The checklist · Organized by clock, not by topic
What to Do After a Car Accident in Florida
Florida Car Accident Settlement covers what to do after a car accident in Florida, in the order the deadlines actually run. Everything here protects two things: your health, and the evidence your claim will be built from. Florida rewards drivers who handle the first hour, the first week and the first month correctly, and quietly punishes everyone else.
- Hour 1safety, the report, and evidence that disappears
- Week 1insurers, paperwork, and what not to say
- Day 14the PIP medical deadline (Fla. Stat. 627.736)
- Year 2the lawsuit deadline (Fla. Stat. 95.11)
If anyone may be seriously injured, 911 outranks every word on this page.
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The at-the-scene checklist
Work down this list from where you are standing. It stays checked if you close the page and come back, so you can do it over twenty minutes while everything else is happening. Nothing you tap leaves your phone.
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Injury, death, or apparent damage of $500 or more requires immediate notice to law enforcement under Fla. Stat. 316.065. Florida law also requires you to render reasonable assistance to anyone injured.
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Secondary collisions injure people who survived the first one. Move to a shoulder or lot if the vehicles are drivable and it is safe. Hazards on.
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Adrenaline hides pain for hours. Saying you are uninjured becomes a low injury code on the report, and an apology becomes an admission under Florida's 50% fault bar. Say you are not sure yet.
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Correct legal name and license number. Misheard names are one of the most common crash report errors.
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Carrier and policy number. Do not write these down from what someone tells you.
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Ties the plate to the actual vehicle. Ask whether they own it: a different registered owner can mean another policy.
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The most perishable thing at any scene. Officers often record only the drivers. An independent witness is the only account that belongs to neither side, and they leave in about five minutes.
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Where the cars came to rest, the lights and signs from each approach, skid marks, debris, road surface, weather. Damage photos show force. Wide photos show fault.
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Storefronts, gas stations, doorbells. Most systems overwrite within days, so note them now and ask today or tomorrow.
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This is how you retrieve the report and who to contact if something on it is wrong. If no officer comes, you can file the report yourself.
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Cash-at-the-scene collapses as soon as hidden damage or a delayed injury shows up, and by then there is no report and no recourse.
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Fla. Stat. 627.736 forfeits up to $10,000 in PIP benefits if initial care happens after day 14. No hardship exception. This is the one that cannot be fixed later.
That is the scene handled.
The clock that matters now is medical, and it started the moment the crash did. Call and we will tell you exactly where you stand. Free, no obligation, and we are not a law firm.
Call (518) 538-3140 now Or check my 14-day deadline firstGeneral information, not legal or medical advice. If anyone may be seriously hurt, stop reading and call 911.
Free tool · The calculation runs in your browser
Check your Florida accident deadlines
Enter the date of your crash. This calculates the two deadlines Florida law puts on your claim: the 14-day medical window under Fla. Stat. 627.736 and the lawsuit deadline under Fla. Stat. 95.11. The math runs in your browser, and your crash date is not sent anywhere unless you ask us to email your results.
This is a calendar calculation for general information, not legal advice, and it does not account for every situation. Claims against government entities, wrongful death claims, and cases with tolling or minor claimants follow different schedules. Confirm any deadline with a licensed Florida attorney before relying on it.
The first hour: at the scene
Make the scene safe and call 911
Move drivable vehicles out of travel lanes; secondary collisions injure people who survived the first one. Florida requires reporting crashes involving injury or significant damage, and the 911 call creates the official record's first timestamp.
Photograph like the case depends on it
All four corners of every vehicle, wide shots placing the scene, skid marks, debris fields, traffic signals, license plates, and visible injuries. Fault percentages get argued months later from exactly these images, and the scene sweeps itself clean within the hour.
Collect people, not just paper
License, insurance, and plate from every driver, and names with phone numbers from witnesses before they drive off. Under Florida's 50% fault bar, one independent witness can be the difference between a claim and nothing.
Give facts, not verdicts
Tell the officer what happened. Skip apologies, fault theories, and diagnoses of your own condition; "I'm fine" said at the scene has a long memory in claims files. Fault is allocated from evidence later, not declared on the shoulder of the road.
Each of those four steps has a page behind it. The exchange guide covers exactly what Fla. Stat. 316.062 requires versus what is merely useful, and when Fla. Stat. 316.065 obligates you to call police.
The ER or urgent care page covers the medical decision, which in Florida is also an insurance decision. If the crash looked like nothing, read minor car accidents first, because that is the category where benefits get forfeited most often.
The first week: reports and insurers
Get the crash report in motion
Florida crash reports are requested through the FLHSMV crash records portal, generally becoming available about ten days after the crash for roughly $10 plus a small convenience fee. For the first 60 days access is restricted to involved parties and their representatives under Fla. Stat. 316.066, so have identification ready. If police never responded, file the state's self-report form through the same site; a crash with no report of any kind becomes a swearing match later.
Notify your own insurer promptly
Your policy requires timely notice, and since Florida is a no-fault state, your own PIP coverage is the first payer for medical care regardless of fault. Report facts: when, where, vehicles involved, visible damage, and that you are being evaluated medically.
