If a crash just put you in a Honolulu emergency room, the first bill will not wait for anyone to sort out whose fault it was. Hawaii is a no-fault state, so your own auto policy pays your early medical costs no matter who caused the wreck. That coverage is personal injury protection, or PIP, and Hawaii law makes it mandatory on every vehicle registered here.1
Below are the exact Hawaii numbers, deadlines, and exceptions, so you know what your policy owes you and when.
What PIP covers and the $10,000 floor
Every Hawaii motor vehicle policy has to carry at least $10,000 of PIP per person for a single accident.1 You can buy more, but $10,000 is the legal minimum, and it is an aggregate limit: all your covered treatment for that crash draws from the same pool.
PIP is wide-ranging. The statute defines it to cover medical, hospital, and surgical care, professional and advanced practice nursing, dental, optometric, naturopathic, and chiropractic treatment, ambulance service, prosthetics, X-rays, psychiatric care, physical and occupational therapy, rehabilitation, and therapeutic massage when a doctor prescribes it.1 The point is to get treatment paid fast, before anyone argues over liability.
One consumer-protection detail worth using: within 30 days of your first notice, claim, or application, your insurer has to tell you in writing the maximum PIP benefits available under the policy.2 If you are not sure how much coverage you actually have, that disclosure is something you can demand.
The 30-day payment rule
Hawaii puts a hard clock on the insurer. Once you submit reasonable proof of the fact and amount of a PIP loss, the company has 30 days to pay it or to notify you in writing that it is denying the claim and why.3 Blow past that window and the unpaid benefits accrue interest at 1.5 percent per month, which is 18 percent a year.3 That interest is automatic. You don't have to sue for it, and it gives you something concrete to point to when PIP checks are slow.
Where Med-Pay fits in Hawaii
In many states, "Med-Pay" is a small optional medical-payments add-on that rides alongside liability coverage. Hawaii doesn't work that way. Because PIP is mandatory and pays your medical bills first, regardless of fault, it already does the job Med-Pay does elsewhere. There is no separate required Med-Pay line here.
What Hawaii gives you instead is optional additional coverage you can stack on top of the $10,000 PIP floor. Insurers are required to make several of these available: extra injury compensation above standard PIP, monthly wage-loss benefits sold in $500 steps up to $2,000 a month, death benefits from $25,000 up to $100,000 plus a $2,000 funeral allowance, and up to 30 additional chiropractic visits.4 You can also choose PIP deductibles of $100, $300, $500, or $1,000 to lower your premium.4 If you want more than the bare medical minimum, that menu is what to ask your agent about.
When you can step outside no-fault and sue
No-fault buys speed, but it costs you something. In exchange for guaranteed PIP, Hawaii law takes away your right to sue the other driver for pain and suffering unless your case clears a threshold.5 You get that right back if any one of these is true:
- someone died in the crash;
- the injury is a significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body;
- the injury is a permanent and serious disfigurement that causes mental or emotional suffering; or
- the PIP benefits incurred, paid, or payable for the injury reach $5,000.5
The dollar threshold is the one most people cross. Hawaii counts more than just what the no-fault carrier writes in checks: benefits incurred, paid, or payable, plus deductibles, copayments, and amounts your health insurance paid for the same treatment, all count toward the $5,000.5 Once you clear it, you can pursue the at-fault driver for what PIP doesn't cover, including pain and suffering. That is one reason to keep every bill and finish the care your doctor orders.
Minimum liability limits went up on January 1, 2026
Hawaii raised the floor on liability insurance. For any policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, the minimums are $40,000 per person and $80,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $20,000 for property damage, written 40/80/20.67 That doubles the old 20/40/10 minimums and comes from Act 138 of 2024.7 After a serious crash it matters both ways: the at-fault driver's minimum policy now reaches further, but $40,000 per person still runs out quickly on a bad injury, which is where the next coverage comes in.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
Hawaii doesn't require you to buy uninsured (UM) or underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage, but it does require your insurer to offer it, up to your bodily-injury liability limits.6 You can decline, but only in writing: the statute wants your signature right next to the offer, and once you sign a rejection the company never has to offer it again.6 If an agent talked you out of it years ago, that waiver is probably still sitting in your file. With so many drivers carrying only the state minimum, UM/UIM is often the coverage that actually pays when the other driver has too little insurance or none at all.
Deadlines that outlast your PIP claim
PIP handles the early bills, but the deadline to sue is separate and shorter than people expect. In Hawaii you have two years from the date of the crash to file suit for your injuries, and that same two-year window covers property damage to your vehicle.8 Miss it and the claim is gone, however strong it was.
Fault still matters once you are outside no-fault. Hawaii follows a modified comparative negligence rule: you can recover even if you were partly to blame, but your damages shrink by your share of fault, and you recover nothing once your fault is greater than the other side's.9 There is a bright spot for serious cases. Hawaii's $375,000 cap on pain-and-suffering damages does not apply to motor vehicle accident claims, so a bad car-crash injury is not capped.10
A few practical notes. If your car lost market value because it was wrecked, that is a claim separate from your injuries; the Hawaii diminished value guide covers it. The official crash report in Hawaii comes from the county police department where the crash happened, not a state highway patrol. And if your injuries are past the $5,000 threshold or involve a permanent loss, a lawyer is worth a call; you can start with the legal directory.
This is general information about Hawaii law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-103.5 (personal injury protection benefits; defined; limits). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0103_0005.htm
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-115.6 (disclosure of PIP limits and payments). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0115_0006.htm
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-304 (obligation to pay PIP benefits; 30-day rule; 1.5% monthly interest). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0304.htm
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-302 (optional additional insurance). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0302.htm
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-306 (abolition of tort liability; injury and $5,000 thresholds). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-301 (required coverages; UM/UIM offer and written rejection), as amended by 2024 Act 138. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm
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Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Division, "Auto Insurance Minimum Limits FAQ" (Act 138, 2024; new 40/80/20 limits effective January 1, 2026). https://cca.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Auto-Minimum-Limits-FAQs.pdf
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-7 (two-year limitation for personal injury and property damage). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm
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Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-31 (comparative negligence; 51% bar). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm
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Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 663-8.7 and 663-10.9(2) (pain-and-suffering cap and its motor vehicle exclusion). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0008_0007.htm