If you were hurt in a car accident in Utah, you generally have four years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. That deadline comes from Utah's residual four-year statute of limitations, Utah Code 78B-2-307, which Utah courts apply to negligence claims, including car accident injury claims, because the legislature never wrote a car-crash-specific injury deadline into the code.1 The same four years applies if you're only suing over vehicle damage, though that wasn't always true, and a few situations shrink the window dramatically. A crash involving a city bus or a Utah Highway Patrol cruiser can leave you with just one year to act, not four.
The four-year rule, and where it actually comes from
Utah Code 78B-2-307 lists several categories of claims that get a four-year deadline. Subsection (3) is explicit: it covers a claim "involving personal property damage to the aggrieved party's motor vehicle... or personal property from an accident involving a motor vehicle."1 That's your vehicle damage claim, spelled out by name.
Bodily injury claims aren't listed by name anywhere in Title 78B. Instead, they fall under subsection (4), the statute's catch-all: "for relief not otherwise provided for by law."1 Utah courts have long treated ordinary negligence and personal injury claims, including car accident injury claims, as falling into that residual bucket. That's how a four-year deadline ends up governing something as routine as a rear-end collision even though the code never uses the words "personal injury."
Before May 2023, the vehicle-damage deadline was shorter. Utah's general property damage statute, Utah Code 78B-2-305, gives most property claims three years.2 The legislature carved motor vehicle damage out of that general rule and gave it the same four years as injury claims, a change that took effect May 3, 2023.1 If your crash predates that amendment, the older three-year rule may still control; ask an attorney which version applies.
When the four-year clock starts running
The clock starts on the date of the crash itself, not the date you finish treatment or settle with an adjuster. Waiting on a claims adjuster, ongoing physical therapy, or a slow property damage estimate doesn't pause it. Insurers have no legal obligation to warn you as the deadline approaches, and once four years passes, a Utah court will dismiss even a strong case.
Wrongful death runs on a shorter, two-year clock
If a crash was fatal, the deadline changes. Utah Code 78B-2-304 gives a wrongful death claim only two years from the date of death, regardless of who caused the crash.3 That's half the time an injury survivor gets, and families sometimes assume the same four-year window applies across the board. The two-year clock sits in the same statute that covers claims against police officers and other government employees for on-duty conduct, so it's worth reading closely whenever a government vehicle was involved.3
The one-year trap for crashes involving the government
Utah's Governmental Immunity Act adds a much shorter, separate deadline whenever a government vehicle or employee is involved: a city snowplow, a school bus, a UDOT crew, a police cruiser. Before you can sue a governmental entity or its employee, you must file a written notice of claim within one year after the claim arises.4 Miss that window and the claim is barred, even though the underlying four-year deadline under 78B-2-307 hasn't run out yet. The notice must include your name and address, the circumstances and nature of the claim, and the damages you're seeking, filed under the procedures in Utah Code 63G-7-401.4 Once you file, the entity or its insurer has 60 days to approve or deny it, and a denial starts a fresh one-year clock for filing the actual lawsuit.4
The clock pauses for minors and incompetent claimants
If the injured person was under 18, or mentally incompetent without a legal guardian, at the time of the crash, Utah Code 78B-2-224 pauses the statute of limitations entirely while that disability lasts.5 The four-year clock doesn't start until the disability ends, which in practice means a minor generally has until four years after their 18th birthday, roughly age 22, to sue in their own name over a childhood car accident. A parent can still bring a claim earlier on the child's behalf, and often should, since evidence and witness memory fade regardless of the legal deadline.
PIP claims and the tort threshold have their own rules
Utah is a no-fault state, so your own auto policy's personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays your initial medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash, up to a $3,000 medical minimum plus wage-loss and funeral benefits.6 A claim under that PIP contract carries its own four-year deadline, running from the "inception of loss" rather than the crash date, under Utah Code 31A-22-307(7).6 In most cases that lines up with your injury deadline, but it's a separate, contract-based clock worth tracking if a PIP dispute drags on.
PIP also gates whether you can sue the at-fault driver at all. Under Utah Code 31A-22-309, you can only bring a claim for pain and suffering if your medical expenses exceed $3,000, or if you suffered death, dismemberment, permanent disability or impairment based on objective findings, permanent disfigurement, or a bone fracture.7 None of that changes your four-year filing deadline. It just determines what kind of claim you're allowed to file once you get there, and a slow PIP payout can quietly eat into the time an unrepresented claimant has left to act.
Property damage and diminished value claims
The same four-year deadline under 78B-2-307(3) covers a claim for the value your vehicle lost even after a proper repair, not just the repair bill itself.1 If your car was totaled or repaired after a Utah crash, see our Utah diminished value guide for how that claim works separately from a bodily injury case.
What to do before time runs out
Get a copy of your Utah crash report early. It documents who was involved, when, and where, and that record matters more the longer a claim sits open. Utah stacks several different deadlines on top of a no-fault system that gates when you can sue at all: four years for most injury and property claims, two years for wrongful death, one year to put a government entity on notice. Given all that, it's worth talking to a Utah attorney soon after a serious crash rather than waiting to see how treatment goes. You can find one through our legal directory.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Utah Code 78B-2-307, Utah State Legislature. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/78B-2-S307.html
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Utah Code 78B-2-305, Utah State Legislature. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/78B-2-S305.html
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Utah Code 78B-2-304, Utah State Legislature. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/78B-2-S304.html
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Utah Code 63G-7-402, Utah State Legislature. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title63G/Chapter7/63G-7-S402.html
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Utah Code 78B-2-224, Utah State Legislature. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/78B-2-S224.html
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Utah Code 31A-22-307, Utah State Legislature. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S307.html
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Utah Code 31A-22-309, Utah State Legislature. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S309.html