Insurance Systems & Requirements

Hawaii operates under a no-fault insurance system, meaning that after a crash, drivers turn first to their own Personal Injury Protection coverage for medical expenses, regardless of who caused the collision. This is different from an at-fault state, where compensation for injuries comes from the other driver's liability insurer from the outset. Hawaii's system is designed to provide fast access to medical payment while limiting the number of minor claims that proceed to a lawsuit.

Minimum required coverages

All drivers operating a vehicle in Hawaii must carry the following minimum coverage under HRS § 431:10C-301:

• Personal Injury Protection (PIP): $10,000 per person
• Bodily Injury Liability: $40,000 per person / $80,000 per accident
• Property Damage Liability: $20,000 per accident

Effective January 1, 2026, the bodily injury and property damage minimums doubled from the longstanding 20/40/10 to the current 40/80/20, applying to all new and renewal auto insurance policies. Even at the new, higher minimums, coverage can be exhausted quickly in a serious crash, and higher limits are worth carrying given Hawaii's high cost of medical care and vehicle repair.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

PIP is the foundation of Hawaii's no-fault system and applies before your health insurance. Basic PIP under HRS § 431:10C-103.5 covers medical and rehabilitation expenses regardless of fault, up to $10,000 per person. Basic PIP does not include lost wages, household services, or funeral expenses. Optional endorsements are available to add wage-loss benefits, a death benefit of up to $100,000, and a funeral benefit of up to $2,000. Given that basic PIP benefits alone are unlikely to cover a serious injury, purchasing higher PIP limits or supplemental endorsements is a reasonable step for most drivers.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM)

Hawaii insurers must offer UM/UIM coverage at limits matching the driver's bodily injury liability coverage, now 40/80 following the 2026 increase. Drivers may decline this coverage. UM applies when the at-fault driver has no insurance or cannot be identified. UIM applies when the at-fault driver's liability limits are too low to cover the full loss. Because Hawaii's roads carry a meaningful mix of local and visitor drivers, some driving rental vehicles with minimum coverage, UM/UIM is worth carrying at limits above the state minimum.

Optional coverages

• Collision coverage: Pays for damage to your own vehicle regardless of fault
• Comprehensive coverage: Covers non-collision losses such as theft, vandalism, fire, or storm damage
• MedPay: Supplements PIP for medical costs beyond the PIP limit

Rideshare coverage requirements

For drivers working for Uber, Lyft, or similar platforms, Hawaii law establishes coverage requirements based on driver status:

• App on, no ride accepted: $50,000 per person / $100,000 per accident for bodily injury; $25,000 for property damage
• Ride accepted or passenger onboard: $1,000,000 in liability coverage

Penalties for non-compliance

Driving without required insurance in Hawaii is governed by HRS § 431:10C-117, which sets out a more detailed penalty structure than a simple fine range. Fine amounts range between $100 to $5,000 per offense, not suspendable except as noted below:

• No-insurance conviction specifically: $500 for a first offense; a minimum of $1,500 for each subsequent offense within a five-year period. A judge has discretion to suspend all or part of the fine if the driver produces proof of current insurance, and may allow community service in lieu of the fine
• License suspension: Three months for a first conviction; one year for a subsequent offense within five years. As an alternative, the court may instead require the driver to maintain a nonrefundable insurance policy in force for six months rather than suspending the license
• Multiple convictions within five years: The court must also impose additional penalties, which may include up to 30 days of imprisonment, suspension or revocation of the vehicle's registration plates, and impoundment or impoundment and sale of the vehicle

Separately, a person involved in a crash while operating an uninsured vehicle, knowing or recklessly disregarding that it is uninsured, commits the distinct misdemeanor offense of operating a motor vehicle accident while uninsured, which can carry its own penalties, including a jail term.

An uninsured driver who causes a crash may also be personally liable for the full cost of the damages, since no insurer will step in on their behalf.

