What to do after a car accident in Washington

Getting hit is disorienting, and the choices you make in the first hour (plus the deadlines you meet in the months after) are governed by Washington statute. Those rules aren't the same as Oregon's or Idaho's. The general playbook, photographing the scene, getting checked out by a doctor, dealing with the adjuster, is the same most places, and the national guide this page sits under covers it. What follows is the part that's specific to Washington: the exact numbers, deadlines, and exceptions.

What Washington law requires at the scene

State law puts real duties on anyone involved in a crash. Under RCW 46.52.020 you have to stop immediately at the scene (or as close as you safely can), give your name, address, insurance company, policy number, and vehicle license number to the other driver and to anyone injured, and show your license on request.¹ If someone is hurt, the same statute requires you to render reasonable assistance, which includes arranging a ride to a doctor or hospital when it's needed or asked for.¹ Leaving is not a minor thing. Depending on whether anyone was injured or killed, hit-and-run ranges from a gross misdemeanor up to a class B felony.¹

If the other party isn't there, say you clipped a parked car, and no officer is present, the statute tells you to report the crash to the nearest police.¹

The deadline you cannot miss

You have three years to file a personal injury lawsuit in Washington, counted from the date of the crash. That comes from RCW 4.16.080(2), which sets a three-year limit for "any other injury to the person or rights of another."² The same subsection gives you three years for damage to your vehicle and other personal property.² Miss that date and a court will almost always dismiss the case no matter how strong it is. Three years sounds generous. It isn't, once you account for months of treatment and back-and-forth with insurers before anyone files anything.

Fault and the pure comparative negligence rule

Washington handles crashes on an at-fault basis. The driver who caused the wreck, and that driver's liability insurer, pays for the harm, which is why your own bodily injury and property damage liability coverage pays for injuries and damage you cause to someone else, as the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner explains.³

What makes Washington unusually favorable to injured people is its pure comparative negligence rule. Under RCW 4.22.005, your own share of fault "does not bar recovery"; it only reduces your damages in proportion to your percentage of fault.⁴ If a jury finds you 30 percent responsible, you still collect 70 percent of your damages. Even a driver found 99 percent at fault can recover the remaining 1 percent. Many states cut you off entirely once you cross 50 percent. Washington does not.

What your policy must include, and what it doesn't

Every driver has to carry liability insurance. RCW 46.30.020 makes driving without it a traffic infraction and lets an officer presume you're uninsured when you can't show proof.⁵ The mandatory minimum limits are 25/50/10: $25,000 for injury or death of one person, $50,000 total per accident, and $10,000 for property damage, set in RCW 46.29.090.⁶ Those are floors, and they're low. A single ambulance ride and ER visit can blow past $25,000.

Two coverages that protect you (rather than the other driver) are optional here, and plenty of drivers don't realize they waived them:

• Personal injury protection (PIP) pays your medical bills and some lost wages regardless of who was at fault. Insurers must offer it on every new and renewed policy, but you can reject it in writing, and no minimum dollar amount is fixed by statute (RCW 48.22.085).⁷
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough to cover your injuries. Insurers must offer this too, and you or your spouse can decline it in writing (RCW 48.22.030).⁸

Pull out your declarations page and check whether you kept PIP and UIM. If you did, they often matter more than the other driver's policy, especially in a state where the legal minimum is $25,000.

There is no cap on what you can recover

Some states limit noneconomic damages such as pain, disability, and loss of enjoyment of life. Washington doesn't. The Legislature passed exactly that kind of cap in 1986 (RCW 4.56.250),⁹ but the state Supreme Court struck it down in Sofie v. Fibreboard Corp., 112 Wn.2d 636 (1989), holding that trimming a jury's damages award violated the right to trial by jury under article I, section 21 of the state constitution.¹⁰ So economic and noneconomic damages in an ordinary crash case are whatever the evidence supports.

