What to do after a car accident in Indiana

A crash scrambles everything for a few minutes, and what you do next can decide how much of your medical bills and car repairs you get back. Indiana sets its own deadlines and fault rules, and several differ sharply from the states around it. This guide sticks to those Indiana specifics.

What Indiana law requires of you at the scene

If you're in a crash that causes injury, death, or property damage, Indiana law requires you to stop right at or near the scene and give your name, address, and vehicle registration, and show your license if asked.¹ Driving off instead is a crime. Leaving the scene of a property-damage crash is a Class B misdemeanor, and the penalties climb when someone is hurt.¹ If you hit a parked car or roadside property and can't find the owner, the statute tells you to leave a written note and then contact law enforcement.¹

Call the police so the crash is investigated on the record. Indiana State Police runs the state's central repository for crash reports and sells copies through the BuyCrash portal.² For how to actually pull your report, see our Indiana crash reports page.

Indiana is an at-fault state, with no PIP

Indiana handles crashes on a fault basis. The driver who caused the wreck pays, through their liability insurer, and Indiana does not require personal injury protection (PIP) the way no-fault states do.³ Medical payments coverage, which pays your and your passengers' medical bills regardless of who caused the crash, is an optional add-on rather than something the state makes you buy.³ Whether you carry it often decides how quickly your first ER bills get covered while the fault question is still being sorted out.

The 51% rule can end your claim

Indiana follows modified comparative fault. Under Indiana Code 34-51-2-6, you recover nothing if your share of the fault is greater than the combined fault of everyone else involved, which in practice means 51% or more bars you completely.⁴ At 50% or below you still recover, but your award is cut by your own percentage. A $100,000 award with 20% of the blame on you pays out $80,000.⁴

There's a harsher exception for government defendants. If a city bus, county truck, or state vehicle was involved, the claim runs under the Indiana Tort Claims Act, which keeps the old pure contributory negligence rule, so being even 1% at fault can bar you entirely.⁵

Two years, and much less if the government is involved

You generally have two years from the crash date to sue for your injuries, and the same two years for damage to your vehicle, both set by Indiana Code 34-11-2-4.⁶ The clock can start later if the injury wasn't reasonably discoverable at first, but that's the exception, and you shouldn't count on it.

Here's the deadline people miss. When a government vehicle or a poorly maintained public road caused your crash, you have to file a formal tort claim notice well before that two-year window. The Indiana Tort Claims Act gives you 180 days to notify a city, county, or other political subdivision,⁷ and 270 days to notify the State of Indiana.⁸ Miss the notice and even a strong claim is dead. Indiana gets real winter weather, so government snowplows and salt trucks share the road all season,⁹ and crashes with them run on the short government clock.

What Indiana drivers have to carry

Every registered driver must carry at least 25/50/25 in liability coverage: $25,000 for one person's bodily injury, $50,000 total per crash, and $25,000 for property damage (Indiana Code 9-25-4-5).¹⁰ Those are minimums, and a single serious injury can blow past them.

That's where uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage comes in. Under Indiana Code 27-7-5-2, every new Indiana auto liability policy has to include UM and UIM coverage unless you reject it in writing.¹¹ The Department of Insurance sets the floor at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for uninsured motorist bodily injury, and $50,000 for underinsured motorist coverage.³ When the driver who hit you had no insurance or nowhere near enough, this coverage is often what actually pays your bills.

If a drunk driver hit you

Indiana lets you seek punitive damages against a drunk driver, but the amount is capped at the greater of three times your compensatory damages or $50,000 (Indiana Code 34-51-3-4).¹² You also don't keep most of a punitive award: 75% goes to the state's Violent Crime Victims Compensation Fund, and the injured person keeps 25% (Indiana Code 34-51-3-6).¹³

You may also have a claim against whoever supplied the alcohol. Indiana's dram shop and social host statute makes a bar, restaurant, or private host liable when they serve someone they actually know is visibly intoxicated, or serve any alcohol to a minor, and that person then hurts someone (Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-15.5).¹⁴

Phones, motorcycles, and other rules that shift fault

Since July 1, 2020, Indiana bars drivers from holding a phone or tablet while the vehicle is moving. Hands-free and voice operation are fine, and you can still hold a phone to call 911 in a genuine emergency (Indiana Code 9-21-8-59).¹⁵ It's a Class C infraction under primary enforcement, so an officer can pull someone over for that alone, and it now adds points to the driver's record. Proof the other driver was holding a phone can move fault toward them.

On two wheels, Indiana requires a DOT-approved helmet only for operators and passengers under 18. Adults may legally ride without one (Indiana Code 9-19-7-1).¹⁶ Lane splitting is illegal because a motorcycle is entitled to full use of its lane, though two riders may travel side by side in one lane when both agree (Indiana Code 9-21-10-6).¹⁷ An adult riding without a helmet broke no law, but expect the other side's insurer to raise it against any head-injury damages.

Vehicle damage and getting help

A car that's been in a wreck is worth less afterward even when the repair is flawless, and Indiana lets you pursue that lost value from the at-fault driver. Our Indiana diminished value page walks through how to document and claim it.

If your injuries are serious, or the other side is already arguing about fault, getting an attorney involved early is the surest way to protect the short notice deadlines above. You can find one through our legal directory.

This article is general information about Indiana law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Indiana Code 9-26-1-1.1 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/9#9-26-1-1.1

2. Indiana State Police, Crash Reports. https://www.in.gov/isp/crash-reports/

3. Indiana Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance. https://www.in.gov/idoi/consumer-services/types-of-insurance/auto-insurance/

4. Indiana Code 34-51-2-6 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/34#34-51-2-6

5. Indiana Code 34-13-3, Indiana Tort Claims Act (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/34#34-13-3

6. Indiana Code 34-11-2-4 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/34#34-11-2-4

7. Indiana Code 34-13-3-8 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/34#34-13-3-8

8. Indiana Code 34-13-3-6 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/34#34-13-3-6

9. National Weather Service Indianapolis, Local Climate Data. https://www.weather.gov/ind/localcli

10. Indiana Code 9-25-4-5 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/9#9-25-4-5

11. Indiana Code 27-7-5-2 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/27#27-7-5-2

12. Indiana Code 34-51-3-4 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/34#34-51-3-4

13. Indiana Code 34-51-3-6 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/34#34-51-3-6

14. Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-15.5 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/7.1#7.1-5-10-15.5

15. Indiana Code 9-21-8-59 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/9#9-21-8-59

16. Indiana Code 9-19-7-1 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/9#9-19-7-1

17. Indiana Code 9-21-10-6 (Indiana General Assembly). https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/9#9-21-10-6