Fault & Negligence Laws

Modified comparative negligence

Hawaii applies a modified comparative negligence rule under HRS § 663-31. An injured party can recover damages as long as their own fault does not exceed that of the party or parties they are claiming against. In practice, this means a plaintiff found to bear more than 50 percent of the fault for a crash recovers nothing, while a plaintiff at 50 percent or below recovers their damages reduced proportionally by their own share of fault.

A concrete example: if you are found 20 percent at fault and your damages total $50,000, your recovery is reduced to $40,000. If you are found to bear more than half the fault, you recover nothing.

This is a standard modified comparative fault framework, similar to the majority of states covered in this series. For a broader explanation of how these systems compare, see our article on comparative and contributory negligence.

Note: the modified comparative negligence rule described above governs how much can be recovered. The threshold itself and how it works are covered in the dedicated section immediately below.

How fault is determined

Fault is established through police reports, witness statements, dashcam footage, physical evidence, medical records, and accident reconstruction analysis in contested cases. Insurance adjusters investigate promptly after any significant crash. Because fault only matters once a claim moves outside the no-fault system, the stakes of a fault dispute in Hawaii are tied directly to whether the serious injury threshold has been met, not to the initial PIP claim.

Multi-vehicle collisions

When more than two parties share responsibility for a crash, fault is allocated among all involved based on each party's contribution. Hawaii abolished pure joint and several liability in most circumstances under HRS § 663-10.9, meaning a defendant found only partially at fault is generally responsible only for their own share of the damages rather than the full award, with certain statutory exceptions.

Passenger rights

Passengers injured in a crash can seek PIP benefits regardless of fault, whether through the policy on the vehicle they were riding in or their own policy. If a passenger's injuries meet the serious injury threshold, they may also pursue a claim against the at-fault driver, with their own recovery reduced proportionally under the comparative negligence rule if their conduct, such as distracting the driver, contributed to the crash.

Hawaii's No-Fault System & Serious Injury Threshold

Hawaii's no-fault system is the defining feature of its car accident law, and understanding exactly what it does and does not restrict is the most important thing any Hawaii driver or crash victim can know.

What no-fault actually means

"No-fault" in Hawaii applies specifically to bodily injury, not to property damage. After a crash, an injured driver and their passengers turn first to the PIP coverage on the vehicle they were in, which pays medical and rehabilitation costs up to the policy limit regardless of who caused the crash. There is no need to prove the other driver was negligent before PIP benefits become available, and there is no waiting period tied to a fault investigation.

Property damage works differently and always has. Hawaii's no-fault framework does not extend to vehicle damage: the at-fault driver's liability insurance remains the source of recovery for property damage from the outset, exactly as in an at-fault state.

The serious injury threshold

Because PIP alone does not compensate for pain and suffering or other non-economic losses, Hawaii law under HRS § 431:10C-306 sets a threshold an injured party must clear before they can step outside the no-fault system and pursue a full tort claim against the at-fault driver. A crash victim meets the threshold if any of the following apply:

• Medical expenses exceed $5,000: Once documented medical costs pass this figure, the injured party may pursue a claim against the at-fault driver for damages beyond what PIP covers
• Permanent loss of a bodily function: An injury resulting in lasting impairment qualifies regardless of the medical expense total
• Permanent disfigurement or scarring: Visible, lasting physical damage also satisfies the threshold
• Death: A fatal crash allows the deceased's family to pursue a wrongful death claim against the at-fault driver

Meeting any one of these conditions is enough. A crash victim does not need to satisfy all four.

What happens below the threshold?

If an injured party's medical expenses stay under $5,000 and their injuries are not permanent, disfiguring, or fatal, they are generally limited to their PIP benefits. Pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other non-economic damages are not recoverable from the at-fault driver in these cases. This is the central trade-off of Hawaii's no-fault design: fast, fault-independent payment for minor injuries, in exchange for giving up the right to sue for the non-economic component of a minor claim.

What happens once the threshold is met?

Once the threshold is cleared, whether through mounting medical bills, a permanent injury, or a fatal outcome, the case proceeds like a standard tort claim. You can pursue the at-fault driver's liability insurer for medical expenses beyond PIP, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other economic and non-economic damages. 

