One crash can start several legal clocks at once. They are set by different statutes, they run for different lengths of time, and missing any one of them usually ends that part of the case for good. Here is the short version, then the details.
The deadlines at a glance
| Claim | Deadline to file | Utah Code | |---|---|---| | Vehicle property damage (diminished value, repair, total loss) | 3 years | 78B-2-305 | | Personal injury (your bodily injuries, medical bills, pain) | 4 years | 78B-2-307 | | Wrongful death | 2 years | 78B-2-304 | | Notice of claim against a government entity | 1 year | 63G-7-402 |
Personal injury: four years
A claim for your own bodily injuries runs four years from the date of the crash under Utah Code 78B-2-307. That covers medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and the rest of the injury damages. Four years sounds generous. It is not, in practice: witnesses move, video is overwritten in days, and an insurer that sees a claimant waiting treats the claim as weak.
Vehicle property damage: three years
Damage to your car is a separate claim with a shorter clock. Utah Code 78B-2-305 gives you three years for property damage, and that includes the diminished value your car lost on its history report, a repair dispute, and a total-loss valuation fight. The property damage clock is the one people miss, because they assume it travels with the injury case. It does not.
Wrongful death: two years
When a crash takes a life, the family's wrongful death claim must be filed within two years under Utah Code 78B-2-304. Who may bring it is set by statute and is covered in our wrongful death guide.
Government vehicles and road defects: one year for the notice
If the at-fault driver was working for a city, county or state agency, or a road or signal defect caused the crash, the Governmental Immunity Act applies. A written notice of claim must be served within one year under Utah Code 63G-7-402, and the lawsuit has its own short deadline after that. Miss the notice and the claim is usually barred no matter how clear the fault.
Why waiting costs money even inside the deadline
Filing on day 1,400 is legal. It is rarely smart. The evidence that proves fault (vehicle data, dash and business cameras, 911 audio, signal timing) has short retention periods measured in days or months, not years. Insurers know that, and their offers reflect it.
Talk to us before any clock runs
Tell us the date of the crash and what happened, and we will tell you which deadlines apply to you and how much time is left on each. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we recover money for you.