Is Colorado an At-Fault or No-Fault State?
No — Colorado is an at-fault (tort) state, not a no-fault state.
- Fault system
- At-fault (tort)
Colorado was a no-fault state from 1974 until July 1, 2003. The Colorado Auto Accident Reparations Act expired that day under its own sunset clause (C.R.S. § 10-4-726, set by the 2002 legislature), and House Bill 03-1188 started the compulsory liability scheme that replaced it on the same date. The at-fault driver and their liability insurer pay. Sources that still call Colorado a no-fault state, or quote Colorado PIP benefits, are describing a law repealed more than twenty years ago.
- Comparative negligence rule
- Modified comparative — 50% bar
You recover only if your own negligence "was not as great as" that of the party you are suing — 49% or less. Your damages are then cut by your share of fault (§ 13-21-111).
How Colorado compares with every other state
What the fault rule decides
In an at-fault state the driver who caused the crash — through their liability insurer — pays for the harm. That is the arrangement in 38 of the 51 jurisdictions on this site, so it is the one most US advice assumes. The practical consequence is that your recovery depends on two things you do not control: how much liability cover the other driver bought, and what share of the blame you are assigned.
Modified comparative fault turns the case into a percentage. On a hypothetical $100,000 of damages — arithmetic, not a figure from Colorado law — being 20% to blame leaves you $80,000, and being 40% to blame leaves you $60,000. Cross the line at 50% and the award is not reduced, it is gone. 10 of the 50 jurisdictions on this site draw the line in the same place, and the whole dispute after a serious crash tends to be about which side of it you land on.
Every statute cited for Colorado
What changed
July 1, 2003
No-fault repealed — Colorado went back to an at-fault (tort) system
The Colorado Auto Accident Reparations Act — the no-fault law in force since 1974 — expired on July 1, 2003 under its own sunset clause (C.R.S. § 10-4-726, set by the 2002 legislature). House Bill 03-1188 (ch. 234, 2003 Colo. Sess. Laws, approved May 2, 2003) started the compulsory liability scheme now in part 6 of article 4 of title 10 on the same day, applying to policies written on or after that date. PIP benefits stopped being part of Colorado auto policies; the at-fault driver's liability insurer pays instead, and medical payments coverage of $5,000 is offered in PIP's place. Guides that still describe Colorado as a no-fault state are more than twenty years out of date. A 2024 bill (SB24-133) proposed studying a return to no-fault; it failed.
Colorado Session Laws 2003, ch. 234 (HB 03-1188)
Why the rule looks like this
- What Changed in 2026Liability minimums doubled in Hawaii, two states dropped pure comparative fault, New Hampshire stopped inspecting cars, and three crash reporting thresholds moved — a dated account of the 2026 changes, and the ones already signed for 2027 and beyond.
- The One Percentage Point That Decides Your ClaimAcross the states covered on this site there are four different rules for what your own share of the blame does to your claim — and in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, being 1% at fault ends it entirely.
- No-Fault Does Not Mean Nobody Is at FaultNo-fault restricts the right to sue rather than removing it. Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York run it, New Jersey and Pennsylvania let you choose, and Michigan lets every driver pick one of six PIP ceilings — which changes who pays after a crash.
More on Colorado
Checked against the primary sources above on September 27, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.