Enter Your Crash Date
Deadline Reference Tool
Enter the date of the crash. The tool shows which Florida and federal clocks that date starts. It is a general reference and not legal advice — it does not know who the defendant is, whether the injured person is a minor, or whether a cause of action accrued later than the crash.
Enter a date above to see the deadlines it starts.
Nothing entered here is transmitted anywhere. The calculation runs in your browser and the date is not sent to this site, to Shiner Law Group, or to anyone else.
The Four Clocks and What Starts Them
There is a common assumption that an injury claim has one deadline and that everything else is a matter of pace. In Florida that is not how it works, and in a truck case it is not close. A crash sets at least four independent clocks running, each governed by a different rule, each with a different consequence for missing it, and only one of them is the statute of limitations everyone has heard of. The tool above shows the dates; this section explains what each one is for.
A Florida truck crash starts several deadlines at once, and they run at very different speeds. Listing them in the order they expire is more useful than listing them in the order of importance, because the first one to expire is medical rather than legal.
| Deadline | Source and Effect |
|---|---|
| 14 days — PIP treatment | Florida PIP generally requires initial services or care within 14 days of the crash. Missing it can cost the $10,000 benefit entirely. See PIP explained. |
| 60 days — crash report | Report information is confidential and exempt from public records disclosure for 60 days under Fla. Stat. § 316.066, with access limited to specified persons. See getting your report. |
| 3–6 months — evidence | DVIRs are retained three months (49 CFR § 396.11) and records of duty status six months (49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1)). Dashcam and telematics overwrite cycles are often shorter still. |
| 2 years — filing | For negligence causes of action accruing on or after March 24, 2023, Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a). Four years under the prior § 95.11(3)(a) for causes accruing earlier. |
When the Two-Year Rule Is Not the Rule
The general negligence deadline is a default, and several situations displace it. The tool cannot know which apply to a particular case; these are the ones to raise with a lawyer.
- Government defendants. A crash involving a city, county, or state vehicle requires written pre-suit notice under Fla. Stat. § 768.28, with an investigation period before suit can be filed and statutory damages caps that apply regardless of the injury.
- Wrongful death. The Wrongful Death Act has its own structure under Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16–768.26, and the period generally runs from the date of death rather than the date of the crash. See wrongful death claims.
- Minors and legal incapacity. Florida law provides for tolling in defined circumstances. The rules are specific and should not be assumed.
- UM/UIM claims. These are contract claims governed by the policy and by Fla. Stat. § 627.727, with their own notice conditions and their own limitations analysis.
- Bad faith claims. A civil remedy notice under Fla. Stat. § 624.155 has its own requirements and cure period.
- Products claims. A claim against a component or vehicle manufacturer — a failed tire or an inadequate underride guard — involves a different analysis, including Florida's repose provisions.
Shiner Law Group, P.A.
Founded by David I. Shiner, Esq. · AV Preeminent® rated · Florida Bar member since 2002
Shiner Law Group was founded by David I. Shiner, Esq., a Nova Southeastern University law graduate, a member of The Florida Bar since 2002, and AV Preeminent® rated by Martindale-Hubbell. The firm represents injured people across Florida from offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Wellington, and Belle Glade, and handles truck accident cases on contingency: free consultations, and no fee unless there is a recovery.
Why the Order of Expiry Matters More Than the Length
Almost everything written about deadlines in Florida injury claims leads with the filing deadline, because it is the one with legal finality attached. In a truck case that framing is backward. The two-year deadline is the last one to expire and the easiest to meet. The deadlines that actually change outcomes expire in the first six months, and missing them does not end the claim — it just removes the evidence that would have proved it.
Consider what a claim looks like at each point on the timeline.
| Point on the Timeline | What Has Changed |
|---|---|
| Day 14 | The PIP window closes. A person who has not seen a provider may have forfeited a $10,000 benefit that would have covered the first round of imaging — the imaging that documents the injury. |
| Day 60 | The crash report becomes generally available. By this point the vehicles have usually been released and repaired or scrapped. |
| Month 3 | DVIRs may lawfully be destroyed under 49 CFR § 396.11. A pre-trip inspection noting a brake defect is gone. |
| Month 6 | Records of duty status and ELD data may lawfully be destroyed under 49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1). Whether the driver was over hours becomes very hard to establish. |
| Year 2 | The filing deadline arrives, at which point the case is built on whatever survived the preceding steps. |
The practical consequence is that hiring a lawyer at month eighteen is legally timely and evidentially late. Nothing about that is unique to any particular firm; it is a function of how the federal retention schedule interacts with a state filing deadline. Our post on the retention clocks lists each period with its citation.
None of this means a later claim is worthless. Crash reports, medical records, physical evidence, and witness accounts persist, and some carriers retain records far longer than required. It does mean the earliest weeks are worth more than they feel like at the time, when the injured person is usually focused on treatment rather than on documents held by a company they have never dealt with.
What to Do With the Dates
Knowing the dates only helps if the first weeks go to the things that expire soonest. The order below is deliberately the reverse of how most people approach a claim: medical care and evidence preservation come before anything to do with filing, because they are the parts that cannot be recovered once the window closes. Filing is the step that stays available longest.
- Book medical care now if you have not. The 14-day PIP window is the first to close and it is not extendable by filing anything.
- Write down the crash report number and request the report once it is filed.
- Identify the carrier by USDOT number and pull the public safety record while it is current.
- Send a written preservation demand before the three- and six-month retention periods run. This is the step most often missed.
- Photograph and preserve your own evidence — the vehicles, the scene, your injuries as they progress, and every bill and record.
- Keep a dated file of everything. Bills, letters, correspondence from any insurer, and photographs of your injuries as they change. Contemporaneous records are worth considerably more than a reconstruction assembled a year later.
- Have a lawyer confirm your actual deadlines. The general rule is a default, and the exceptions above are common in truck cases. Shiner Law Group reviews Florida truck cases at no charge.
Confirm Your Actual Deadlines
Shiner Law Group offers free case reviews for Florida truck accident claims — 24/7, no fee unless you win.
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