Personal Injury Home Car Accidents

Colorado Springs Car Accident Lawyer

Do I have a car accident claim in Colorado Springs?

You likely have a claim if another driver’s carelessness caused your injuries. Colorado generally gives you three years from the crash to sue, reduces your damages by your share of fault, and bars recovery only if your fault is as great as the other driver’s. Consultations are free and the firm works on contingency.

The deadline is C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n) and the fault rule is C.R.S. 13-21-111(1); both are set out in the table of Colorado rules below. Timothy R. Bussey has taken over 100 cases to trial, according to his firm biography, and the firm’s published case results include the car crash settlements listed further down this page.

What should I do after a car accident in Colorado Springs?

Call the police and stay until they arrive.

Colorado law requires the driver in a crash that causes injury, death or property damage to give the police immediate notice (C.R.S. 42-4-1606(1)). CSPD lets drivers "cold report" a minor crash instead only when no one was hurt and no drugs or alcohol were involved — a crash with no report at all is the hardest kind of claim to prove. Photograph both vehicles where they stopped, the other driver's licence and insurance card, and the intersection or stretch of road itself. See a doctor the same day. Then say nothing to the other driver's insurer until you have advice.

Can I still make a claim if there was no police report?

Yes.

A police report is evidence, not a precondition — Colorado does not require one for you to bring a civil claim, and the three-year deadline in C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n) applies either way. What changes is how you prove it: with no officer's account of who did what, the claim leans on the photographs you took, the damage patterns, any witness you can still reach, and the report you make to your own insurer. Make that report promptly — a delay there is the first thing the other side points at.

---

Car accident claim videos from The Bussey Law Firm

Should I handle my car accident on my own?

From $0 to $1 Million: The Insurance Settlement Secret They Don't Want You to Know

How do you determine the value of a car accident claim?

Are You in Need of a Colorado Springs Car Accident Lawyer?

If you’ve recently been involved in a car accident in Colorado Springs, you’re probably overwhelmed—dealing with medical bills, vehicle repairs, insurance headaches, and a disrupted life. But you shouldn’t have to handle this alone.

The experienced car accident attorneys at The Bussey Law Firm, P.C., can guide you through the chaos and pursue the maximum compensation you deserve.

Why Choose Us Over Other Car Accident Lawyers in Colorado Springs?

We’re not your average car accident law firm. Our team takes the time to understand your injuries, the impact on your life, and what it will truly take to make you whole again. And we don’t settle low and fast—we push for what’s fair. That’s how firm founder and lead attorney Timothy Bussey has been doing things since 1991.

The Bussey Law Firm, P.C. | Car Accident Law Firm in Colorado Springs

• Free consultation
• We’ve won millions for our clients
• Named a Top 10 Trucking National Trial Lawyers in Colorado
• Recognized as a Fellow by the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA)
• Recipient of the Martindale-Hubbell Gold Client Champion Award
• Selected to Super Lawyers every year from 2012 to 2027 (verified recognitions)
• Listed by Expertise.com among the Best Car Accident Lawyers in Colorado Springs (checked September 2026)
• Featured on the Cover of Colorado Springs Magazine

Do You Have a Case for a Car Accident Claim?

If you’re not sure if you have a valid claim, here’s a quick checklist:

• Were you injured in a car crash caused by someone else?
• Are you facing medical expenses, lost income, or pain and suffering?
• Did the police report or witnesses support your version of events?

If you answered yes to any of these, you may have grounds for a claim. Our experienced car accident attorneys offer free consultations so you can get the answers you need.

---

Call (719) 475-2555 to Learn More About How The Bussey Law Firm, P.C., Can Help with Your Car Accident Case

---

Attorneys Give Legal Guidance to Colorado Springs Car Accident Victims

In Colorado Springs, many people depend on cars to get around. But, like many places, crashes cluster at particular intersections — CSPD’s 2025 crash data puts Powers Boulevard at the top of the injury list. But our Colorado Springs car accident lawyers are prepared to represent clients in all types of accidents, including:

• Aggressive Driver Accidents
• Bike Accidents
• Bus Accidents
• Car Rollovers
• Dangerous Road Accidents
• Delivery Driver Accidents
• Distracted Driving Accidents
• DUI Accidents
• Government Vehicle Accidents
• Hit and Run Accidents
• Intersection Car Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Passenger Injury
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Rear-End Collisions
• Rental Car Accidents
• Rideshare Accidents
• Self-Driving Vehicle Accidents
• T-Bone Accidents
• Weather-Related Accidents
• Whiplash
• Wrong-Way Car Crashes
• Uninsured Motorist Accidents
• Van Accidents

How Can Our Car Accident Lawyers Help After a Car Crash?

