How Long After a Car Accident Can You Sue in California?
You have two years from the date of a California car accident to file an injury lawsuit, and three years for vehicle or property damage. If a government entity is involved, you must file an administrative claim within six months. Miss the deadline and the claim is almost always permanently barred.
Deadline questions? Get answers now — 24/7.
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What is the statute of limitations for a car accident in California?
Two years from the date of injury for personal injury claims (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1), and three years for damage to your vehicle or other property (Code Civ. Proc. § 338(b)–(c)). The clock starts on the accident date, not when treatment ends or when the insurer stops negotiating.
Does filing an insurance claim count as suing?
No — and this misunderstanding quietly kills claims. An open insurance claim, ongoing negotiations, even a friendly adjuster promising to “take care of you” do not stop the statute of limitations. Only filing a lawsuit in court does. If negotiations approach the two-year mark, suit gets filed to preserve the claim and negotiations continue afterward.
What if the crash involved a government vehicle or a public road?
The deadline collapses to six months. A crash with a city or county vehicle, a Metro bus, or one caused by a dangerous condition of public property (a broken signal, a defective road design) requires a written claim to the entity within six months of the accident (Gov. Code § 911.2).
The entity then has 45 days to respond (Gov. Code § 912.4); if the claim is rejected, you generally have six months from the rejection notice to file suit (Gov. Code § 945.6). Late-claim relief exists (Gov. Code § 911.4) but is discretionary and hard — treat six months as the real deadline.
Does the deadline change for a child?
Yes. For minors, the two-year personal injury clock is tolled until age 18 (Code Civ. Proc. § 352) — so an injured child generally has until their 20th birthday to sue. Important exception: the six-month government claim deadline is not automatically excused for minors; a claim should still be filed on the child’s behalf within six months where a public entity is involved.
Are there other exceptions that extend the deadline?
A few, all narrow. Tolling can apply while the defendant is out of state (Code Civ. Proc. § 351) or while the plaintiff lacks legal capacity (§ 352). The “discovery rule” can delay accrual where an injury genuinely couldn’t have been discovered promptly — rare in car accident cases, where the event is known immediately. If someone died, wrongful death has its own two-year clock running from the date of death (§ 335.1). None of these are safe to rely on without advice.
What happens if I miss the deadline?
The defense raises the statute of limitations, and the case is dismissed regardless of how strong the underlying claim was — courts have no general power to forgive a missed statute. Insurers know the date to the day and simply stop negotiating once it passes. If you think your deadline may have passed, get advice anyway: accrual dates, tolling, and multiple-defendant situations occasionally leave a live path.
Don’t guess your deadline. Confirm it.
Se habla español — Llama Me. No out-of-pocket fees — we work on contingency.
