Average car accident settlement in Hawaii

No Hawaii state agency publishes an official "average" car accident settlement, and any single figure you find online is close to meaningless for your own case. What a claim is actually worth here depends on Hawaii's own rules, and several of them change the math in ways most mainland states don't. Whether you can sue for pain and suffering at all, how much insurance the other driver was required to carry, and how much of the blame lands on you all move the number. Here is what those rules say.

Hawaii is a no-fault state, so your own coverage pays first

Hawaii runs a no-fault car insurance system under Article 10C of Chapter 431 of the Revised Statutes. After a crash, your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays your medical bills and lost earnings no matter who caused the wreck. The required minimum is $10,000 per person.¹ Your insurer has to pay or formally deny a PIP claim in writing within 30 days of receiving reasonable proof of loss, and any benefit left unpaid past that point accrues interest at 1.5% per month.² That deadline and the interest penalty matter, because they give you something concrete to hold over an insurer that stalls.

The tort threshold decides whether you can sue for pain and suffering

In a no-fault state you can't automatically sue the other driver for pain and suffering. You have to clear a threshold first. Under HRS 431:10C-306 you may step outside no-fault and bring a tort claim only if the crash caused death, a significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body, a permanent and serious disfigurement, or if the PIP benefits paid or payable for your injury reach $5,000.³ That $5,000 medical threshold is the one most injury claims turn on. Stay below it and your recovery is generally limited to what PIP covers. Cross it and the full range of tort damages opens up, including pain and suffering, and that is where settlement values climb.

The minimum coverage limits just went up

For most settlements the practical ceiling is the at-fault driver's liability insurance. On January 1, 2026, Hawaii's minimum limits rose for the first time in roughly 25 years. Under Act 138 of 2024, every driver must now carry at least $40,000 per person and $80,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $20,000 for property damage, written as 40/80/20 and up from the old 20/40/10.⁴⁵ The state's Insurance Division confirms the higher floors apply to policies with effective dates on or after January 1, 2026.⁶ This is the number that quietly caps a lot of cases: if the driver who hit you carries only the minimum, $40,000 is often the most their policy will pay a single injured person, however serious the injury. The change followed a grim trend on Hawaii roads, where 102 people died in traffic crashes in 2024, up 10% from 93 the year before.⁷

Hawaii does not cap car accident damages

Some states put a hard ceiling on pain-and-suffering awards. Hawaii has a $375,000 cap on noneconomic damages under HRS 663-8.7, but the statute expressly does not apply to the categories of tort actions listed in HRS 663-10.9(2), and subparagraph (F) of that list is "torts relating to motor vehicle accidents."⁸⁹ So in an ordinary car crash case there is no statutory cap on what you can recover for pain and suffering. A serious-injury settlement is bounded by the evidence and by the available coverage. The code sets no ceiling on it.

Your share of the blame lowers the payout

Hawaii uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar. Under HRS 663-31, your own negligence doesn't defeat your claim as long as it is not greater than the other side's, so you can be up to 50% at fault and still recover.¹⁰ Once your share exceeds the defendant's, you recover nothing. When you do recover, the award is reduced by your percentage of fault: a claim worth $100,000 pays $80,000 if you are found 20% responsible. Adjusters press hard on comparative fault for exactly this reason, since every point they assign to you shrinks the check.

When a settlement runs higher

Two things can push a Hawaii settlement well past the ordinary range. If the at-fault driver was drunk, punitive damages come into play. In Masaki v. General Motors Corp., the Hawaii Supreme Court held that punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence the defendant acted wantonly, oppressively, or with a conscious indifference to the consequences, a bar that a drunk driver's conduct can meet.¹¹ Hawaii also recognizes dram shop liability. Under Ono v. Applegate, a bar or licensee that serves a visibly intoxicated patron who then causes a crash can be held liable for serving alcohol in violation of the liquor control law.¹² That adds a second, often better-insured defendant to the claim.

If the other driver is uninsured or underinsured

Hawaii does not force you to carry uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Insurers must offer UM and UIM up to your own bodily injury limits, but you can reject it in writing, and once you do they need not keep offering it.⁴ If you kept that coverage and the driver who hit you has no insurance or too little, your own UM/UIM policy becomes the source of your settlement. With the state minimum now at $40,000 per person, UIM is frequently what stands between a serious injury and a badly underpaid claim.

The deadlines that can end a claim

You have two years from the date of the crash to file suit in Hawaii, and the same statute, HRS 657-7, covers both injury and property damage claims in that one window.¹³ Miss it and the claim is generally gone for good, so the two-year date is the one to put on the calendar, well before any settlement talks wrap up. If you need the official police report, it comes from the county police department where the crash happened, since Hawaii has no statewide highway patrol; for Oahu that is the Honolulu Police Department.¹⁴ Our Hawaii crash report guide covers how to pull it.

Property damage is settled separately from your injury claim. If your vehicle was repaired but is now worth less on resale because it carries an accident on its record, that lost value is its own claim, explained on our Hawaii diminished value page. And because Hawaii's rules stack the deck in specific, technical ways, most people with a threshold injury do better with counsel; you can start with our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:10C-103.5, Personal injury protection benefits; defined; limits. https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol09_ch0431-0435h/hrs0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0103_0005.htm

2. Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:10C-304, Obligation to pay personal injury protection benefits. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0304.htm

3. Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:10C-306, Abolition of tort liability. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm

4. Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:10C-301, Required motor vehicle policy coverage. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm

5. 2024 Hawaii Session Laws, Act 138 (S.B. 2342, C.D. 1). https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2024/bills/SB2342_CD1_.htm

6. Hawaii DCCA Insurance Division, Auto Insurance Minimum Limits FAQ. https://cca.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Auto-Minimum-Limits-FAQs.pdf

7. Hawaii Department of Transportation, "Traffic Fatalities Up 10% from 2023." https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/traffic-fatalities-up-10-from-2023/

8. Hawaii Revised Statutes 663-8.7, Limitation on noneconomic damages. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0008_0007.htm

9. Hawaii Revised Statutes 663-10.9, Abolition of joint and several liability; exceptions. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0010_0009.htm

10. Hawaii Revised Statutes 663-31, Contributory negligence no bar; comparative negligence. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm

11. 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

12. Ono v. Applegate, 62 Haw. 131, 612 P.2d 533 (1980). https://law.justia.com/cases/hawaii/supreme-court/1980/5975-2.html

13. Hawaii Revised Statutes 657-7, Damage to persons or property. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm

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