In Hawaii, injury claims from a motor vehicle accident generally must be filed within 2 years of the accident.
Source: Haw. Rev. Stat. 657-7
If a government vehicle was involved, the deadline is shorter
Unusually, Hawaii does not shorten it: 2 years for a county (HRS 46-72) and 2 years for the state (HRS 662-4).
Worth knowing about Hawaii
For motor vehicle claims the 2 years can run from the last insurance benefit payment rather than the crash (HRS 431:10C-315). Hawaii is a no fault state, so suing for pain and suffering requires meeting a threshold.
When does the clock start?
In most cases the clock starts on the day of the crash, not the day you realised how badly you were hurt. Some states start it when the injury was discovered, and the deadline can be paused for an injured child. Because these exceptions turn on the facts, treat the figure above as the starting point for a conversation with an attorney in Hawaii, not as the last word.
Why the deadline matters more than people expect
Insurers know the date better than you do. An adjuster who is friendly and slow early on is not necessarily stalling on purpose, but the effect is the same: once the deadline passes, the leverage is gone and the claim is normally finished no matter how clear the fault was. That is why it is worth knowing your own date now, even if you do nothing else with it.
What decides what a claim is worth
Nobody can value your case from a web form, and you should be wary of any site that puts a number on it before reading your file. What we can do is explain honestly what sets the figure.
Most claims are paid by the at fault driver liability policy, and that policy has a limit. In many states the legal minimum is startlingly low. If the person who hit you carries the minimum, that caps what their insurer will pay however badly you were hurt. Your own underinsured motorist cover is often what closes the gap, and most people do not know whether they have it.
Deadlines depend on the facts of your case. Confirm yours with an attorney. We are a marketing service, not a law firm and not a lawyer referral service. Nothing here is legal advice.