A crash in Missouri starts specific legal clocks and rules, and several of them differ from what drivers face in no-fault states or in the states next door. The general first steps after any collision are the same everywhere. What follows is what Missouri specifically changes: who pays, how fault is counted, how much time you have, and what you can recover.
First, what to do at the scene
Check for injuries and call 911. Missouri law requires drivers to stop after a crash and exchange name, license, and insurance information. Photograph the vehicles, their positions, the road, traffic controls, and anything that shows how the crash happened, because Missouri assigns fault by comparing each driver's conduct, and that comparison runs on early evidence.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol keeps the official crash report, which generally becomes available about ten days after the crash investigation.1 You can get a copy through the Missouri crash-report page.
Missouri is an at-fault, pure comparative fault state
Missouri does not use no-fault insurance. The driver who caused the crash, through their insurer, pays for the harm they caused. When both drivers share blame, Missouri applies pure comparative fault, which the Missouri Supreme Court adopted in Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983).2
Pure comparative fault means your recovery is reduced by your own percentage of fault, and nothing more. If a jury finds your damages were $100,000 and puts you 30 percent at fault, you still collect $70,000. Even a driver found 90 percent at fault can recover the remaining 10 percent. That is a real difference from the modified-fault states next door, where being 50 or 51 percent at fault ends the claim entirely. It also means the other side's insurer has every incentive to pin as much blame on you as it can, since each percentage point cuts what it owes.
The insurance rules that decide who pays
Every Missouri driver must carry liability insurance of at least $25,000 for injury or death of one person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, written 25/50/25.3 Those are legal minimums, and a serious injury routinely exceeds a $25,000 per-person limit.
That gap is why Missouri also requires uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on every auto liability policy, at limits of at least 25/50, with no option to waive it on a standard individual policy.4 If the driver who hit you carried no insurance, or fled and was never identified, your own UM coverage steps in. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, which fills the shortfall when the at-fault driver's limits are too low, is not separately required in Missouri, so check whether your policy includes it.
One thing Missouri does not have is mandatory personal injury protection (PIP) or any no-fault medical coverage. Medical payments (med-pay) coverage exists, but it is optional. Only liability and UM coverage are required.34 After a crash your medical bills generally get paid through the at-fault driver's liability coverage, through your own med-pay or health insurance in the meantime, or through your UM coverage if the other driver had none.
You have five years, which is longer than most states
Missouri gives you five years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, under the catch-all provision of Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 516.120(4), which covers "any other injury to the person or rights of another."5 The same five-year statute covers damage to your vehicle and other property.5
Five years is generous next to the two- and three-year deadlines common elsewhere, but it is not a reason to wait. Skid marks fade, damaged vehicles get repaired or scrapped, witnesses move, and camera footage is often overwritten within days. Missing the five-year deadline, on the other hand, almost always ends the case no matter how strong it is.
Damages, and the caps that do not apply to car crashes
Missouri does not cap the compensatory damages, meaning medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering, that you can recover in an ordinary car-accident case. The state's well-known non-economic damages cap of $400,000, rising to $700,000 for catastrophic injury, applies only to medical malpractice claims against health care providers under Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 538.210.6 It has nothing to do with a routine collision.
Punitive damages, reserved for egregious conduct like drunk or reckless driving, have their own history here. The statutory cap in Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 510.265 limits punitive awards to the greater of $500,000 or five times the judgment.7 But in Lewellen v. Franklin, 441 S.W.3d 136 (Mo. banc 2014), the Missouri Supreme Court held that cap unconstitutional as applied to common-law claims, such as ordinary negligence, that existed before 1820, because it infringes the right to a jury trial.8 For a typical negligence-based car-crash claim, that cap does not bind.
If your car lost market value even after a quality repair, that is a separate property claim. Missouri drivers can pursue diminished value on top of repair costs, and it falls under the same five-year property deadline.5
Distracted driving is now its own evidence of fault
Since August 28, 2023, the Siddens Bening Hands-Free Law (Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 304.822) has barred all drivers from holding or manually using a phone behind the wheel.9 Enforcement is secondary, so an officer cannot stop a driver for that reason alone, and only warnings were issued before January 1, 2025. Citations have been issuable since.9 In a crash claim, a violation of the hands-free law is useful evidence that the other driver was negligent, and phone records can confirm it.
Missouri winters add their own factor. The state sees regular snowfall and freezing conditions,10 and losing control on ice does not erase fault. A driver still has to slow for the conditions, so an icy-road excuse rarely defeats a claim on its own.
Putting it together
A Missouri crash claim turns on evidence of fault, the coverage available to pay it, and the five-year clock. Get the crash report, document everything while it is fresh, and be careful about recorded statements to the other driver's insurer, since anything that shifts a few percentage points of blame onto you directly reduces what you recover. If injuries or liability are disputed, you can find a Missouri attorney who handles these claims.
This article is general information about Missouri law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Missouri State Highway Patrol, Patrol Records Division, Traffic Crash Reports. https://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/MSHPWeb/PatrolDivisions/PRD/TrafficCrashReports/PRDCrashReports.html
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Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1787880/gustafson-v-benda/
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 303.190 (minimum motor vehicle liability limits). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=303.190
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 379.203 (required uninsured motorist coverage). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=379.203
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 516.120 (five-year statute of limitations). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.120
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 538.210 (non-economic damages cap, health care providers). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=538.210
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 510.265 (punitive damages cap). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=510.265
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Lewellen v. Franklin, 441 S.W.3d 136 (Mo. banc 2014). https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/supreme-court/2014/sc92871.html
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 304.822 (Siddens Bening Hands-Free Law). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=304.822
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NOAA NCEI, Missouri State Climate Summary. https://statesummaries.ncics.org/chapter/mo/