Car Accident Property Damage Claims: Repairs, Total Loss, Rental Cars and When a Lawyer Helps

Another driver hit your car, and now you need it fixed, a way to get around and a fair offer. If you’re not sure who pays for what, that’s normal.

Here’s the plain answer. In most states, the at-fault driver’s property damage liability insurance pays to fix your car, or what it was worth if it’s totaled, plus a rental for a reasonable repair time (National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or NAIC). You can also use your own collision coverage and let your insurer try to recover your deductible. If only your car was damaged, you may be able to handle the claim yourself. Michigan works differently; see the boxes marked “In Michigan.”

The hard part is usually the claims process: the paying insurer writes the estimate, values the car and decides how long a rental lasts, so it’s up to you to push back with evidence.

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What’s the difference between bodily injury and property damage liability?

They’re the two liability coverages on a driver’s policy, and most states require both (NAIC). Bodily injury liability pays for injuries the driver causes to others, such as medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering. Property damage liability pays for damage the driver causes to others’ property, from cars to walls and fences (NAIC).

Each has its own limit, the most the insurer will pay (Texas Department of Insurance, or TDI). Texas, for example, requires at least $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per accident for injuries and $25,000 for property damage, and warns that minimum limits might not be enough if a car is totaled or several cars are damaged (TDI).

Who pays to fix your car after an accident?

If the other insurer denies fault or stalls, file with your own collision coverage, if you have it. Your insurer will try to recover what it paid, and if it gets anything back, you may get your deductible back (TDI). Tell your insurer before you settle with the other side, so you don’t put its right to recover at risk (Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, or Washington OIC). See talking to insurance adjusters and each state’s shared-fault rule.

Most no-fault states treat cars the same way: personal injury protection (PIP) pays for injuries, but you claim against the at-fault driver’s insurer for your car (NAIC). Michigan is different.

How do repairs work after a car accident?

The paying insurer’s adjuster assesses the damage and decides what to pay (NAIC). If the shop finds more damage, it can send the insurer a new estimate (TDI). Each state has its own claims rules (NAIC), so ask about shops and parts before work starts. In Texas, for example, an insurer can suggest shops but can’t require you to use one, and it has to pay only for parts of like kind and quality, not necessarily the carmaker’s original parts (TDI).

Can you claim diminished value?

Diminished value is the difference between your car’s market value before the crash and after it’s repaired. In Washington, you typically claim it from the at-fault driver’s insurer, some policies don’t cover it, and you need proof the value dropped (Washington OIC). Elsewhere, ask your state insurance department. In Michigan, if the vehicle that hit you was insured, a claim against its owner or driver for damage to your car is generally limited to the mini-tort: up to $3,000 of damage insurance doesn’t cover, for crashes after July 1, 2020 (MCL 500.3135(3), (3)(e)).

What happens if your car is totaled?

The insurer will likely total it if repairs would cost about as much as the car is worth, or more (TDI). It pays the actual cash value: what the car was worth, as a used car, the moment before the crash. The Blue Book is only a guide (NAIC). In Washington, the insurer must also add taxes, license fees and other transfer fees (Washington OIC). If you keep the car, its salvage value is subtracted (TDI).

Owe more on your loan than the car is worth? Your auto policy won’t pay off the loan. Gap insurance, if you bought it, covers the difference between what you owe and the car’s actual value (NAIC).

How do you push back on a low offer?

1. Ask for the reasons in writing (NAIC; TDI). For a total loss, ask what source the insurer used to value your car (TDI).
2. Send your evidence: a shop’s estimate, or dealer quotes and local listings for similar cars, with records of special features (TDI). Your repairer can also meet the adjuster (NAIC).
3. Escalate:
   • Appraisal, if your own insurer is paying: check your policy for an appraisal clause (NAIC). In Texas, each side hires an appraiser, an umpire the two appraisers choose makes a binding decision on any difference, and you pay your appraiser and half the umpire’s cost (TDI).
   • A complaint to your state insurance department (NAIC).
   • Your own collision coverage, if the other driver’s insurer won’t pay (TDI).
   • Small claims court, for example against the at-fault driver. Limits vary: Texas’s Justice Court hears claims under $20,000 (TDI).

Were you hurt in the crash too? That's a separate claim with its own deadlines. Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

Who pays for a rental car after an accident?