After a crash, you’re dealing with more than just physical recovery. You need help navigating:

• Medical treatment and documentation of injuries
• Filing dates
• Negotiations with insurance adjusters
• Evidence and witness statements
• Full damages, including future medical bills

We handle all of this for you so you can focus on healing. Our job is to build a rock-solid case that demands maximum compensation for every dollar you’ve lost—and every hardship you’ve endured.

How Is Negligence Determined in a Car Accident Case?

Negligence is the legal foundation of most personal injury cases. To win, we must prove:

1. Duty of care: The other driver had a responsibility to drive safely.
2. Breach of duty: They failed to meet that responsibility (e.g., speeding, texting while driving).
3. Causation: That breach directly caused your injuries.
4. Damages: You suffered losses such as medical expenses, pain and suffering, or lost wages.

Our legal team works with accident reconstruction experts, medical professionals, and investigators to build compelling evidence of negligence.

Typical Causes of Car Accidents

Most car accidents are preventable. If someone else’s negligence contributed to the crash, you may be eligible to seek compensation. Common causes of car crashes in Colorado Springs include:

• Distracted driving (texting, eating, using a GPS)
• Speeding and reckless driving
• DUI: Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Failure to yield
• Tailgating or aggressive driving
• Improper lane changes
• Running red lights or stop signs
• Fatigued driving
• Weather-related hazards – failure to reduce speed for snow, ice, rain and low visibility
• Mechanical failures due to lack of maintenance

Common Car Accidents That Happen in Colorado Springs

There are many types of car accidents, but the most common accidents you’re likely to see in Colorado Springs include:

• Head-on collisions are among the most dangerous types of car accidents, often resulting in severe injuries or fatalities. These occur when the front ends of two vehicles collide. This type of crash is particularly hazardous due to the high speeds involved and the direct impact force transferred to both drivers and passengers.
• Rear-end collisions cause significant vehicle damage and personal injury, such as back injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and whiplash, a common injury in rear-end collisions where the rapid back-and-forth movement strains the neck muscles and ligament. These incidents typically occur when a driver is following too closely, not paying attention, or with abrupt stopping. These crashes are often caused by tailgating drivers.
• Side-impact collisions, often called T-bone accidents, occur when the side of one vehicle is struck by the front or rear of another, forming a “T” shape at the moment of impact. The consequences can be severe, leading to significant injuries like head trauma, broken bones, and internal damage.
• Multi-vehicle pileups can result from a series of rear-end collisions, poor visibility, or sudden traffic stops. The chain-reaction nature of these accidents requires a thorough investigation to ascertain fault among the involved parties. Legal experience is essential to determining negligence in these accidents, ensuring that victims’ rights are protected and they are compensated fairly for their losses and injuries.
• Rollover accidents pose significant risks to the safety of vehicle occupants. These accidents occur when a vehicle flips over onto its side or roof. The risk of rollovers is higher for vehicles with a high center of gravity, like SUVs and trucks. Injuries from rollovers can be particularly severe, and they frequently include spinal cord injuries, amputation, and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Common Types of Injuries in Car Accident Claims

Every crash is different, but some injuries show up often in car accident claims:

• Broken bones and fractures
• Concussions and traumatic brain injuries
• Emotional trauma and PTSD
• Internal bleeding or organ damage
• Spinal cord damage
• Whiplash and soft tissue injuries

Some of these injuries may not show symptoms immediately. That’s why it’s critical to see a doctor—even if you feel fine after the crash—and then speak to a lawyer.

Compensation Available in Colorado Springs for Car Accident Victims

Car accident victims may be entitled to compensation for a wide range of losses. In Colorado Springs, recoverable damages often include:

• Medical expenses (hospital stays, surgeries, therapy)
• Future medical costs for ongoing treatment or rehabilitation
• Lost income and diminished earning capacity
• Property damage (vehicle repairs or replacement)
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Permanent disfigurement or disability

Calculating these damages can be complicated. Expert testimony may be required to fully convey the severity of your injuries, so your Colorado Springs personal injury lawyer can negotiate the appropriate compensation.

Filing a Wrongful Death Claim After a Car Accident

Wrongful death damages are a form of compensation that the family or estate of a deceased car accident victim can pursue. These damages are intended to cover the full extent of losses resulting from your loved one’s untimely death. This includes the financial support the deceased would have provided and the loss of companionship, love, and guidance that family members suffer.

Understanding Fault and Comparative Negligence in Colorado

In personal injury cases, determining who is at fault is one of the most important steps in receiving fair compensation.

What Comparative Negligence Means for Your Claim

Colorado follows a legal principle known as modified comparative negligence. If you are partially at fault for the accident, your compensation may be reduced. The law allows injured victims to recover damages as long as they are less than 50% at fault. However, their total compensation is reduced by their percentage of fault.