At this stage, Hawaii's modified comparative negligence rule, described in the fault section above, governs how much can be recovered if the injured party shares any responsibility for the crash.

Why documentation matters from the start

Because the $5,000 medical expense threshold is the most common path out of the no-fault system, thorough documentation of every medical visit, procedure, and bill from the outset of treatment is essential. An injured party who stops treatment early, or whose provider under-bills relative to the actual severity of the injury, risks staying under the threshold and losing access to a broader recovery even when the injury genuinely warrants one.

Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit after a car accident. Missing the applicable deadline almost always bars the claim permanently.

Standard filing deadlines in Hawaii

• Personal injury: 2 years from the date of the accident
• Property damage: 2 years from the date of the accident
• Wrongful death: 2 years from the date of death under HRS § 663-3(b)

Hawaii applies the same two-year period to personal injury, property damage, and wrongful death claims. The wrongful death period runs from the date of death, which may differ from the date of the accident if the injured person survived before dying from their injuries.

Claims against government entities

Hawaii previously applied a shorter deadline to claims against county governments than to claims against the state itself, but that disparity no longer exists.

Claims against a county government are governed by HRS § 46-72, which requires written notice of the injury and the specific damages claimed to be given to the county within a set period after the injury accrues. Until 2007, that period was six months, and a Hawaii Supreme Court equal protection challenge that same year found the resulting disparity with the state's two-year deadline unconstitutional. In direct response, the Hawaii Legislature amended § 46-72 later in 2007 to extend the county notice period to two years, matching the general personal injury statute of limitations. County claims and ordinary personal injury claims are now governed by the same two-year period, and the Hawaii Supreme Court has confirmed that county defendants have no distinct procedural advantage under § 46-72 that isn't equally available under the general statute.

Claims against the State of Hawaii itself are governed separately under the State Tort Liability Act. Under HRS § 662-4, a tort claim against the state is barred unless the action is begun within two years after the claim accrues.

Although the county and state deadlines are now aligned, § 46-72 still requires a specific written notice, delivered to the designated county official and stating when, where, and how the injury occurred, the extent of the injury, and the amount claimed. This is a substantive requirement distinct from simply filing a lawsuit, and anyone whose crash involved a county vehicle, county employee, or county-maintained road or sidewalk should confirm the notice has been properly given well before the two-year mark. See our article on sovereign immunity and suing the government for the broader framework.

Tolling and exceptions

• Minors: The statute of limitations is tolled while an injured person is under 18. The two-year period begins running once they turn 18, giving an injured child until their 20th birthday to file
• Legal incapacity: If an injured person is under a legal disability at the time of the crash, the filing deadline does not begin running until the disability ends
• Fraudulent concealment: If a defendant conceals their responsibility for a death or injury, the clock does not start until the concealment is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. Once discovered, a plaintiff has up to six years, not the standard two, to file
• Class action tolling: Hawaii recognizes that filing a class action suspends the statute of limitations, including under § 46-72, for all members of the putative class, even if they later pursue individual claims after class certification is denied

MVA Procedures & Police Involvement

When you are required to report an accident

Hawaii law requires drivers to report a crash to police when it resulted in injury or death to any person, or when property damage appears to exceed $3,000. All drivers involved must stop, exchange information, and remain at the scene until it is appropriate to leave. Because Hawaii has no single statewide highway patrol, the responding officer will typically come from the county police department covering the location of the crash: the Honolulu Police Department on Oʻahu, or the Maui, Hawaiʻi, or Kauaʻi county police departments on their respective islands.

When no officer responds

For crashes that don't meet the reporting threshold, or where no officer responded to the scene, drivers should still exchange names, phone numbers, addresses, driver's license numbers, and insurance information with all other parties involved. Photographing the scene, vehicle positions, damage, and any visible road conditions is a good idea even when a formal report isn't required, since insurers may still request documentation to process a PIP or property damage claim.

