Car Accident Settlement Amounts in Hawaii

Getting hit changes your week and maybe your year, and pretty quickly you want to know what the claim is worth. There's no single number that answers that. What a Hawaii car accident can actually pay out depends on a handful of state rules: whether your injuries clear Hawaii's no-fault threshold, how much insurance the at-fault driver carries, how the fault gets split, and whether you file in time. The general mechanics of a settlement live on our national hub. This page is about what's specific to Hawaii.

No-fault comes first, and it decides whether you can sue at all

Hawaii runs a no-fault system built around personal injury protection (PIP). Every auto policy has to carry at least $10,000 of PIP, and it pays your medical and rehabilitation bills after a crash no matter who was at fault.¹ PIP pays first, so for a minor collision your recovery can begin and end there.

To reach the at-fault driver's insurance for pain and suffering, you have to step outside no-fault. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 431:10C-306 lets you do that only if the crash causes death, a significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body, a permanent and serious disfigurement, or once the PIP benefits paid or payable on your behalf reach $5,000.² For most people that $5,000 medical figure is the gate. Until your treatment crosses it, or you have a clearly permanent injury, a pain-and-suffering claim against the other driver simply isn't available. That's why steady, documented treatment does more for a Hawaii settlement than almost anything else in the early weeks.

What limits most Hawaii payouts

Two different things put a ceiling on a settlement, and it helps to keep them separate.

The first is policy limits. On January 1, 2026, Hawaii's minimum liability limits rose to 40/80/20: $40,000 per person and $80,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $20,000 for property damage.³¹ That doubled the old 20/40/10 minimums under Act 138 of 2024.¹ The increase helps, but the at-fault driver's policy is still the practical ceiling on many claims. If that driver carries only the state minimum and your damages run past it, the difference has to come from your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, assuming you bought it. Hawaii lets drivers reject UM/UIM in writing, and plenty do, so pull your own declarations page and check.³

The second thing people assume will cap a settlement is a statutory damage cap. For a car accident, there isn't one. Hawaii caps pain-and-suffering damages at $375,000 under section 663-8.7, but the same statute says that limit "shall not apply to tort actions enumerated in section 663-10.9(2)," and motor vehicle accident torts are on that list.⁴⁵ Economic damages, meaning your medical bills, lost income, and future care, are never capped at all. In a serious Hawaii crash, no statute sets a maximum on what a jury can award you.

How fault splits cut your number

Hawaii follows modified comparative negligence. Under section 663-31, your damages drop by your share of the fault, and you lose the right to recover only when your negligence is "greater than" the other side's.⁶ So you can be up to 50 percent responsible and still collect something; at 51 percent you get nothing. Found 30 percent at fault on a $100,000 case, you take home $70,000. Adjusters know this cold and will push your percentage up wherever they can, because every point of fault they assign you is a straight discount on the check.

What pushes a Hawaii settlement higher

A few facts move the number the other way.

If the driver who hit you was drunk, punitive damages can sit on top of your compensatory award. Hawaii allows them when you show by clear and convincing evidence that the driver acted wantonly, oppressively, or with conscious indifference to the consequences.⁷ A DUI case can also come with a second defendant. Hawaii recognizes common-law dram shop liability, so a bar that keeps serving a visibly intoxicated customer who then causes a crash can be sued alongside the driver.⁸ A solvent second defendant often matters more to what you actually collect than the drunk driver's policy limit does.

Distraction is another one. Hawaii bans holding and using a phone while driving, and officers can stop you for it on its own, with a $300 fine that rises to $400 in a school or construction zone.⁹ A citation like that is hard evidence of negligence, and it firms up both liability and the settlement that follows.

Deadlines that can wipe out a claim

Two years. That is the deadline to file suit for injury and for property damage from a Hawaii crash, set by section 657-7.¹⁰ Blow past it and the claim is worth nothing, however strong it was. The same two-year window covers the damage to your vehicle.

Your PIP carrier faces its own clock. Under section 431:10C-304 it has to pay or deny a claim in writing within 30 days of reasonable proof of loss, and overdue payments run 1.5 percent interest per month.¹¹ If an adjuster is sitting on your medical bills, that unpaid interest works in your favor.

Vehicle damage and getting the paperwork

Your car is a separate claim from your body. If a fairly new vehicle was fixed properly but now carries a lower resale value because it has an accident on record, that lost value is its own recovery; our Hawaii diminished value guide covers how to pursue it. For the crash report, remember that Hawaii has no state highway patrol, so the report comes from the county police department that responded, whether that's Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui, or Kauai.¹² Our Hawaii crash report guide has the details.

Because the tort threshold, the fault percentages, and the policy limits all interact, two crashes with nearly identical injuries can settle for very different amounts. If your case is anything past a minor bump, it's worth having a lawyer look at it before you sign a release; you can start with our legal directory.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Division, "FAQ: Auto Insurance Minimum Limits" (effective January 1, 2026). https://cca.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Auto-Minimum-Limits-FAQs.pdf

2. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 431:10C-306 (abolition of tort liability; thresholds). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm

3. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 431:10C-301 (required motor vehicle insurance; UM/UIM), as amended by 2024 Act 138. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm

4. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 663-8.7 (limit on pain and suffering damages). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0008_0007.htm

5. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 663-10.9 (actions to which the damages limit does not apply). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0010_0009.htm

6. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 663-31 (comparative negligence). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm

7. Masaki v. General Motors Corp., 71 Haw. 1, 780 P.2d 566 (1989). https://law.justia.com/cases/hawaii/supreme-court/1989/13023-2.html

8. Ono v. Applegate, 62 Haw. 131, 612 P.2d 533 (1980). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1270764/ono-v-applegate/

9. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 291C-137 (mobile electronic devices while driving). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol05_ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0137.htm

10. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 657-7 (two-year limitation for injury and property damage). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm

11. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 431:10C-304 (payment of PIP benefits; interest on overdue amounts). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0304.htm

12. Honolulu Police Department, Police Reports. https://www.honolulupd.org/police-reports/