Car insurance claims in Colorado
Fault rules, deadlines, insurer response times, minimum coverage and the regulator for car insurance claims in Colorado, with every rule cited to its source.
Verified as of September 11, 2026
| Fault system | At-fault (tort) |
|---|---|
| Shared-fault rule | Modified comparative (50% bar) Colorado bars at exactly half. Recovery survives only «if such negligence was not as great as the negligence of the person against whom recovery is sought», and where the claimant’s proportion «is equal to or greater than the negligence of the person against whom recovery is sought, then, in such event, the court shall enter a judgment for the defendant» (C.R.S. § 13-21-111(1), (3)). A claimant found exactly 50 % responsible recovers nothing. |
| 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. |
| Deadline to sue for injury | 3 years from the accident [2] The same paragraph, the same three years, running «after the cause of action accrues» — the section fixes no accrual rule, and in a crash accrual and the collision normally coincide (C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n)(I)). |
| Deadline to sue your own insurer | 3 years from the accident [2] Contract actions also run three years in Colorado (C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(a)), so the action on the policy is no longer than the action on the crash; § 13-80-103.5 carves out certain instruments and was not read, and the section fixes no accrual rule. Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims have their own section: three years from accrual, extendable to «two years after the insured knows that the particular tortfeasor is not covered by any applicable insurance» where the underlying action was brought in time, and «in no event shall the insured have less than three years» (§ 13-80-107.5(1)). |
| 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)). |
| Minimum liability coverage | Bodily injury, per person $25,000 · Bodily injury, per accident $50,000 · Property damage $15,000 [1] What Colorado compels is «legal liability coverage» and nothing else, to a limit «exclusive of interest and costs» of $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident and $15,000 for property damage (C.R.S. § 10-4-620, whose own source line reads «effective July 1» 2003), corroborated in the Financial Responsibility Act at § 42-7-103(2). Those three words matter: interest and costs come out of the same figure rather than sitting on top of it. The medical payments layer is separate and rejectable (§ 10-4-635). |
| Diminished value recoverable | Limited |
| Uninsured / underinsured motorist cover | Optional |
| Regulator | Colorado Division of Insurance |
- Colorado Revised Statutes, title 10 (Insurance) — §§ 10-4-619, 10-4-620, 10-4-609, 10-4-635, 10-3-1104, 10-3-1115, 10-3-1116, and §§ 10-4-701 to 10-4-726 (repealed), § 10-4-619(1); § 10-4-620; § 10-4-609(1)(a)(I)–(II), (1)(c), (2), (4); § 10-4-635(1); § 10-3-1104(1)(h); § 10-3-1115(1)–(2); § 10-3-1116(1); §§ 10-4-701 to 10-4-726 (repealed) — verified as of 2026-09-12
- Colorado Revised Statutes, title 13 (Courts and Court Procedure) — §§ 13-21-111, 13-21-111.5, 13-80-101, 13-80-107.5, § 13-21-111(1)–(3); § 13-21-111.5(1); § 13-80-101(1)(a), (1)(n)(I)–(II); § 13-80-107.5(1)(a)–(b) — verified as of 2026-09-12
- Colorado Revised Statutes, title 42 (Vehicles and Traffic) — §§ 42-7-103(2), 42-4-1606, § 42-7-103(2); § 42-4-1606(1), (4)(a)(I) — verified as of 2026-09-12
- 3 CCR 702-5 (Property and Casualty) — Regulation 5-1-14, Penalties for Failure to Promptly Address Property and Casualty First Party Claims; Regulation 5-2-15, Consumer Protection for Vehicle Valuation and Rental Reimbursement, Regulation 5-1-14 § 4(A)(1)(a)–(c), (2)(a), (3), (5); Regulation 5-2-15 § 5(A), (B)(2)–(3) — verified as of 2026-09-12
- Hyden v. Farmers Ins. Exchange, 20 P.3d 1222 (Colo. App. 2000), No. 99CA1731, Holding; decided 14 September 2000, rehearing denied 12 October 2000, certiorari denied 16 April 2001, opinion by Dailey, J. — verified as of 2026-09-12
- Colorado Division of Insurance — department homepage, Homepage — verified as of 2026-09-12
- Colorado Division of Insurance — File a Complaint, Page title and body — verified as of 2026-09-12
Colorado used to be a no-fault state and stopped being one on a date the statute book still prints: sections 10-4-701 to 10-4-726 are marked «(Repealed)», and the editor’s note records that «section 10-4-726 provided for the repeal of this part 7, effective July 1, 2003». The structure that replaced it arrived the same year. Every owner who drives on the public highways, or knowingly lets someone else, «shall have in full force and effect a complying policy» (§ 10-4-619(1)), and the required cover is legal liability coverage of 25/50/15, all «exclusive of interest and costs». The one first-party layer the law asks for is $5,000 of medical payments cover, rejectable in writing — but if the insurer cannot produce proof of that rejection, «the insured’s policy shall be presumed to include medical payments coverage with benefits of five thousand dollars» (§ 10-4-635(1)(c)).