How to access your crash report

Each county police department handles its own crash report requests, since Hawaii does not have a centralized statewide crash records system:

• Honolulu Police Department (Oʻahu): Records requests can be made through HPD's Records and Identification Division
• Maui Police Department: Requests are made directly through the department's records section
• Hawaiʻi Police Department (Big Island): Requests are made through the department's records division
• Kauaʻi Police Department: Requests are made through the department's records section

Fees and processing times vary by county. Contact the specific department that investigated your crash directly, since a report from one county's police department cannot be obtained through another county's office.

Crash reports are primary reference documents for insurers and attorneys in claims and litigation. If your report contains errors, addressing them promptly matters, particularly given how directly a report can affect a serious injury threshold determination or an insurer's initial assessment of fault. See our article on what to do if your car accident police report is inaccurate for the steps involved.

Compensation: Types & Limits

Once a Hawaii crash victim clears the serious injury threshold described in the doctrine section above, their claim against the at-fault driver proceeds much like a standard tort claim. Hawaii does not cap economic or non-economic damages, though punitive damages carry two specific and important restrictions.

Economic damages

Economic damages cover measurable financial losses and are uncapped in Hawaii auto accident cases once the threshold is met. They include:

• Medical expenses beyond what PIP has already paid
• Lost income and reduced earning capacity
• Property damage and vehicle repair or replacement costs
• Out-of-pocket expenses directly related to the crash and recovery
• Future care costs where injuries require ongoing treatment

Non-economic damages

Non-economic damages address losses that cannot be reduced to a bill or receipt, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium. Hawaii imposes no statutory cap on non-economic damages once the serious injury threshold is satisfied.

A spouse or domestic partner of a seriously injured person may bring a separate loss of consortium claim for the loss of companionship and support.

Wrongful death damages

When a crash results in death, the deceased's estate or eligible survivors may pursue a wrongful death claim under HRS § 663-3. Death satisfies Hawaii's serious injury threshold automatically, so a wrongful death claim can proceed against the at-fault driver regardless of the medical expense total. Recoverable damages include funeral expenses, loss of the decedent's financial support and services, and, in a related survival action brought on behalf of the estate, the decedent's own pain and suffering and medical expenses incurred before death.

Punitive damages

Punitive damages in Hawaii are available in ordinary personal injury claims when the defendant's conduct is proven by clear and convincing evidence to involve malice, oppression, or reckless indifference to consequences. Two specific restrictions apply that distinguish Hawaii from many other states covered in this series:

• Not available in wrongful death actions. Hawaii law does not permit punitive damages to be awarded in a wrongful death claim itself, though they may be recoverable in a separate survival action brought on the decedent's behalf if the underlying conduct would have supported them had the decedent lived
• Never available against the state. Sovereign immunity bars punitive damages entirely in any claim against the State of Hawaii or a county government, regardless of how the underlying conduct is characterized

Outside of these two restrictions, Hawaii imposes no statutory dollar cap on punitive damages in an ordinary claim against a private at-fault driver.

Claims against government entities

As discussed in the statute of limitations section above, claims against Hawaii counties and the state itself are both subject to a two-year filing period, with county claims additionally requiring the specific written notice described under HRS § 46-72. Punitive damages are unavailable in any claim against a government entity.

Medical Coverage Considerations

Because Hawaii is a no-fault state, the sequence of who pays for medical treatment after a crash looks different than in most states covered in this series. PIP is the starting point for nearly every claim, not a supplemental coverage layered on top of liability insurance.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

PIP pays first, before health insurance and before any liability claim becomes relevant. See the Insurance section above for what PIP covers and its limits.

Once PIP is exhausted

When medical costs exceed the PIP limit, the injured party's own health insurance company typically covers ongoing treatment. Most health insurers will cover accident-related care, but may assert a subrogation lien on any later settlement or judgment recovered from the at-fault driver once the serious injury threshold is met. Self-funded employer plans governed by ERISA can assert subrogation rights that Hawaii state rules cannot limit. Understanding your plan's subrogation terms before settling is important.