Impact of Being Partially at Fault

For example, if you are awarded $100,000 in damages but you are found to be 20% at fault, your compensation would be reduced to $80,000.

Insurance companies often try to assign fault to reduce their financial liability. Having an experienced attorney who can push back with facts and evidence is essential to protecting your claim.

How Long Do You Have to File a Car Accident Claim in Colorado Springs?

Timing is critical in any personal injury case. Colorado law gives accident victims a limited window to take legal action and missing that deadline can mean permanently losing your right to compensation.

Colorado’s 3-Year Filing Deadline

Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-80-101, you typically have three years from the date of the car accident to file a lawsuit. The clock starts when you knew, or should have known, of the injury and its cause (C.R.S. 13-80-108(1)) — for most crashes, the day of the crash.

If the claim involves a wrongful death, the deadline is two years from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(d), 13-80-108(2)), or four years against a driver who committed vehicular homicide and left the scene (C.R.S. 13-80-102(2)).

It's important to note that insurance companies are not bound by these deadlines, and they may impose much shorter timeframes for reporting an accident. Consulting a car accident attorney as soon as possible helps preserve your rights.

Risks of Waiting

Acting quickly allows your attorney to build a stronger, more effective case from the outset. Waiting too long to file your claim carries serious risks:

• Lost evidence: Surveillance footage, road debris, and vehicle damage may disappear or be altered.
• Fading witness memory: Witnesses may forget key details or become difficult to locate.
• Insurance delays: Insurers may argue that the delay undermines your credibility or claim value.

Which Colorado laws apply to a Colorado Springs car accident claim?

The Colorado rules that shape a Colorado Springs car accident claim are the three-year deadline, the 182-day notice when a government vehicle or road is involved, the comparative-fault rule, the uninsured-motorist rules, and the cap on noneconomic damages.

Our pages on uninsured motorist claims, government vehicle accidents and wrongful death go further on each.

Where do injury crashes happen in Colorado Springs?

CSPD recorded 8,324 crashes in 2025, 1,276 of them with injuries (1,597 people hurt) and 46 fatal. Powers Boulevard intersections recur at the top of the injury list, and I-25 addresses inside the city account for 90 injury crashes.

Figures are the firm’s count of CSPD open data, “Crash Data” for January 1 to December 31, 2025, retrieved September 26, 2026. The dataset covers crashes reported to CSPD; crashes handled by another agency and cold reports filed with the state are not in it, and 957 of the 2025 records (172 with injuries) carry no location. Intersections are counted in either street order.

Do you handle car accidents outside Colorado Springs?

Yes. Beyond the city, the firm has a car accident page for each community below, across El Paso, Teller and Fremont counties. The table gives each one's county, what kind of place it is, and the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction there: a city police department, the county sheriff, or Fort Carson Military Police.

What evidence proves a Colorado Springs car accident claim, and how do you get it?

The crash report, 911 audio, body-camera video, the vehicles’ event data and any camera footage are the evidence that settles fault, and each has its own request process or shelf life. Photos, witnesses and medical records prove the rest.

The records processes below are the City of Colorado Springs’ own (police records; minor accident reporting, both read September 26, 2026).

What should I expect from State Farm, Progressive, USAA, Allstate, GEICO or Farmers after a Colorado Springs crash?

Every auto insurer in Colorado works under the same rules. On a written request sent to its registered agent, the other driver’s insurer must disclose the policy limits and a copy of the policy within 30 days or owe $100 a day. Your own insurer may not unreasonably delay or deny a covered benefit.

The disclosure duty and its penalty are C.R.S. 10-3-1117(2), (3); a “claimant” is anyone who has given the insurer notice of a potential claim (subsection (5)), and your own insurer must send you a complete copy of your policy within 30 days of a written request (subsection (1)). If your own insurer unreasonably delays or denies a covered benefit (C.R.S. 10-3-1115(1)(a)), you may sue for two times the covered benefit plus attorney fees and costs (C.R.S. 10-3-1116(1)). That remedy belongs to a first-party claimant — you, claiming under your own policy, such as uninsured motorist coverage — not to someone claiming against the other driver’s liability policy (10-3-1115(1)(b)(II)(B)). Separately, C.R.S. 10-3-1104(1)(h) lists unfair claim settlement practices when done willfully or often enough to be a general business practice, among them refusing to pay a claim without a reasonable investigation and not attempting in good faith to settle once liability has become reasonably clear. Our bad faith insurance page covers those claims.

