Idaho Car Accident Settlement Calculator

Idaho’s modified comparative fault system creates a bright line at 50%. Below it, you recover (reduced by your fault percentage). At or above it, you recover nothing. In car accident cases, this threshold means that small evidentiary details — a traffic camera, a witness statement, a skid mark analysis — can swing the outcome dramatically.

You have 2 years to file suit in Idaho, a deadline that is in line with the national average of 2.7 years. This is a standard timeframe, but acting sooner preserves evidence and strengthens your position. Idaho does apply a discovery rule, which can adjust the starting point of the limitations period when the injury was not immediately discoverable.

Idaho caps non-economic damages (pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life) at $538,425 for this type of case. This means that regardless of the severity of your non-economic losses, the maximum you can receive for those damages is $538,425. (Idaho Code § 6-1603)

Idaho requires all drivers to carry minimum liability insurance of $25K per person / $50K per accident in bodily injury coverage and $15K in property damage coverage (commonly written as 25/50/15). These minimums are below the national average, meaning many drivers in Idaho may carry only enough insurance to cover a fraction of the costs from a serious accident. An Idaho liability policy includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless a named insured rejects either or both in writing or in an electronic record (Idaho Code § 41-2502).

Claims against government entities in Idaho — such as accidents involving government vehicles, city buses, or dangerous road conditions maintained by a municipality — require a formal notice of claim within 180 days. This compressed timeline catches many accident victims off guard. If a government entity may be at fault, consulting an attorney immediately is critical to preserving your right to compensation.

Idaho lets a vehicle owner recover diminished value, the resale value a properly repaired car loses because of its accident history, from the at-fault driver on top of the cost of repairs. Under your own collision coverage, the answer in Idaho turns on the wording of your policy. Idaho's Department of Insurance tells consumers that an insurer is not obligated to pay diminished value unless the policy says so, while the state's civil jury instruction on property damage lets a jury award repair costs plus the vehicle's remaining loss in market value. The diminished value guide in the related reading below carries the rule for every state and how to document the loss.