In Florida’s no-fault system, the claim begins with your own insurer. Personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays first whoever caused the crash, picking up 80% of medical bills and 60% of lost wages up to $10,000. What it never pays for is pain and suffering.
Most drivers lose their PIP to one overlooked rule. You generally have to see a doctor within 14 days of the crash to use your PIP benefits at all. Miss that window and the coverage can be gone for good.
Serious injuries change the picture. A permanent injury, significant scarring, the loss of an important bodily function: any of these lets you step outside no-fault and bring a claim directly against the at-fault driver for what PIP never covers. Fault becomes the central fight at that stage. Under Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule, say a jury values your claim at $300,000 but finds you 35% responsible. You recover $195,000. Cross 50%, and you recover nothing.
One deadline sits under all of it. Since a 2023 change to Florida law, the deadline to file an injury lawsuit is two years from the crash, not the four years many people still assume. Two years can sound generous, but a serious case needs most of that time to build.
