fifteen years from the act or omission (s. 7(1)).

Regulator

Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Saskatchewan →

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	5 years from the accident ^[1] An obligation to make reparation is extinguished once it has subsisted for a continuous period of five years without a relevant claim or acknowledgment (Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, s. 6(1)).
Regulator	Financial Conduct Authority (conduct) · Financial Ombudsman Service (complaints)

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Scotland →

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[5] Three years for «an action for taking, detaining, or injuring any goods or chattels including an action for the specific recovery of personal property» (§ 15-3-530(4)). It runs from the accident, not from discovery: § 15-3-535’s «knew or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known» trigger is attached specifically to paragraph (5), the personal-injury limb, and is not extended past its own words here. Paragraph (3) of the same section, which reaches trespass upon or damage to real property, is a different provision.
Regulator	South Carolina Department of Insurance

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage

3 years from the accident ^[5] Three years for «an action for taking, detaining, or injuring any goods or chattels including an action for the specific recovery of personal property» (§ 15-3-530(4)). It runs from the accident, not from discovery: § 15-3-535’s «knew or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known» trigger is attached specifically to paragraph (5), the personal-injury limb, and is not extended past its own words here. Paragraph (3) of the same section, which reaches trespass upon or damage to real property, is a different provision.

Regulator

South Carolina Department of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	30 days from the claim ^[3] THIRTY DAYS, AND IN SOUTH DAKOTA THE CLOCK IS STATUTORY RATHER THAN ADMINISTRATIVE — unlike Alaska, Delaware, Nebraska and West Virginia, where the numbers live in a regulation. «In dealing with the insured or representative of the insured, unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the business of insurance include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) Failing to acknowledge and act within thirty days upon communications with respect to claims arising under insurance policies and to adopt and adhere to reasonable standards for the prompt investigation of such claims» (§ 58-33-67(1), history «SL 1986, ch 422, § 2; SL 1989, ch 439, § 3»). Note that ONE CLOCK COVERS BOTH DUTIES — to acknowledge AND to act — which is unusual. The days are PLAIN AND UNQUALIFIED: the section says neither «business» nor «working», so they are calendar days on the face of it, as in Hawaii and Iowa and unlike Alaska’s and Nebraska’s working days. TWO LIMITS TRAVEL WITH THE FIGURE. The section is worded «in dealing with the insured or representative of the insured», so it does not plainly reach a third-party claimant. And § 58-33-69 says in terms that «nothing in §§ 58-33-66 to 58-33-69, inclusive, grants a private right of action», so the thirty days are the Division of Insurance’s to enforce and not the policyholder’s — the same shape as West Virginia’s § 33-11-4a. NO AFFIRM-OR-DENY OR PAYMENT DEADLINE IS PUBLISHED FOR SOUTH DAKOTA, and the reason is stated in the notes rather than left as silence.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	6 years from the accident ^[2] SIX YEARS — twice the injury period, and one of the widest splits in this dataset, with the ordering REVERSED from the states where property damage is the shorter clock. «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 six years after the cause of action shall have accrued: … (4) An action for taking, detaining, or injuring any goods or chattels, including actions for specific recovery of personal property» (§ 15-2-13(4)). A damaged vehicle is «goods or chattels» on the face of the subdivision. NOTE THE OPENING PROVISO, which is shared with the injury section and is exactly where a motor-specific period would sit if one existed: «except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute».
Regulator	South Dakota Division of Insurance, Department of Labor and Regulation

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

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	3 months from the claim ^[3] Reasoned offer (oferta motivada) or reasoned reply within three months of the claim, for injuries and for property damage alike; late payment accrues statutory interest.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	1 years from when the damage became known ^[1] Civil liability for fault or negligence (Código Civil art. 1968.2), counted from when the injured party knew of it.
Regulator	Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Spain →

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	15 days from the claim ^[3] Calendar days from notice of the claim, to acknowledge, start investigating and request the documents it needs (30 business days for surplus-lines insurers).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	15 days from the claim ^[3] Business days after the insurer receives every item it required for final proof of loss; it may extend once by 45 days with written reasons.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	5 days from the claim ^[3] Business days after it notifies you that it will pay.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[1]
Regulator	Texas Department of Insurance

