Car Accident Laws in Pennsylvania: Fault, Insurance & Deadlines

Short answer up front: Pennsylvania is a "choice no-fault" state. Every driver's own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) pays initial medical bills no matter who caused the crash, but whether you can also sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering depends on the "full tort" or "limited tort" option you picked when you bought your policy. For a lawsuit over an injury, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file suit (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524). If a government-owned vehicle was involved, that window is effectively much shorter because written notice is due within six months. Read on before you assume you have "plenty of time."

1. Is Pennsylvania a No-Fault or At-Fault State?

Pennsylvania is one of only a few "choice no-fault" states (along with New Jersey and Kentucky). Two things are both true at once:

• No-fault applies to your own medical bills. Every auto policy must include at least $5,000 of Personal Injury Protection (PIP), also called first-party medical benefits. Your own insurer pays your initial medical expenses regardless of who caused the crash. You do not have to prove the other driver was at fault to get PIP benefits paid.
• Fault still matters for everything else. When you registered your vehicle, you (or the named insured) had to choose between two "tort options" printed on the policy:
  • Full tort preserves your unrestricted right to sue an at-fault driver for pain and suffering and other non-economic damages.
  • Limited tort lets you recover all your medical bills and lost wages from the at-fault driver, but you can only recover for pain and suffering if your injury meets the "serious injury" threshold (death, serious permanent disfigurement, or serious permanent impairment of a body function) — or if an exception applies (for example, the at-fault driver was drunk, uninsured, driving a vehicle registered out of state, or intended to cause the injury).

If you never affirmatively chose an option and didn't respond to your insurer's renewal notice, Pennsylvania law presumes you selected full tort. Check your declarations page — this single checkbox can determine whether you can recover for pain and suffering at all.

2. Minimum Auto Insurance Required in Pennsylvania

Under Pennsylvania's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, every registered vehicle must carry at least:

• Bodily injury liability: $15,000 per person / $30,000 per accident
• Property damage liability: $5,000 per accident
• Personal Injury Protection (PIP): at least $5,000 in first-party medical benefits per person

These figures are commonly written as "15/30/5." They are legal minimums only — they are frequently not enough to cover a serious injury crash, so many drivers carry higher limits.

Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage is not automatically required, but insurers must offer it with every policy. If you don't want it, you must reject it in writing on a specific statutory form (75 Pa.C.S. § 1731). If your insurer never gives you a valid rejection form to sign, the law treats you as having UM/UIM coverage equal to your bodily injury liability limits. Given how many Pennsylvania drivers carry only the state minimum, UM/UIM is worth confirming on your own policy.

Because insurance minimums are periodically debated in the legislature, verify current figures with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department before relying on them for a legal filing.

3. Deadline to Sue After a Pennsylvania Car Accident (Statute of Limitations)

Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524, Pennsylvania gives you:

• Two years from the date of the crash to sue for personal injury; and
• Two years from the date of the crash to sue for property damage (damage to your vehicle or other property).

Two narrow exceptions can extend the clock: the discovery rule, which can delay the start of the clock if an injury wasn't and reasonably couldn't have been discovered right away, and minority tolling, which pauses the clock for an injured child until they turn 18 (so a minor generally has until their 20th birthday). Neither exception should be assumed to apply to your situation — confirm with a Pennsylvania attorney or the current statute if you're near the deadline.

If a Commonwealth or local government vehicle (a police car, snowplow, transit bus, or similar) was involved, the effective deadline is far shorter. You must generally serve written notice within six months of the crash under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5522, long before the two-year suit deadline even becomes relevant. Missing that six-month notice window can bar your claim entirely, even though two years haven't passed.

4. Shared Fault: Pennsylvania's Modified Comparative Negligence Rule

Pennsylvania follows modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar, codified at 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102. In practice:

• If you are 50% or less at fault, you can still recover damages — but your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. (Example: $100,000 in damages, you're found 20% at fault, you recover $80,000.)
• If you are found 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing.

Insurance adjusters routinely assign partial fault to injured drivers specifically to push them toward or over that 51% line, so don't accept a fault percentage from an adjuster's phone call at face value — get the police report and any available evidence before agreeing to anything.

5. When You Must Report a Crash in Pennsylvania

Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3746, the driver (or a capable passenger, if the driver can't) must immediately notify the nearest police department if the crash involved:

• Injury to or death of any person; or
• Damage severe enough that a vehicle cannot be driven from the scene under its own power without further damage or hazard — i.e., it needs to be towed.

If police do not investigate at the scene under those circumstances, Pennsylvania law (75 Pa.C.S. § 3747) requires the driver to file a written Driver's Accident Report (Form AA-600) with PennDOT within five days of the crash. The form is free to file and is available directly from PennDOT. For a fender-bender with no injuries and no vehicle disabled, Pennsylvania law does not impose a separate dollar-threshold reporting duty the way some other states do — but exchanging information and documenting the scene is still wise for insurance purposes.

6. Damage Caps and Claims Against a Government Vehicle

Suing the government after a crash works differently than suing another driver, and the numbers are capped by statute:

• Commonwealth vehicles (PennDOT, state police, other state agencies): damages are capped at $250,000 per plaintiff and $1,000,000 in the aggregate per occurrence under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8528. This cap has faced constitutional challenges in Pennsylvania's appellate courts in recent years, so confirm its current status before relying on it.
• Local government vehicles (city, township, school district, municipal transit): damages are capped at $500,000 in the aggregate per occurrence under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8553, and certain damages (like pain and suffering) are only recoverable if you meet specific statutory thresholds.
• Written notice within six months of the crash (42 Pa.C.S. § 5522) is required before you can sue any government unit — this is far shorter than the two-year deadline for suing a private driver, and missing it can end your claim regardless of how much time is technically left on the general statute of limitations.

What to Do After a Crash in Pennsylvania

1. Check for injuries and move to safety if the vehicles are drivable and it's safe to do so.
2. Call 911 if anyone is hurt, anyone died, or a vehicle needs to be towed — Pennsylvania law requires this notification, not just good practice.
3. Exchange information — names, addresses, driver's license numbers, insurance companies and policy numbers, and license plates.
4. Document the scene — photos of vehicle damage, positions, skid marks, traffic signs/signals, and injuries; get names and contact information for any witnesses.
5. Get the police report number if an officer responds, and request the report from the investigating department once it's filed.
6. File the AA-600 driver's report with PennDOT within five days if police did not investigate and the crash involved injury, death, or a disabled vehicle.
7. Get medical evaluation promptly, even if you feel "fine" — this both protects your health and creates a medical record tying your injuries to the crash date, which matters for PIP and for any later claim.
8. Notify your own insurer to open a PIP/medical-benefits claim regardless of fault, and note your full-tort or limited-tort status on your policy.
9. Note the crash date on a calendar and count backward: if a government vehicle was involved, the notice deadline is six months, not two years.
10. Talk to a Pennsylvania attorney before signing any settlement release, especially if you have ongoing symptoms, shared fault has been suggested, or a government vehicle was involved.

This article is general information about Pennsylvania law as of 2026, not legal advice for your specific situation — confirm current statutes and deadlines with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, PennDOT, or a licensed Pennsylvania attorney before acting.