Be careful with the other side's insurer
You have no obligation to give the at-fault driver's carrier a recorded statement, and the first week is the worst time to do it. Injuries have not finished declaring themselves, and a cheerful recorded "just sore" becomes an exhibit against the diagnosis that arrives on day ten. Decline politely or keep strictly to the basic facts.
The crash report guide covers how to read the contributing-cause and injury-severity codes an adjuster will see before you do, and what can realistically be corrected. The talking to insurance guide works through which company owes you what, and the four phrases that do the most damage in a recorded call.
Start the file
One folder, physical or on your phone: scene photos, the report number, everyone's information, medical paperwork as it accumulates, receipts, and missed-work records. Every later stage of the claim gets easier and cheaper with this file already built.
Day 14: the deadline that does not forgive
Within 14 calendar days of the crash, you must receive initial medical care from a qualifying provider, a hospital or EMS, a physician, a dentist, or a licensed chiropractor, or your PIP benefits are forfeited under Fla. Stat. 627.736, whether the crash happened in South Florida, Central Florida or the Panhandle. Up to $10,000 in no-fault coverage rides on that one appointment, and the statute contains no exception for delayed symptoms, busy schedules, or good intentions.
This deadline earns its own guide because it is both the most missed and the most mechanical: crash-injury symptoms routinely take days to surface, people wait to see how they feel, and day 15 arrives with everything forfeited. The 14-day rule guide covers what qualifies, the $2,500 emergency-condition trap inside the rule, and what the deadline does to settlement value.
The short version: get examined this week, even if you feel mostly fine. The exam either protects your benefits and starts a clean record, or it is a short appointment and good news.
The first month: positioning the claim
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Follow the treatment plan without gaps
The medical record being built right now is the claim. Missed appointments and multi-week holes get read as recovery, whatever the actual reason, and the whiplash guide shows how systematically insurers use them.
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Track the money as it happens
Out-of-pocket costs, mileage to appointments, missed shifts with pay stubs, and employer confirmation of time lost. PIP pays 60% of documented lost wages within its cap; undocumented losses are just losses.
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Understand what you are not obligated to sign
Broad medical authorizations from the other side's insurer, early settlement releases, and recorded statement requests can all wait until you understand the claim's shape. A release signed in week three covers whatever the MRI finds in week six, permanently.
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Decide about representation on your own timeline
For clearly minor claims, some people proceed alone. For real injuries, disputed fault, or thin coverage on the other side, a consultation with a licensed Florida attorney costs nothing and the earlier it happens, the more of the evidence window it can still use. The lawsuit guide explains the leverage math either way.
After-a-crash questions
The other driver wants to handle it without insurance. Should I agree?
No. Cash-at-the-scene arrangements collapse as soon as hidden vehicle damage or delayed injuries surface, and by then there is no report, no record, and no recourse. Exchange information, file the report, and let the system you both already pay for do its job.
Do I need a police report for a minor crash?
If officers respond, you get one; if they do not, Florida's self-report form through FLHSMV fills the gap and you should file it. Minor crashes generate a surprising share of injury claims precisely because nobody braced for impact, and the report you almost skipped becomes the document everything else refers back to.
Should I talk to the other driver's insurance company when they call?
You can confirm the basic facts, and nothing more is owed. Decline recorded statements early on, do not speculate about fault or your medical condition, and never accept a settlement figure in that first friendly call. Their adjuster's job is closing the claim inexpensively; your job in week one is treatment and documentation.
What if the crash was partly my fault?
Your PIP benefits are unaffected; no-fault coverage pays regardless. For the claim against the other driver, Florida reduces recovery by your fault percentage and bars it entirely above 50% under Fla. Stat. 768.81. Which is exactly why the scene evidence and witnesses from the first hour matter: fault percentages are built from them.
When exactly does the two-year lawsuit clock run out?
Two years from the crash date for negligence claims accruing on or after March 24, 2023, under Fla. Stat. 95.11. Treat the practical deadline as much earlier, since cases need months of assembly before filing, and note that claims involving government vehicles or wrongful death run on different schedules. Older articles saying four years predate the 2023 reform.
Still not sure how this applies to you?
Every crash is different, and the answer usually turns on your dates. Tell us what happened and we will tell you where you stand. Free, no obligation, and we are not a law firm.
Call (518) 538-3140 nowPrimary sources: Fla. Stat. 627.736 (PIP and the 14-day requirement), Fla. Stat. 316.066 (crash reports and the 60-day access restriction), Fla. Stat. 768.81 (comparative fault), Fla. Stat. 95.11 (limitations period), and the FLHSMV crash records portal. Statute text at Online Sunshine. General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed August 22, 2026.
About this guide
- Florida Car Accident Settlement is an independent informational guide to what to do after a car accident in Florida.
- Florida Car Accident Settlement covers the state of Florida.
- Florida Car Accident Settlement explains what to do after a Florida car accident in the order the deadlines actually run.
- Florida Car Accident Settlement cites Fla. Stat. 627.736, Fla. Stat. 95.11 and Fla. Stat. 316.066 as the primary sources for this page.
- Florida Car Accident Settlement is not a law firm and gives no legal advice.