Fault system in Illinois: no-fault vs at-fault

If another driver hits you in Illinois, the state's rules put the cost of that crash on whoever caused it. Illinois is an at-fault state, sometimes called a tort state. There is no personal injury protection (PIP) requirement here, and nothing like the no-fault systems that pay your own medical bills first regardless of blame. You make your claim against the driver who was responsible, or that driver's insurer, and how much you actually collect turns on how fault gets divided.

Crashes here are not rare. In the city of Chicago alone, police recorded 109,112 crashes in 2025,¹ and another 9,461 in January 2026.² Most of the people in those crashes are left to sort out who pays under the fault rules below.

At-fault, not no-fault

In a true no-fault state, your own insurer covers your injury bills through PIP no matter who caused the wreck, and you can only sue for serious injuries. Illinois works the opposite way. The Illinois Department of Insurance describes the state as running on comparative negligence, where the party responsible for the crash pays for the harm.³

There is no PIP mandate. Medical payments coverage (MedPay), which pays your and your passengers' medical and funeral costs regardless of fault, is optional. The Department of Insurance lists it among coverages you can buy for extra premium, not among the ones the law requires.⁴ So the money for your medical bills and lost wages generally comes from the at-fault driver's liability policy, from your own optional coverages if you bought them, or from a settlement or verdict later on.

The 51% rule

Illinois follows modified comparative negligence, and it is written into statute at 735 ILCS 5/2-1116. The line that matters: a plaintiff "shall be barred from recovering damages" if a judge or jury finds their share of the fault is "more than 50%" of what caused the injury.⁵ If your fault is 50% or less, you can still recover, but your award is cut by your own percentage.⁵

Here is how that plays out. Say your damages come to $100,000 and you are found 20% responsible for the crash. You recover $80,000. The Department of Insurance uses the same math in its consumer explainer.³ Cross the line to 51%, though, and you get nothing.

That single number is why fault fights get heated. An insurer has a direct financial reason to pin as much blame on you as it can, because every percentage point it shifts lowers what it owes, and pushing you past 50% erases the claim entirely. This is where the police report, photos, witness statements, and medical records do the real work.

Who actually pays, and the limits

The at-fault driver's liability insurance is the first place your claim goes. Illinois requires every driver to carry at least $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash for injuries, and $20,000 for property damage, the 25/50/20 minimum set by 625 ILCS 5/7-203.⁶ Those figures have not moved in years, and a serious injury can blow past $25,000 fast.

That gap is what uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is for. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a, an Illinois auto policy must include uninsured motorist (UM) bodily injury coverage in limits at least equal to the mandatory minimums, so 25/50 or higher.⁷ Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, which fills the difference when the at-fault driver's limits are too low to cover your injuries, is required once you carry UM limits above the state minimum.⁷ If the person who hit you had no insurance or barely any, this is often the coverage that carries your claim.

When more than one party is at fault

Fault in Illinois is not always limited to the other driver. Under the state's Dram Shop Act, 235 ILCS 5/6-21, a bar, restaurant, or other seller that served the alcohol causing a driver's intoxication can be held liable to the people that driver later injures.⁸

Two things make dram shop claims different. The deadline is short. The Act bars any action "unless commenced within one year," half the usual injury window.⁸ And recovery is capped, then adjusted every year for inflation. For judgments or settlements on or after January 20, 2026, the Illinois Comptroller set the limit at $90,411.55 per injured person, and $110,503.00 for loss of means of support or loss of society.⁹

Deadlines that turn on who you are suing

Fault decides who pays. It also shapes your clock. For a personal injury claim from a crash, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file suit, under 735 ILCS 5/13-202.¹⁰ Damage to your vehicle is treated separately and gets a longer window, five years, under the general property damage limitation in 735 ILCS 5/13-205.¹¹

Watch out if a government entity had a hand in the crash, for example a city bus or a poorly maintained public road. Claims against a local public entity or its employees must be filed within one year, not two, under 745 ILCS 10/8-101.¹² Miss that shorter deadline and an otherwise strong claim can be gone.

Building the fault case

Because Illinois pays on fault, proof of fault is the whole game. The crash report is usually the first document that records what happened and who the responding officer believed was at fault. You can order the Illinois report and see how it works on our Illinois crash reports page. If your car lost market value even after a solid repair, that is a separate property claim worth understanding on our Illinois diminished value page.

When fault or the dollar amount is disputed, and in Illinois it often is, an attorney who handles these cases can push back on a lowball fault split before it sticks. You can start with our Illinois legal directory.

None of this requires memorizing statute numbers. It does mean treating fault as contested from day one: get the crash documented, know the deadline for whoever you might have to claim against, and don't accept the other side's version of who was to blame without pushing back.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. thatcarhitme.com, Chicago Year-over-Year Crash Report, 2025. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/2025-annual-report

2. thatcarhitme.com, Chicago Crash Report, January 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/illinois/chicago/january-2026-report

3. Illinois Department of Insurance, Comparative Negligence. https://idoi.illinois.gov/consumers/consumerinsurance/comparative-negligence.html

4. Illinois Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance Shopping Guide. https://idoi.illinois.gov/consumers/consumerinsurance/auto-insurance-shopping-guide.html

5. 735 ILCS 5/2-1116, modified comparative negligence. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=073500050K2-1116

6. 625 ILCS 5/7-203, mandatory minimum liability limits. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=062500050K7-203

7. 215 ILCS 5/143a, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=021500050K143a

8. 235 ILCS 5/6-21, Dram Shop Act. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=023500050K6-21

9. Illinois State Comptroller, Dram Shop Liability Limits 2026. https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/__media/sites/comptroller/assets/File/Agencies/resource-library/statutorily-required/DRAM%20SHOP%20LIABILITY%20LIMITS-2026.pdf

10. 735 ILCS 5/13-202, two-year personal injury limitation. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=073500050K13-202

11. 735 ILCS 5/13-205, five-year property damage limitation. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=073500050K13-205

12. 745 ILCS 10/8-101, Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, one-year limitation. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext?DocName=074500100K8-101