Is Texas a no-fault state? How fault works after a Texas crash

Texas runs on an at-fault system. It is not a no-fault state. If another driver caused your wreck, that driver, through their insurance, is responsible for your injuries and your vehicle damage. In a true no-fault state like Florida or Michigan, you would turn to your own policy first for medical bills regardless of who was to blame. Texas doesn't work that way, and the difference shapes every claim.

The stakes are real. TxDOT recorded 4,150 traffic deaths in 2024, and a reportable crash happened somewhere in Texas every 57 seconds. That works out to one person killed on a Texas road every 2 hours and 7 minutes.¹

What at-fault means here

Texas is a tort liability state, which the Texas Department of Insurance describes simply: the driver who caused the accident pays for the damages.² After a crash you generally have three routes to compensation. You can file against the at-fault driver's liability insurer, file with your own insurer under coverage you bought, or sue the at-fault driver directly. Nothing forces you to run the claim through your own policy first. But fault has to be proven, and that is where the Texas-specific rules start to bite.

The 51 percent bar and modified comparative negligence

Texas uses modified comparative negligence. Under Section 33.001 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, you can recover only if your share of responsibility is 50 percent or less. If a jury puts you at 51 percent or more, you recover nothing.³

Below that bar, your damages shrink by your own percentage of fault. Section 33.012 requires the court to reduce your recovery by the exact percentage assigned to you.⁴ Say a jury values your case at $100,000 and finds you 20 percent responsible. You collect $80,000. This is why an insurer works so hard to pin part of the blame on you. Every point it shifts onto you lowers what it owes, and pushing you past the halfway mark wipes the claim out entirely. Fault in Texas is rarely all-or-nothing, so this fight often decides what a case is worth.

The insurance every Texas driver must carry

Texas sets its minimum liability limits at 30/60/25: $30,000 for bodily injury per person, $60,000 for bodily injury per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, under Section 601.072 of the Transportation Code.⁵ Treat those as a legal floor, not real protection. One ambulance ride and ER visit can pass $30,000 fast.

Two coverages fill the gaps. Because the driver who hit you may carry nothing or too little, Texas requires insurers to include uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage in every auto liability policy unless you reject it in writing.⁶

Then there is the part that surprises people in an at-fault state. Personal injury protection (PIP) is built into every Texas auto policy by default, and insurers must offer at least $2,500 per person. You only lose it by rejecting it in writing.⁷ PIP pays your medical bills and a portion of lost wages regardless of who caused the crash, and unlike Florida, Texas sets no 14-day deadline to start treatment.

The two-year deadline that ends claims

Texas gives you two years. Section 16.003(a) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code sets a two-year limitations period, counted from the day of the crash, and it covers both your personal injury claim and the damage to your property.⁸ Blow the deadline and the court will almost always dismiss the case, however clearly the other driver was at fault.

Two years feels generous until treatment, insurer back-and-forth, and investigation eat into it. Start building the file early. The official crash report is central evidence, and you can request yours through TxDOT's Crash Records Information System.⁹ Our Texas crash reports guide walks through it.

What you can recover, and what is capped

For an ordinary car crash, Texas puts no cap on compensatory damages. Your medical costs, lost income, and pain and suffering are recoverable in full.

Punitive (exemplary) damages are the exception. Section 41.008 caps them at the greater of $200,000, or two times your economic damages plus noneconomic damages up to $750,000.¹⁰ That cap falls away when the at-fault driver's conduct was a felony such as intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter, so a drunk driver who seriously injured or killed someone can face punitive exposure with no ceiling.¹⁰

Impaired driving stays a heavy factor on Texas roads. Crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver killed 1,053 people in 2024, roughly a quarter of all traffic deaths.¹ Texas also lets you reach the business that over-served. Under the Dram Shop Act, Section 2.02 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code, a bar, restaurant, or store can be liable if it served someone who was obviously intoxicated to the point of a clear danger, and that intoxication was a proximate cause of the crash.¹¹

Distracted driving and proving fault

Fault in Texas usually rests on a traffic-law violation, and texting is a frequent one. Since September 1, 2017, Section 545.4251 of the Transportation Code has banned reading, writing, or sending a text behind the wheel, and officers enforce it as a primary offense, meaning they can stop you for that alone.¹² Distracted driving contributed to crashes that killed 380 people in Texas in 2024.¹ A citation against the other driver for texting, speeding, or running a red light is strong proof that the fault was theirs.

Vehicle damage and getting help

Your property claim runs on the same two-year clock and the same at-fault rules as your injury claim. If the other driver totaled or badly damaged your vehicle, you may also be owed for the resale value it lost even after solid repairs. Our Texas diminished value guide explains how that claim works.

When fault is disputed or the injuries are serious, a Texas attorney can carry the comparative-fault fight and deal with the insurer for you. You can find one through our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Facts Calendar Year 2024. https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/division/trf/crash-records/2024/01.pdf

2. Texas Department of Insurance, Auto insurance guide (Consumer Bulletin CB-020). https://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb020.html

3. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 33.001 (Proportionate Responsibility). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.33.htm

4. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 33.012 (Amount of Recovery). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.33.htm

5. Tex. Transp. Code Section 601.072 (Minimum Coverage Amounts; Exclusions). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm

6. Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.101 (Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm

7. Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.152 (Personal Injury Protection Coverage Required). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm

8. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 16.003(a) (Two-Year Limitations Period). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.16.htm

9. Texas Department of Transportation, Crash Records Information System (CRIS). https://cris.dot.state.tx.us/public/Purchase/

10. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 41.008 (Limitation on Amount of Recovery). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.41.htm

11. Tex. Alco. Bev. Code Section 2.02 (Dram Shop Act). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/AL/htm/AL.2.htm

12. Tex. Transp. Code Section 545.4251 (Use of Portable Wireless Communication Device for Electronic Messaging; Offense). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.545.htm