The at-fault driver's liability insurance

Once the serious injury threshold is met, the at-fault driver's bodily injury liability policy, with a minimum of $40,000 per person, becomes available for medical expenses beyond PIP, along with pain and suffering and other damages.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage

If the at-fault driver has no insurance or insufficient coverage once the threshold is met, UM/UIM becomes the relevant recovery source. Our article on what to do if you're in an accident with an uninsured driver covers how these claims work in practice.

Unique Local Considerations

Tropical rain and sudden weather shifts

Hawaii's tropical climate produces sudden, heavy downpours that can appear with little warning, particularly on the windward sides of each island. Roads that are dry and clear can become slick and hazardous within minutes, and Hawaii's volcanic terrain means water often runs off quickly rather than draining, creating flash flooding on low-lying roads and stream crossings. Under Hawaii's modified comparative negligence rule, a driver who fails to adjust speed and following distance to a sudden downpour carries their own share of fault in any resulting crash, which matters directly once an injured party has cleared the serious injury threshold and a fault determination becomes relevant to their recovery.

Narrow, winding coastal and mountain roads

Much of Hawaii's road network, particularly on Maui, Kauaʻi, and the Big Island, consists of narrow two-lane highways that wind along coastlines and climb through mountain terrain, often with limited shoulders, blind curves, and one-lane bridges. The Hāna Highway on Maui and sections of Kauaʻi's coastal roads are well known for exactly this kind of driving environment. These conditions demand lower speeds and heightened attention, and a driver's failure to adjust to blind curves, narrow bridges, or oncoming traffic on a road built for far less volume than it now carries is a common contributing factor in island crashes.

Visitor drivers unfamiliar with local roads

Hawaii's tourism economy means a significant share of drivers on any given road at any given time are visitors driving rental vehicles on roads, and often on the opposite side of familiar driving norms, for the first time. Unfamiliarity with narrow roads, local right-of-way customs, and specific hazards like one-lane bridges does not reduce a visitor driver's legal duty of care. They are held to the same standard of reasonable conduct as any Hawaii resident, and a rental vehicle's minimum insurance coverage can be a meaningful factor in a crash involving a visitor driver, particularly relevant to the UM/UIM discussion in the Insurance section above.

Livestock, feral animals, and roadway wildlife

Rural roads on the Big Island and parts of Maui carry a real risk of encountering livestock, feral pigs, and other animals on or near the roadway, particularly at dawn, dusk, and at night on unlit rural routes. A collision with an animal is generally treated as a single-vehicle incident for insurance purposes, making comprehensive coverage the relevant policy for vehicle damage rather than liability coverage.

Inter-island logistics after a crash

Hawaii's island geography creates a practical complication most other states don't have: a crash victim treated at a hospital on one island, an at-fault driver who resides on another, and a rental car return process that doesn't pause for an accident investigation can all complicate the practical steps of documenting a claim. Because each island's police department maintains its own separate crash records, described in the MVA Procedures section above, requesting a report or coordinating with an out-of-island insurer or driver often takes longer than it would on the mainland, making prompt documentation at the scene especially valuable.

Local Resources & Contacts

Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) — Insurance Division
For insurance complaints, coverage disputes, insurer licensing verification, and questions about PIP, minimum coverage requirements, and UM/UIM.

• Website: cca.hawaii.gov/ins
• File a complaint: cca.hawaii.gov/ins/filing-a-complaint

Honolulu Police Department (HPD)
Handles crash investigations and report requests for crashes on Oʻahu.

• Website: honolulupd.org

Maui Police Department
Handles crash investigations and report requests for crashes on Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi.

• Website: mauipolice.com

Hawaiʻi Police Department
Handles crash investigations and report requests for crashes on the Big Island.

• Website: hawaiipolice.gov

Kauaʻi Police Department
Handles crash investigations and report requests for crashes on Kauaʻi.

• Website: kauai.gov/police

Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT)
For road condition reports, highway safety information, and construction updates statewide.

• Website: hidot.hawaii.gov

For accident laws in other states, visit our state-specific legal information page.