Utah Car Accident Settlement Calculator

Utah’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.

Utah gives you 4 years from the date of the incident to file a lawsuit, which is longer than the national average of 2.7 years. While you have more time than most states, delaying still weakens your case as evidence degrades and witnesses become harder to locate. Utah applies a discovery rule, meaning the clock may start when you discover (or should have discovered) the injury rather than when the incident occurred.

Utah's no-fault insurance system changes how car accident claims work fundamentally. Instead of filing a claim against the at-fault driver, you first seek compensation through your own PIP coverage. Whether you can also pursue the other driver for pain and suffering depends on the threshold written into Utah's statute. A person who has or is required to have personal injury protection coverage cannot bring a claim for general damages unless the person sustained death, dismemberment, permanent disability or permanent impairment based on objective findings, permanent disfigurement, a bone fracture, or medical expenses in excess of $3,000 (Utah Code § 31A-22-309(1)).

Drivers in Utah must carry at least 30/65/25 in liability coverage — that’s $30K bodily injury per person, $65K per accident, and $25K property damage. While this meets the state minimum, a single ER visit can easily exceed these limits. The at-fault driver’s policy may not fully cover your losses in a serious accident.

Utah imposes a 365-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.

Utah 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. Whether your own collision coverage owes it has no clear Utah rule. Utah's Supreme Court approved recovery of the value a repaired vehicle still lost, on top of the reasonable cost of repairs, in Metcalf v. Mellen. The diminished value guide in the related reading below carries the rule for every state and how to document the loss.