Who Pays After a Car Accident in Florida? No-Fault, Fault, and the 51% Rule

Layer one: your own PIP coverage

Because Florida is a no-fault state, your own Personal Injury Protection coverage is the first payer for your medical bills and lost wages after a crash — up to $10,000, regardless of who caused the accident. This is why seeing a doctor within 14 days is critical: miss that window and you can lose these benefits.

Layer two: stepping outside no-fault for serious injuries

If your injuries meet Florida's serious injury threshold (Florida Statute § 627.737) — significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death — you can pursue a claim against the at-fault driver for full damages, including pain and suffering that PIP never covers.

The 51% rule: partial fault can reduce — or eliminate — your recovery

Florida now follows modified comparative negligence. Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault: if you're 20% at fault on a $100,000 claim, you can recover $80,000. But under the rule adopted in 2023, if you are found more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing at all.

This makes the fault investigation the battleground of most cases. Insurers have every incentive to push as much blame onto you as possible — and an experienced attorney's job is to stop them.

The uninsured driver problem

Florida has one of the highest rates of uninsured drivers in the country, and the state does not require bodily injury liability coverage for most drivers. Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage on your own policy can fill that gap. An attorney can identify every available policy — often finding coverage victims didn't know existed.

Not sure where your case fits? CrashAid's free referral service matches you with a vetted Florida attorney who can sort out exactly who owes what.