What is specific to each insurer is its complaint record, which the Colorado Division of Insurance publishes. The table shows, for each brand, the company the Division lists with the most Colorado private passenger auto premium; most brands write through several companies, so look up the exact name on the declarations page or insurance card in the Division’s complaint reports. A complaint index of 1.00 is the market average for the premium written; above 1.00 means more complaints than average. “Confirmed” complaints are those in which the consumer prevailed in whole or in part.

The Division cautions: “Consumers are cautioned against relying only on the Complaint Ratio and/or the Complaint Index when evaluating companies. Premium benefits, financial condition, and level of service should all be considered.” It also notes that not every company has reconciled its complaint counts, so the reports may contain unverified information. In FY 2024-25 (July 2024 - June 2025) the Division recovered $3,880,700 for consumers on auto insurance complaints (annual report); its consumer line is 303-894-7490.

Steps to Collect Vital Evidence After a Car Accident

Building a strong car accident claim starts the moment the crash happens. Follow these steps to protect your health and preserve your case:

1. Call 911: Report the accident and request police and emergency medical help.
2. Get Medical Attention: To protect your health and document any injuries.
3. Exchange Information: Get names, contact info, driver’s license, and insurance details.
4. Document the Scene: Take photos and video of the vehicles, damage, road conditions, and injuries.
5. Talk to Witnesses: Collect names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the crash.
6. Request the Police Report: Obtain a copy for your records.
7. Avoid Admitting Fault: Even a simple apology can be misinterpreted as an admission of guilt.
8. Call a Car Accident Lawyer: Get legal guidance before speaking to insurance companies.

Don’t Pay Our Colorado Springs Car Accident Lawyers Unless We Win

At The Bussey Law Firm, P.C., we always have time for our clients. We’ll keep you informed about how your case is progressing throughout the legal process.

Your consultation is free, and we take all cases on a contingency basis, so there are never any expenses for our clients unless we win you a settlement.

Call (719) 475-2555 to learn more today.

Some of Our Vehicle-Related Accident Case Results

Timothy R. Bussey has taken over 100 cases to trial and settled over 1,000 out of court, according to his firm biography.

• $750,000 settlement — Wrongful Death Car Accident. The firm represented the wife of a man killed in an auto accident; settled before trial.
• $200,000 settlement — Front-End Collision. Severe front-end collision caused by a delivery driver who failed to yield the right of way.
• $125,000 settlement — T-Bone Accident. The other driver made an illegal left turn and was underinsured.
• $100,000 settlement — T-Bone Collision. Client severely injured by a driver who failed to stop at an intersection.
• $100,000 settlement — Rear-End Collision. Rear-ended at a red light; the insurer offered $8,000 and the case settled for the $100,000 policy limits.

Results are the firm’s own published figures, listed on our case results page. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any future case.

These aren’t just numbers. These are the experiences—and real results—of people whose lives were changed because they made the decision to seek the justice they deserved.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is my car accident claim worth?

The value of your claim depends on the severity of your injuries, the cost of medical treatment, lost income, property damage, and how your life has been affected. A Colorado Springs car accident attorney can provide a more specific estimate after reviewing your case.

Should I accept the insurance company’s settlement offer?

Not without speaking to an attorney. Initial offers are often lower than what you are truly owed. An experienced lawyer can help assess the offer and negotiate for fair compensation.

About Our Attorney

Timothy R. Bussey

License Number: 23730

Timothy R. Bussey is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and founder of The Bussey Law Firm, P.C. A former prosecutor and Air Force Judge Advocate, Mr. Bussey has more than 30 years of legal experience and has been recognized by Super Lawyers in Colorado based on peer reviews and independent research.

Additional Information

• 6 Things to Avoid When You're Contacted by an Insurance Agent After an Accident in Colorado Springs

Our Colorado Springs Office

The Bussey Law Firm, P.C.
12 E. Boulder Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 475-2555
Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Rated 5.0 from 208 Google reviews — see the firm on Google Business Profile.

What Are the Colorado Deadlines and Rules on This Claim?

Which deadline applies depends on how the injury happened, not on what it is called. Colorado gives three years to a claim arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle and two years to most other injury claims. Missing the deadline normally ends the claim regardless of its merits.

Colorado deadlines and rules that apply to this claim

A claim arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle	3 years — C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)
Most other personal injury claims	2 years — C.R.S. 13-80-102
If you were partly at fault	Damages reduced by your share, barred at 50% — C.R.S. 13-21-111
Where a Colorado Springs claim is filed	El Paso County Combined Courts, 270 S Tejon St, Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Sources and References

• Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 13 (Colorado General Assembly)
• El Paso County Combined Courts — Colorado Judicial Branch
• The Bussey Law Firm, P.C. — Google Business Profile

Deadlines are cited by section to the Colorado General Assembly’s published 2024 revised statutes. This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is decided on its own facts.