What to Do With a Demand Letter After a Car Crash

Attorney Answer

Send it to your auto insurer today, and do not answer it yourself. A demand letter is a lawyer asking your insurance company for money on a claim your policy already covers. Responding to it is the insurer's job, and doing that job for them is how people damage their own coverage.

Two duties are running at once. Your policy obligates the insurer to investigate, to negotiate, and to defend you if a suit follows — and it obligates you to give prompt notice and to cooperate. Late notice is one of the few things that can genuinely put your coverage at risk, so the date you forward the letter matters more than anything you might say in reply to it.

A demand letter is not a lawsuit. Nothing has been filed, no deadline of a court's has started, and the number in the letter is an opening position, not a debt. Adjusters see them constantly. That does not make it safe to ignore — a demand that goes unanswered often becomes a lawsuit — but it is the insurer that answers it.

It is worth knowing what a claim like that has to clear. Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2) allows recovery in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish and inconvenience "only in the event that the injury or disease consists in whole or in part of: (a) Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function. (b) Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement. (c) Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement. (d) Death." Economic losses such as medical bills and lost income beyond no-fault benefits are not subject to that gate, so demands routinely combine both kinds of damages, and the two are evaluated differently.

Fault is the other half. You have not said the crash was your fault, and you do not have to decide that question for anyone. If it turns out to be shared, the date of the crash decides which rule applies. For accidents before March 24, 2023, Fla. Stat. § 768.81(2) provided: "In a negligence action, contributory fault chargeable to the claimant diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as economic and noneconomic damages for an injury attributable to the claimant's contributory fault, but does not bar recovery." That was pure comparative fault — a share of blame cut the award and barred nothing. The Legislature changed the rule in 2023 for later accidents; which version reaches an older crash is a lawyer's question, not a page's.

One more thing, in your favor. Fla. Stat. § 316.066(4) provides that a crash report made by a person involved in a crash, and a statement made to an officer for the purpose of completing that report, is without prejudice to the person reporting, and that "Such report or statement may not be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal." The same subsection sets out exceptions — an officer may testify to such statements at a criminal trial where the privilege against self-incrimination is not violated, and breath, urine and blood test results are not confidential. But what you told the officer at the scene is not a weapon the other side gets to use at a civil trial.

What you can do

1. Forward the letter to your auto insurer today, by a method that gives you proof of the date, and keep a copy of everything.

2. Ask the insurer for the claim number and the adjuster's name and contact information in writing.

3. Do not call the other side's attorney, and do not give them a statement, recorded or otherwise.

4. Do not sign anything they send, including a release or a medical authorization.

5. Gather what you already have: photographs, the crash report number, repair estimates, and the names of any witnesses. Send copies to your insurer.

6. Ask a Florida lawyer, promptly, if the amount demanded is at or above your policy limits, or if the letter sets a deadline.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — the dates, the paperwork, the exact wording — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Florida's limitations statute is Fla. Stat. § 95.11. For a crash before March 24, 2023, a negligence claim ran under the former four-year period; the Legislature shortened the negligence period in 2023 for later accidents, and whether the old period or the new reaches an older crash is a question for a Florida attorney on your actual dates. I am not going to compute a deadline from a few lines of text. Take the real dates to a lawyer, sooner than feels necessary.