New Jersey Car Accident Settlement Calculator

New Jersey uses a 51% fault threshold for car accident claims. You can recover compensation as long as you are no more than 50% at fault — even in a perfectly even 50/50 split, you still receive half your damages. This is more permissive than states using a 50% bar, where equal fault results in zero recovery.

The statute of limitations for this type of claim in New Jersey is 2 years — in line with the national average of 2.7 years. This is a standard timeframe, but acting sooner preserves evidence and strengthens your position. Importantly, New Jersey recognizes a discovery rule, which can extend the filing window in cases where the harm was not immediately apparent.

New Jersey is a choice no-fault state. Your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage generally pays medical bills first, whoever caused the accident, and whether a lawsuit for pain and suffering is limited depends on the option that applies to you. New Jersey drivers with a Standard Policy choose between the Limitation on Lawsuit option and the No Limitation on Lawsuit option. The injury threshold applies only under the limited option, which also comes with every Basic Policy and applies when no choice is made on the coverage selection form: a pain-and-suffering claim then requires a listed injury such as a displaced fracture, significant disfigurement or scarring, loss of a body part, a permanent injury or death. The choice does not affect a claim for economic damages such as medical expenses and lost wages.

New Jersey’s minimum liability limits are $35K per person / $70K per accident in bodily injury coverage and $25K in property damage coverage (commonly written as 35/70/25). These minimums are above the national average, providing somewhat better baseline protection for accident victims. A New Jersey Standard Policy must include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of at least $35,000 per person and $70,000 per accident (policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026), and higher limits can be bought up to the liability limits selected. A Basic Policy does not include this coverage (P.L.2022, c.87, amending N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1; New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Bulletin No. 25-06). As a no-fault state, New Jersey also mandates personal injury protection (PIP) coverage of at least $15K. These are the minimums for a New Jersey Standard Policy. A Basic Policy also meets the legal requirement: it carries $5,000 of property damage liability and $15,000 of PIP, and no bodily injury liability coverage unless the optional $10,000 is bought, so an at-fault driver may have little or no bodily injury coverage.

New Jersey imposes a 90-day notice requirement for tort claims against government entities. If a government-owned vehicle caused your accident or a poorly maintained government road contributed to it, you must file a formal notice of claim well before the standard statute of limitations expires. Failure to provide timely notice is one of the most common reasons government tort claims are dismissed.

New Jersey 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 New Jersey turns on the wording of your policy. A published New Jersey appeals decision, Myska v. New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Co., holds that New Jersey does not mandate a standard auto policy form and that insurers' policies differ on this, so whether your own coverage pays for lost value after repair turns on the wording of your particular policy. The diminished value guide in the related reading below carries the rule for every state and how to document the loss.