• The at-fault driver’s insurer should pay for a reasonable length of repair time (NAIC). In Texas, that’s based on the estimated hours of labor, and the insurer may extend it if the shop has to order parts or finds more damage (TDI). If your car is totaled, your right to a rental ends once a settlement has been offered (NAIC).
• Your own insurer pays if you bought rental reimbursement coverage (NAIC): a set amount a day, up to a dollar limit (TDI). Repair delays can use up that limit (Washington OIC).

What about belongings inside your car?

Most auto policies don’t cover equipment that isn’t permanently installed, such as cell phones, but the at-fault driver’s property damage liability pays for damage to “the property of others” (NAIC). List damaged items in that claim with photos and receipts, and check your homeowners or renters policy. In Michigan, PPI covers a car’s contents only if it was properly parked, and the mini-tort covers damages “to a motor vehicle” (MCL 500.3123(1)(a), 500.3135(3)(e)).

What if the at-fault driver had no insurance?

Your collision coverage or uninsured motorist property damage coverage pays, if you bought it; either way, you pay a deductible (NAIC). See how uninsured motorist claims work and, if the driver fled, hit-and-run crashes.

How long do you have to make a property damage claim?

Your policy sets the time to report a claim, and it varies by policy and insurer (Washington OIC), so report the crash as soon as possible (NAIC). State law sets the deadline to sue, and car damage can have its own: Virginia allows two years for injuries but five for damage to property (Va. Code § 8.01-243(A), (B)). See lawsuit deadlines by state.

Do you need a property damage lawyer?

Often not, if only your car was damaged. You can take every step above yourself, and small claims court doesn’t require a lawyer: you don’t need one in Texas’s Justice Court (TDI), and in Michigan’s small claims division, which hears claims up to $7,000 as of September 2026 and gets mini-tort cases whenever legally possible, lawyers can’t represent either side (MCL 600.8401, 600.8408(1), 500.3135(4)(c)). The NAIC lists hiring an attorney or a public adjuster as an option when you and your own insurer still disagree.

A lawyer makes more sense when:

• You were also hurt. A signed release generally gives up your right to sue (Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute), so don’t sign one that covers injuries just to settle the car. See our car accident lawsuit guide.
• The insurer won’t pay. TDI says legal help is the next option then.
• You disagree with the other driver’s insurer about your totaled car’s value and have no collision coverage. Washington’s insurance commissioner says you need legal advice then (Washington OIC).
• The loss is large, such as damage beyond the at-fault driver’s limit that your own coverage won’t pay (TDI).
• In Michigan, the vehicle that hit you was uninsured, or a PPI claim wasn’t paid.

How do property damage lawyers charge?

Injury lawyers often work on a contingency fee: a share of what’s recovered, and no fee if nothing is (how injury lawyers get paid). For damage alone, ask how the lawyer would charge and how that compares with the amount in dispute. Under the American Bar Association’s model rule, the lawyer must tell you the basis or rate of the fee, preferably in writing, and a contingency fee agreement must be in writing (ABA Model Rule 1.5(b), (c)). In Michigan, you can compare car accident lawyers by Google rating and the $1 million-plus results each firm reports on its own website. Past results don’t guarantee a similar outcome.

What to do next

1. Photograph the damage, and get the other driver’s insurance details and the police report.
2. Open the claim with the at-fault driver’s insurer, or your own collision coverage if that insurer denies fault or stalls. Ask in writing how long a rental is covered.
3. Get every number in writing, and answer a low one with your own estimates or listings.
4. Don’t sign a release that covers injuries until you know how badly you’re hurt.
5. Hurt, or getting nowhere with an insurer? Get a free case review.

What waiting can cost

• Storage fees. Pick your car up promptly, or let the insurer move it, so storage charges don’t build up (Washington OIC).
• Rental days. Repair delays can outlast a rental, so tell the adjuster about them as they happen (TDI; Washington OIC).
• Your right to sue. Every state sets a deadline. In Michigan, it’s one year for unpaid PPI benefits and three years for a mini-tort case (MCL 500.3145(5), 600.5805(2)).

What a good outcome looks like

Your car is repaired properly at a shop you chose, or you’re paid enough to replace it. A rental covers the repair time, your deductible comes back if the other driver was at fault, and nothing you signed gave up an injury claim. From wondering who pays for your car to knowing which policy pays, how to push back on a low number and when a lawyer is worth the call.

For more, see what a car accident claim with no injury is worth and all our car, truck and motorcycle accident guides.

Updated October 7, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.