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Texas →

Insurer response deadlines — Pay	30 days from the claim ^[1] This is the personal-injury-protection payment clock and the only statutory clock Utah has. Benefits are payable monthly as expenses are incurred, and «benefits for any period are overdue if they are not paid within 30 days after the insurer receives reasonable proof of the fact and amount of expenses incurred during the period»; where reasonable proof covers only part of a claim, the proved part is overdue on its own. Late benefits bear interest at one and a half percent a month, and an insurer made to pay overdue benefits by an action must also pay the claimant a reasonable attorney’s fee (§ 31A-22-309(5)). No acknowledgement or decision deadline is stated on this page: § 31A-26-301(1)(b) leaves «the periods of time within which payment is required to be made to be timely» to a commissioner’s rule, and that rule has not yet been verified against a primary text.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	4 years from the accident ^[3] Four years, and the Code says so twice: § 78B-2-307(3) reaches «a claim involving personal property damage to the aggrieved party’s motor vehicle … or personal property from an accident involving a motor vehicle», and § 78B-2-305(1)(c)(ii) expressly lifts motor-vehicle claims — «including an accident involving a motor vehicle and bicycle» — out of the general three-year personal-property period. Both sections were amended by the same 2023 act.
Regulator	Utah Insurance Department

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

Deadline to sue for vehicle damage

3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years: «§ 512. Assault and battery; false imprisonment; slander and libel; injuries to person or property. ACTIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING CAUSES SHALL BE COMMENCED WITHIN THREE YEARS AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES, AND NOT AFTER: … (5) DAMAGE TO PERSONAL PROPERTY SUFFERED BY THE ACT OR DEFAULT OF ANOTHER.» Vermont is a SINGLE-CLOCK state at three years for both the body and the car — but the two halves do not share a trigger, and that is the distinction this row is careful about. THE DISCOVERY GLOSS IN PARAGRAPH (4) IS ATTACHED TO INJURIES TO THE PERSON ONLY; PARAGRAPH (5) CARRIES NO ACCRUAL GLOSS AT ALL, so the property claim runs on the general rule and THIS ROW DOES NOT ASSERT A DISCOVERY TRIGGER FOR IT. Amended 1967, No. 32, § 2, eff. 16 March 1967; 1975, No. 248 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.

Regulator

Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, Insurance Division

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	10 days from the claim ^[4] Business days, and the rule says so: within 10 business days of a notification of claim under an individual policy the insurer must acknowledge receipt, and the same 10 business days apply to any later communication from a claimant that reasonably suggests a reply is expected (WAC 284-30-360(1), (3)). Group contracts get 15. Converting this to calendar days would misstate the rule.
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[4] Calendar days here, and the chapter says so: the investigation must be completed within 30 calendar days of the notification unless it reasonably cannot be, in which case the claimant is owed written reasons and a fresh written notice every 30 days (WAC 284-30-370(1)(a)–(b)); within 30 calendar days of the notification the insurer must tell a first-party claimant in writing whether the claim is accepted or denied, and a denial must reference the specific provision, condition or exclusion relied on (WAC 284-30-380(1), (3)).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	15 days from the claim ^[4] Business days again: 15 business days to deliver payment of a settled claim after properly executed releases or other settlement documents reach the insurer or its attorney, 20 business days to furnish a release the insurer owes, and 3 business days for a settlement draft to be honoured after notice of receipt by the payor bank (WAC 284-30-330(15), (16)). The 15 days yield to any statute, rule or contract term that sets its own payment time. A supplemental estimate or final invoice from the chosen repair facility gets an answer in writing within 5 business days (WAC 284-30-390(1)(b)(iii)).
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[2] «An action for taking, detaining, or injuring personal property» — three years (RCW 4.16.080(2)). Subdivision (1) of the same section covers waste or trespass upon real property and is not the vehicle-damage provision.
Regulator	Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner

