How Long Do I Have to File a Car Accident Claim in Missouri?

In Missouri, most people injured in a car accident have five years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit (RSMo 516.120). If the crash happened across the river in Illinois, the deadline is two years (735 ILCS 5/13-202). Several situations shorten those windows, and the evidence you need disappears long before either deadline arrives.

Five years sounds like a long time. The insurance company knows that, and it is counting on you to treat it that way. The adjuster who calls you this week is not waiting for the statute of limitations.

01What Is the Statute of Limitations for a Car Accident in Missouri?

Missouri’s general personal injury statute of limitations is five years. The statute, RSMo 516.120(4), covers “any other injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract.” A claim against a negligent driver falls squarely inside that language.

The clock normally starts on the day of the crash. If you have not filed suit before it runs out, the court will dismiss your case no matter how clear the other driver’s fault was, and no insurance company will pay a claim it can no longer be sued on.

Filing a lawsuit is not the same as filing an insurance claim. Report the crash to your own insurer promptly, usually within days, because nearly every policy requires it. The five-year statute is about the courthouse, not the claims department.

02Is the Deadline Different if Someone Died in the Crash?

Yes. Missouri wrongful death claims have their own statute, RSMo 537.100, and the deadline is three years from the date of death. Families sometimes assume the longer personal injury deadline applies and lose the claim. If a loved one died in a St. Louis crash, treat three years as the outside limit and start much sooner.

03What if the Crash Happened in Illinois?

Illinois gives personal injury victims two years to sue (735 ILCS 5/13-202), and wrongful death claims generally carry the same two-year limit. For a St. Louis-area family, a crash in Belleville, Edwardsville, Collinsville or Fairview Heights is on a much faster clock than a crash in Clayton or Chesterfield.

Illinois also treats fault differently. Missouri uses pure comparative fault: you can recover even if you were mostly at fault, with your recovery reduced by your percentage of blame (Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11, Mo. banc 1983). Illinois bars recovery entirely if you were more than 50 percent at fault (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). Where the crash happened, and where the case is filed, can decide whether a partially at-fault driver recovers anything.

The bridge problem

The Poplar Street Bridge, the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, the Eads Bridge and the Martin Luther King Bridge all cross the state line. A crash on one of them raises a real question about which state’s law and which deadline applies. Do not guess. The answer depends on where the vehicles were at impact, where the parties live and where suit can properly be filed. This is exactly the kind of question to put to a lawyer in the first week, not the fourth year.

04Which Deadlines Are Shorter Than Five Years?

• Claims against a city, county, MoDOT or another public body. Missouri waives sovereign immunity for injuries caused by public employees operating motor vehicles and for dangerous conditions of public property (RSMo 537.600), but notice rules and procedural requirements can be strict and short. A crash involving a city bus, a police vehicle, a road defect or a missing guardrail needs a lawyer immediately.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims. These are claims under your own insurance contract, so a different limitations period and your policy’s notice and cooperation provisions may control. Read the policy, or have us read it.
• Crashes involving a minor. Missouri generally pauses the statute while the injured person is under 21 (RSMo 516.170). That does not pause the insurer’s investigation or the loss of evidence.
• Illinois crashes, as above: two years.

05Why Waiting Costs You Even When the Deadline Is Years Away

The legal deadline is the last day you can file. The practical deadline is the day the evidence is gone.

• Intersection and business cameras along Kingshighway, Grand, Manchester or I-170 typically overwrite footage in days or weeks.
• Vehicle event data recorders are lost when a car is totaled and sold for salvage, which often happens within a month.
• 911 recordings and dispatch logs are kept on retention schedules, not forever.
• Witnesses move. Phone numbers change. Memories blur.
• The other driver’s insurer starts building its version of the crash on day one.

The Injury Counsel sends preservation letters, pulls the crash report, locates cameras and secures vehicle data in the first days after a crash. That is the work that wins cases, and it cannot be done in year four.

06What Should I Do Right Now?

• Get medical care and follow the treatment plan. A gap in treatment is the first thing an adjuster points to.
• Report the crash to your own insurer. Give facts, not opinions about fault.
• Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer before you talk to a lawyer.
• Photograph your injuries, the vehicles and the scene if you can.
• Keep every bill, every pay stub showing missed work and every piece of paper the insurers send you.
• Call The Injury Counsel for a free, confidential consultation. We will tell you which deadline applies to your crash and what has to happen this week to protect your claim.

07Does Missouri’s Minimum Insurance Matter to My Deadline?

Not to the deadline, but it matters to your recovery. Missouri requires drivers to carry only $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash in bodily injury coverage (RSMo 303.190). Serious injuries exhaust that in a single hospital visit. Every Missouri auto policy must also include uninsured motorist coverage at those same minimums (RSMo 379.203), and that coverage can sometimes be stacked across the vehicles on a household’s policy. Underinsured motorist coverage is optional, and many people carry it without knowing. Identifying every available policy, including your own, is one of the first things we do.

You do not need to know the statute. You need to know that the time to act is now. Call The Injury Counsel at (314) 727-7220 for a free, confidential consultation.