Car accident statute of limitations in Arkansas

If you were hurt in a crash on I-30, I-40, or any Arkansas road, the deadline that matters most is three years. Arkansas has no personal-injury-specific statute of limitations; courts apply the state's catch-all three-year period for actions "on any contract, obligation, or liability, express or implied" to negligence claims arising from car accidents, since that is the closest fit in the code.¹ Miss that window and the at-fault driver's insurer can ask a court to throw your case out no matter how strong your evidence is. This piece skips the general concepts, covered on our national hub, and focuses on what's actually different in Arkansas: the exact number of years, when the clock starts, who gets extra time, and the traps specific to this state.

The three-year clock and when it starts

Arkansas counts from the date of the wreck, not the date you finished treatment or the date a bill arrived. Courts have long applied the catch-all period to auto negligence claims, and the accrual date is the crash itself.¹ A discovery rule exists for injuries that genuinely couldn't have been known right away, but Arkansas courts apply it narrowly outside of fraud and certain medical claims, so don't count on it stretching an ordinary rear-end or intersection collision.

Vehicle and property damage claims get the same three years. A separate clause of the same statute covers actions for taking or injuring any goods or chattels, and Arkansas treats vehicle damage the same way.¹ If you're weighing a diminished-value claim on top of repair costs, the same clock applies. Our Arkansas diminished value guide covers how those claims work once you've decided to pursue one.

Wrongful death runs from the date of death, not the crash

If a crash victim dies from their injuries weeks or months later, Arkansas's wrongful death statute starts a fresh three-year clock on the date of death, not the date of the wreck.² The suit must be brought by the deceased's personal representative, or by the statutory heirs if none has been appointed, on behalf of the surviving spouse, children, parents, and certain other relatives.² If the at-fault driver leaves the county, hides, or otherwise obstructs being served with the lawsuit, Arkansas law pauses the clock for however long that evasion lasts, which matters in hit-and-run cases and cases involving an out-of-state driver.³

Minors and incapacitated claimants get extra time

Arkansas tolls the statute for anyone under 18 when the crash happened. A child injured in a car accident has three years from their 18th birthday, not three years from the crash date, to sue, which in practice means until their 21st birthday.⁴ The same tolling applies to someone who was legally insane, in the statute's terms, at the time of the crash: the clock doesn't start until that disability is removed.⁴ One catch worth knowing: a disability only counts if it existed the moment the claim accrued, and if two disabilities overlap, the clock waits until both are gone.⁴

Your PIP benefits run on a much shorter clock

Lawsuit deadlines aren't the only clock running after a crash. Arkansas doesn't require drivers to carry personal injury protection, but every auto policy has to offer at least $5,000 per person in medical, hospital, income-disability, and death benefits unless the policyholder rejected that coverage in writing.⁵ That coverage only pays for expenses incurred within 24 months of the crash, a far shorter window than the three years you have to sue.⁵ If your treatment is going to run past two years, get everything billed and submitted to the PIP carrier before that window closes, because it won't reimburse anything after.

A government vehicle changes the process, not just the deadline

Crashes involving a city truck, county vehicle, school bus, or a car owned by a state agency raise a different problem than timing alone. Arkansas cities, counties, and school districts are immune from tort suits except to the extent they carry liability insurance, so recovery is effectively capped at whatever coverage the entity bought, though the underlying claim still exists.⁶ State government is a separate matter: the Arkansas Constitution bars the state itself from being sued in its own courts,⁷ so a crash caused by an ArDOT truck or a state trooper's cruiser has to go to the Arkansas State Claims Commission rather than a courthouse, under the same general filing deadlines that would apply to an ordinary claim.⁸ Nobody at the county or state level is obligated to remind you of any of this. If a public vehicle was involved, sort out which process applies well before you're close to the three-year mark.

Comparative fault makes early filing more than a formality

Arkansas uses modified comparative fault with a 50% bar: if you're found equally or more at fault than the party you're suing, you recover nothing.⁹ That rule rewards locking in evidence early, since witness memory fades and dashcam or intersection camera footage gets overwritten long before three years runs out. It also gives an insurer reason to slow-walk your claim toward the deadline, hoping you either miss it or get pushed into a rushed, low settlement near the end. Filing well ahead of the deadline, rather than at it, protects your position under Arkansas's fault rule.

Don't confuse this with your own insurer's contract deadline

Arkansas requires insurers to offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at the state's liability minimums of 25/50/25: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in bodily injury coverage plus $25,000 in property damage coverage, though a policyholder can reject that coverage in writing.¹⁰¹¹ A UM or UIM claim against your own carrier is a claim on the insurance contract itself, not a personal-injury suit against the at-fault driver, and Arkansas gives written contract claims five years to be filed, not three.¹² That longer deadline is real, but don't lean on it: insurers still require prompt notice under your own policy's terms, and waiting years to report a UM claim can give the carrier grounds to deny it even inside the statutory window.

What to do before the clock runs

Get the official record of what happened while memory and evidence are still fresh. Our Arkansas crash report page covers how to request yours. If you haven't retained counsel, the legal directory can help you find an Arkansas attorney before any of the deadlines above sneak up on you. Whichever category your claim falls into, personal injury, property damage, wrongful death, a claim against a government entity, or a UM/UIM claim against your own insurer, pin down the actual date your clock started, not just "three years from the crash," and work backward from there.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-105/

2. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-102, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-62/section-16-62-102/

3. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-120, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-120/

4. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-116, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-116/

5. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-202, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-23/subtitle-3/chapter-89/subchapter-2/section-23-89-202/

6. Ark. Code Ann. § 21-9-301, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-21/chapter-9/subchapter-3/section-21-9-301/

7. Ark. Const. art. 5, § 20, Justia - https://law.justia.com/constitution/arkansas/article-5/section-20/

8. Arkansas State Claims Commission, Rules - https://arclaimscommission.arkansas.gov/rules/

9. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-64/section-16-64-122/

10. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-22-104, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-2/chapter-22/subchapter-1/section-27-22-104/

11. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-403, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-23/subtitle-3/chapter-89/subchapter-4/section-23-89-403/

12. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-111, Justia - https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-111/