How Long After a Car Accident Can You Claim Injury

When the other vehicle belongs to a town, a county or a state agency, the Tort Claims Act replaces the three-year rule. Section 15-78-110 sets that window at two years. It opens when the injured person discovers the loss, or when a reasonable person would have discovered it.

The window reaches three years only for someone who first files a verified claim with that government body. A verified claim is a sworn, written claim to the agency. Section 15-78-80(d) then requires the agency to receive it within one year of the discovery point that starts the two years. Which clock applies depends on facts a lawyer reviews.

A settlement payment usually comes with a release, a signed paper that ends the claims it names. The wording decides whether it covers only the car or every claim from the crash. Frost Law Group can read a release before you sign it, so a repair payment does not close off an injury claim by accident.

Ask for a copy of any release before a check arrives. A release is a contract, and a signed release can end claims for symptoms that appear later, so read every word first.

The first chart entry after a crash usually shows the visit date, the main complaint and the history the patient gives. When that history names the collision, it ties the visit to it. An adjuster compares the visit date with the crash date and looks for any other cause in between. A clear, accurate history on day one leaves less room for that argument.

Treatment breaks happen for ordinary reasons, such as childcare, a new shift at work or a wait for the next opening. An insurer may still describe a break as proof the injury healed. Records that show the real reason, such as a rescheduling note or a work calendar, can answer that claim. How much any gap matters depends on the injury and the records, and no one can predict an insurer's response.

South Carolina's crash data sorts people by injury level, running from No Apparent Injury through Suspected Serious Injury and Fatal Injury. An entry of No Apparent Injury reflects what the officer recorded that day, not a doctor's exam. In the 2024 Traffic Collision Fact Book, Dorchester County reports counted 81 people seriously injured and 1,226 with other injuries. Those figures come from reports, so pain that surfaces after the officer leaves may never reach them.

Picture a low-speed bump on Berlin G. Myers Parkway where both drivers trade information and leave without calling police. Section 56-5-1270 reaches a crash like that if someone turns out to be hurt, or if damage hits $1,000, and no officer investigated. The driver or owner then must send Form FR-309 to SCDMV inside 15 days of the collision. Neck pain the next morning may bring that crash inside the rule, and a lawyer can check whether it does.

One statute does set a notice condition for a specific claim. Under Section 38-77-170, a UM claim against a driver nobody can identify needs a police report. That report must come within a reasonable time, judged by all the circumstances. No hour count appears in the text.

The claim also needs physical contact, a witness or a recording of the crash. On top of that, the injured person must not have been careless about identifying the other car at the time. A late injury does not change those conditions, so the report question comes first when the other driver fled.

Section 38-77-150 adds a step that sits apart from any policy notice term. A UM claim cannot go forward unless the injured person serves the uninsured motorist carrier with the suit papers from the case against the other driver. That carrier gets 30 days to appear, with the right to defend in the uninsured driver's name. Policy notice terms still apply alongside that step, so a lawyer reads the policy and the statute together.