Value, bills and timing

Is it too late to file my Texas car accident claim?

Matthew Graham Answered on video by Matthew Graham, Managing Litigation Attorney

Matthew Graham answers on video: Is it too late to file my Texas car accident claim?0:40

Jump to a moment

  1. 0:00Worried it is too late after an accident?
  2. 0:12Texas gives you two years
  3. 0:22Making a claim vs filing a lawsuit

The short answer

Probably not. In Texas, an injured person generally has two years to sue, counted from when the crash happened. Managing litigation attorney Matthew Graham states that rule in a 2026 video for people who fear they waited too long, and he adds that the insurance claim itself is often made much sooner.

“In the state of Texas, a person injured because of the negligence of another has two years to bring a claim for that injury.”

Key points from Matthew

  • People often reach out a year, six months or a year and a half after a crash and worry that the case is time barred.

  • The two year clock starts on the day of the incident, and making a claim in this sense means filing a lawsuit.

  • Insurance claims are often made far earlier than two years, long before any lawsuit is needed.

  • If a lawsuit is required, it must be on file before two years have passed since the event that caused the crash.

Why waiting a year is not the end

Matthew says people often reach out months after a crash, sometimes half a year, sometimes a year and a half, afraid the door has already closed. He answers with a calendar rule: the period to sue is generally two years, and it begins on the day the incident happened.

He is careful about the word claim here. In this rule it refers to a lawsuit, and the insurance side of a case usually begins far sooner. What matters is that a lawsuit, if one turns out to be needed, gets filed before that second anniversary arrives.

Read next on our site

Some Texas cases follow shorter or different clocks, and the Texas car accident filing deadlines guide lists those exceptions.

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This video and answer explain Texas law in general terms; they are not advice about your own case, and watching does not make us your lawyers.