How we research our guides
What happens after a car crash depends mostly on state law: when you must report it, how insurance pays, how fault is shared, the minimum coverage, the deadlines to sue and how insurers must handle claims. This page explains where our information comes from and how the tools work.
Sources
Each state page is built from official state sources only: the statutes on the state legislature's website, the state insurance department, the motor vehicle agency and state police, and the state courts. Law-firm and blog sites may help us find a citation, but we confirm every fact in official text. Each page lists its sources and when it was checked. Small claims limits come from our sister site Small Claims Map, cross-checked with the deadlines on this site.
How we check
- Every state page is researched and then checked by a second, independent reviewer against the official text, with special care for crash-report thresholds, the insurance system, the comparative-fault rule, minimum insurance and the statute of limitations.
- A state page is published only after that check. Until then, the state appears on our map and in our tables as “not covered yet,” with a link to the state's motor vehicle agency or to NHTSA.
- Where we could not confirm something, we leave it out instead of guessing. Where we could not confirm a number, the tools say “check your state” and link to the official source.
The tools
The deadline calculator adds your state's statute of limitations for the type of claim you choose to the crash date, and shows the state's notes, such as notice rules for claims against a government. It is an estimate: exceptions can shorten or extend a deadline.
The fault and payout explainer applies your state's comparative-fault rule (pure, modified 50% bar, modified 51% bar or contributory negligence) to the share of fault and the damages you enter. It is an illustration, not a prediction: insurers, juries and judges decide the percentages.
The claim letter and the police report request letter fill a standard letter with what you type. Where our state data gives a day count for insurers to acknowledge a claim, the claim letter asks for an answer within it. The letters are made on your device in English, because insurers and police work in English, and you can download them as PDF, Word or text.
Report an error
Email us at [email protected] with a link to the official source and we'll check it.