Verified as ofSeptember 10, 2026 · Car insurance claims in Washington →

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	15 days from the claim ^[3] Fifteen WORKING days: «Every insurer, upon receiving notification of a claim shall, within fifteen (15) working days, acknowledge the receipt of such notice unless full payment is made within such period of time. If an acknowledgment is made by means other than writing, an appropriate notation of such acknowledgment shall be made in the claim file of the insurer and dated. Notification given to an agent of an insurer shall be notification to the insurer» (W. Va. C.S.R. § 114-14-5.1). The escape is FULL payment, not part payment. The same fifteen working days apply to a reply to any other pertinent communication from a claimant that reasonably suggests a response is expected (§ 5.3), and to a complete written response to an inquiry from the Insurance Commissioner other than notice of a third-party administrative complaint (§ 5.2).
Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	30 days from the claim ^[3] THIRTY CALENDAR DAYS IS THE OUTER CLOCK, AND THE STRUCTURE IS UNLIKE ANY OTHER STATE IN THIS DATASET — THREE UNITS IN TWO SUBSECTIONS, QUOTED AS WRITTEN. «If the insurer needs more than thirty (30) calendar days from the date that a proof of loss from a first-party claimant or notice of claim from a third-party claimant is received to determine whether a claim should be accepted or denied, it shall so notify the claimant in writing within fifteen (15) working days after the thirty-day period expires. If the investigation remains incomplete, the insurer shall provide written notification of the delay to the claimant every forty-five (45) calendar days thereafter until the investigation is complete» (§ 114-14-6.7). Note the trigger differs by claimant: proof of loss for a first party, notice of claim for a third party. Separately, once the investigation is actually complete the insurer has only ten working days to act: «Within ten (10) working days of completing its investigation, the insurer shall deny the claim in writing or make a written offer» (§ 114-14-6.3).
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	15 days from the claim ^[3] Fifteen WORKING days from the agreement or from the claimant’s performance of any condition, whichever is later: «Every insurer shall pay any amount finally agreed upon in settlement of all or part of any claim not later than fifteen (15) working days from the receipt of such agreement by the insurer or from the date of the performance by the claimant of any condition set by such agreement, whichever is later» (§ 114-14-6.11). It reaches part-settlements as well as whole ones.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	2 years from the accident ^[2] Two years «next after the right to bring the same shall have accrued, if it be for damage to property» (§ 55-2-12(a)). Both West Virginia clocks are two years and both sit in one subsection-pair of one section, so there is no ambiguity of the kind other states in this dataset needed corrected. Subsection (c)’s one-year residual class — actions «of such nature that, in case a party die, it could not have been brought at common law by or against his personal representative» — reaches neither.
Regulator	West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner

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

Insurer response deadlines — Acknowledge the claim	10 days from the claim ^[8] Consecutive days — the rule’s own word, so calendar days — because the administrative rule requires insurers to acknowledge communications and provide forms «promptly» and then defines the word: «the terms “prompt” and “promptly” as used in this rule shall mean responsive action within 10 consecutive days from receipt of a communication concerning a claim» (Wis. Admin. Code § Ins 6.11(4)). Two limits travel with it: the definition is expressly subordinate, «except where a different period is specified by statute or rule», and § Ins 6.11(3)(a) bites only on conduct «without just cause and performed with such frequency as to indicate general business practice». Wisconsin has no decision clock at all — the duty to affirm or deny coverage is stated only as «within a reasonable time after proof of loss has been completed» (§ Ins 6.11(3)(a)7.), with no day count anywhere in the chapter.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	3 years from the accident ^[2] Three years, not the six that governs property generally, because § 893.52(2) carves out an action «to recover damages for an injury to real or personal property that are caused or sustained by, or that arise from, an accident involving a motor vehicle». Publishing six would be wrong by double. The period runs from accrual «or be barred», and the section fixes no accrual rule.
Regulator	Office of the Commissioner of Insurance