On shared fault Colorado is the strict one, and this is the most important thing on the page. Contributory negligence does not bar recovery «if such negligence was not as great as the negligence of the person against whom recovery is sought», and subsection (3) leaves no room to argue: a proportion «equal to or greater than» the defendant’s produces judgment for the defendant (§ 13-21-111). A claimant found exactly fifty percent responsible recovers nothing here, where in Connecticut, Indiana and Wisconsin the same claimant recovers half. Below that line the award falls in proportion, and each defendant pays only «that represented by the degree or percentage of the negligence or fault attributable to such defendant» (§ 13-21-111.5(1)). One consequence is written into the insurance code: raising comparative negligence «as a defense or partial offset in the adjustment of a third-party claim … without conducting a reasonable investigation» is itself an unfair claim settlement practice (§ 10-3-1104(1)(h)(XV)), and that subdivision bites on a single wilful act, because its gateway is disjunctive.
The court deadline is three years and it is the same three years for everything: injury and vehicle damage share one clock, contract actions run three years too, and uninsured or underinsured motorist claims get their own generous section. Colorado’s insurer clocks come from regulation rather than statute, and there are two with different units — sixty plain days to decide and/or pay a first-party claim, and three business days to pay a third-party claimant who has accepted a total-loss offer and handed over title, with a comparable-class replacement vehicle that begins the day of the loss. The statute adds a real remedy on top, for your own insurer only: a first-party claimant whose claim «has been unreasonably delayed or denied may bring an action in a district court to recover reasonable attorney fees and court costs and two times the covered benefit» (§ 10-3-1116(1)), where unreasonable means the insurer acted «without a reasonable basis» (§ 10-3-1115(2)). A third-party claimant against somebody else’s liability policy is expressly outside that section.
On reporting there is no dollar threshold at all: a driver in an accident «resulting in injury to, serious bodily injury to, or death of any person or any property damage» must give immediate notice to the nearest police authority (§ 42-4-1606(1)). Any Colorado figure a reader meets is an import from a summary site. And on diminished value Colorado has an answer where most states have none, though a narrow one: the Court of Appeals has held that when an insurer promises a vehicle «of like kind and quality» it «must provide the insured, through repair, replacement, and/or compensation, the means of acquiring a vehicle substantially similar in function and value to that which the insured had prior to his or her accident» (Hyden v. Farmers Ins. Exchange, 20 P.3d 1222 (Colo. App. 2000)). That is a first-party right under the policy’s own words, read as a contract-construction holding — whether Colorado tort law allows a diminished-value claim against the at-fault driver has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.
File a complaint: Colorado Division of Insurance →
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to sue for injuries after a car accident in Colorado?
3 years from the accident (Colorado Revised Statutes, title 13 (Courts and Court Procedure) — §§ 13-21-111, 13-21-111.5, 13-80-101, 13-80-107.5 — The same paragraph, the same three years, running «after the cause of action accrues» — the section fixes no accrual rule, and in a crash accrual and the collision normally coincide (C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n)(I)).).
Is Colorado an at-fault or no-fault jurisdiction?
At-fault (tort). Shared-fault rule: Modified comparative (50% bar).
Who do I complain to about an insurer in Colorado?
Colorado Division of Insurance (https://doi.colorado.gov/for-consumers/file-a-complaint).
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.