The 1-year deadline for PIP no-fault benefits
MCL 500.3145(1) requires a person seeking Personal Injury Protection benefits — the medical, wage-loss, and attendant-care coverage every Michigan auto policy provides — to give written notice of injury to the no-fault insurer within 1 year of the crash. Notice must include the name and address of the injured person, and the time, place, and nature of the injury.
Separately, if the insurer refuses to pay a PIP benefit, a lawsuit for that benefit must be filed within 1 year after that specific loss was incurred. Every month of unpaid bills has its own private clock.
The one-year-back rule
Even when a PIP claim is filed on time, MCL 500.3145(2) caps recovery at losses incurred in the 1 year immediately before the lawsuit is filed. Wait 18 months to sue and the first 6 months of unpaid medical bills are gone — permanently.
The 3-year deadline to sue the at-fault driver
To recover pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, and excess wage loss and medical costs above no-fault coverage, you must sue the at-fault driver directly. Under MCL 600.5805(10), that lawsuit must be filed within 3 years of the date of the crash.
This "third-party" case is governed by Michigan's serious impairment of body function threshold — but the 3-year clock runs whether or not your injuries have finished healing. It does not stop while adjusters negotiate, while doctors evaluate, or while you wait to see how bad things really are.
Mini-tort and property damage
Vehicle damage not covered by your collision insurance can be recovered from the at-fault driver up to $3,000 under Michigan's mini-tort statute, MCL 500.3135(3)(e). Both mini-tort claims and other property-damage lawsuits share the same 3-year statute of limitations as the bodily injury claim.
Special situations
Not every Michigan car accident case runs on the standard 1-year / 3-year timeline:
Minors and legally incapacitated persons
MCL 600.5851 tolls (pauses) the 3-year bodily injury statute of limitations for minors and for adults who are legally incapacitated at the time of the crash. The 1-year no-fault deadlines are not tolled in the same way — do not assume a minor's PIP claim is safe.
Wrongful death
A Michigan wrongful death case arising from a car crash must be filed within 3 years of the death under MCL 600.5852 and the Wrongful Death Act. PIP survivor's loss benefits still run on the 1-year no-fault schedule.
Michigan Assigned Claims Plan
If you don't have your own auto insurance and there is no other applicable policy — as often happens with pedestrians hit by uninsured drivers — you must apply to the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan within 1 year of the crash under MCL 500.3172. There are no extensions.
Uninsured / underinsured motorist claims
UM and UIM coverage is a matter of contract, not statute. Your policy sets the deadline — sometimes as short as 1 year to give notice and 3 years to sue. Read your own policy the same week the crash happens.
Claims against a government-owned vehicle
A crash caused by a city, county, or state vehicle triggers the Governmental Tort Liability Act's 120-day notice requirement under MCL 691.1404. Miss that notice and the case is over before the 3-year clock ever mattered.
Why acting immediately matters
Deadlines aside, waiting to open your case costs you money in ways the statute never mentions:
- Evidence disappears. Skid marks fade, dashcam footage is overwritten, and witnesses move or forget what they saw.
- The one-year-back rule keeps eating your PIP. Every extra month of wage loss and medical care becomes uncollectable.
- Insurance adjusters use delay against you. Any gap between the crash and treatment is turned into "the injury must not be from the crash."
- You lose settlement leverage. Insurers know a case near its statute deadline has fewer options, and price offers accordingly.
Not sure if your car accident deadline has passed?
Call Jay Trucks & Associates. We'll pull the crash date, your policy, and your treatment timeline, and tell you exactly which clocks are still running — free of charge and with zero obligation.