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

Insurer response deadlines — Accept or deny	45 days from the claim ^[3] FORTY-FIVE DAYS, AND ONE SENTENCE DOES THE WORK OF THREE CLOCKS — acceptance, rejection AND payment — which no other jurisdiction in this dataset achieves in a single provision: «Claims for benefits under a property or casualty insurance policy shall be rejected or accepted and paid by the insurer or its agent designated to receive those claims within forty-five (45) days after receipt of the claim and supporting bills» (§ 26-15-124(b)). Subsection (a) sets the same forty-five days for life, accident and health claims «after receipt of the proofs of loss and supporting evidence», with an exception where an accident-and-health question goes to the Wyoming state medical peer review committee. The days are PLAIN AND UNQUALIFIED — the section says neither «business» nor «working» — so calendar days on the face of it. AND NOTE THE TRIGGER: «receipt of the claim and supporting BILLS», not a formal proof of loss, which for a vehicle claim is the repair invoice.
Insurer response deadlines — Pay	45 days from the claim ^[3] The SAME forty-five days of § 26-15-124(b): the sentence requires the claim to be «rejected or accepted AND PAID … within forty-five (45) days after receipt of the claim and supporting bills», so the decision and the payment share one deadline rather than running consecutively as they do in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and West Virginia. THE REMEDY FOR THE OVERRUN IS FIXED AND PRINTABLE, UNLIKE NEW MEXICO’S FLOATING RATE: «if it is determined that the company refuses to pay the full amount of a loss covered by the policy and that the refusal is unreasonable or without cause, any court in which judgment is rendered for a claimant may also award a reasonable sum as an attorney’s fee and interest at ten percent (10%) per year» (§ 26-15-124(c)). Note what is weaker and what is stronger than in South Dakota: the standard is «unreasonable or without cause» rather than «vexatious or without reasonable cause», but the award is DISCRETIONARY («may») where South Dakota’s § 58-12-3 is mandatory.
Deadline to sue for vehicle damage	4 years from the accident ^[2] Four years from accrual: «Civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can only be brought within the following periods after the cause of action accrues: … (iv) Within four (4) years, an action for: … (B) The recovery of personal property or for taking, detaining or injuring personal property» (§ 1-3-105(a)(iv)(B)). WYOMING IS A SINGLE-CLOCK STATE FOR A CRASH — injury and vehicle damage share one four-year period IN THE SAME SUBDIVISION — which is unusual enough to state plainly, because most states split them.
Regulator	Wyoming Department of Insurance

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

Frequently asked questions

Should we report every minor incident to the insurer, or handle small damage ourselves?

Report it internally always; decide about the insurer with the numbers in front of you. A loss below the deductible costs the insurer nothing and still appears in the claims history a renewal is rated against, so paying for a mirror and a scuffed panel out of the maintenance budget is often rational. What makes it dangerous is injury: damage that looked cosmetic on the day can be followed by a personal-injury claim months later, and an insurer told about the incident at that point is being told late. The usual compromise is to notify everything and ask the insurer to record minor incidents for information, which keeps the notification obligation satisfied without turning every kerb strike into a paid claim. Whether your policy permits that distinction is in its wording.

The other driver was clearly at fault. Do we still claim on our own policy?

Often yes, and it is a timing decision rather than a fault decision. Claiming on your own cover gets the van repaired now, with your insurer pursuing the other side afterwards to recover what it paid and, usually, your deductible with it. Going directly to the other insurer avoids the deductible and the claims-history entry, and it puts your vehicle's repair on the schedule of an insurer with no contractual duty to you and no interest in your downtime. For a fleet with vehicles earning money, the faster route is normally the right one.

How long can the file stay open after the van is back on the road?

Longer than anyone expects, and the reason is the injury limb rather than the vehicle. A property-damage file closes when the repair is paid and any recovery is complete; a file with an injured third party stays open while treatment and the limitation period run, and the reserve sits against the fleet's loss record the whole time. This is why a fleet's claims history can read worse than its actual loss experience: open reserves on unresolved injury files are estimates, and they stay on the record until the file closes. What weight any particular market gives them is a question to put to your broker rather than something we can tell you.

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.

The scene, and the hour after it

First notice

The file opens

Repair authority

The branch where the van does not come back

Recovery, and the part everyone forgets

Return to service, and closing the file

Rules in your jurisdiction

Frequently asked questions

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