Punitive damages are the flip side. Washington doesn't award them in car-crash cases unless a statute expressly authorizes them, and none does for ordinary negligence. The recovery is meant to make you whole, not to punish the other driver.

Situations with their own rules

Drunk driving. If the driver who hit you had been overserved, the bar or store can share the liability. RCW 66.44.200(1) forbids selling liquor to anyone "apparently under the influence," and in Barrett v. Lucky Seven Saloon, Inc., 152 Wn.2d 259 (2004), the state Supreme Court held that a commercial seller can be sued civilly when a patron it served that way later causes a crash.¹¹

Distracted driving. Washington's "E-DUI" law, RCW 46.61.672, bans holding a phone or other personal electronic device in your hand while driving, and bans using one to text, read, watch video, or browse.¹² It's a primary offense, so an officer can stop a driver for that alone. If the person who hit you was on a phone, that's strong evidence of negligence.

Motorcycles. Washington has a universal helmet law under RCW 46.37.530. Every rider must wear a DOT-compliant helmet, with narrow exceptions for antique motor-driven cycles and enclosed autocycles fitted with seatbelts.¹³ Lane splitting and filtering between lanes are illegal statewide under RCW 46.61.608.¹⁴

Winter and the mountain passes. Studded tires are legal only during the winter window that begins November 1 under RCW 46.37.420, with WSDOT setting the spring removal deadline.¹⁵ Snow and ice never excuse a driver from the duty to drive safely for conditions, so a rear-end crash on a slick pass usually still lands on the following driver.

Getting your crash report and handling vehicle damage

The Washington State Patrol runs the electronic collision records system (WRECR), and a copy of a report costs $10.50 under RCW 46.52.085.¹⁶¹⁷ For how to request yours, see our Washington crash report guide.

If your car was repaired but is now worth less because it carries a wreck on its history, that lost value is its own claim in Washington. We cover how to pursue it in diminished value in Washington.

When to bring in a lawyer

You don't need an attorney for a minor fender-bender you can settle yourself. But if you were seriously hurt, the other driver was uninsured, or fault is in dispute, the three-year clock and the comparative-fault math get expensive to handle alone. You can find a Washington attorney in our directory.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.52.020 (duty of driver at the scene of an accident). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.52.020

2. Washington State Legislature, RCW 4.16.080(2) (three-year limitation; injury to person or personal property). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.16.080

3. Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, "How auto insurance works." https://www.insurance.wa.gov/insurance-resources/auto-insurance/how-auto-insurance-works/learn-how-auto-insurance-works

4. Washington State Legislature, RCW 4.22.005 (effect of contributory fault). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.22.005

5. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.30.020 (motor vehicle liability insurance required). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.30.020

6. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.29.090 (minimum liability limits). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.29.090

7. Washington State Legislature, RCW 48.22.085 (personal injury protection; offer required). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.085

8. Washington State Legislature, RCW 48.22.030 (underinsured motorist coverage). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=48.22.030

9. Washington State Legislature, RCW 4.56.250 (limitation on noneconomic damages; held unconstitutional in Sofie). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.56.250

10. Sofie v. Fibreboard Corp., 112 Wn.2d 636 (1989), via CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1355827/sofie-v-fibreboard-corp/

11. Washington State Legislature, RCW 66.44.200 (sales to a person apparently under the influence); Barrett v. Lucky Seven Saloon, Inc., 152 Wn.2d 259 (2004). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=66.44.200

12. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.61.672 (personal electronic devices; the E-DUI law). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.672

13. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.37.530 (motorcycle helmet requirement). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.37.530

14. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.61.608 (motorcycle lane use; lane splitting prohibited). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.608

15. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.37.420 (tire equipment; studded tire season). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.37.420

16. Washington State Patrol, Collision Records. https://wsp.wa.gov/driver/collision-records/

17. Washington State Legislature, RCW 46.52.085 (collision report copies; fee). https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.52.085