Personal Injury Protection – PIPs in the US
Personal Injury Protection is applicable for any accidents related to cars and automobiles. Often referred as PIP, a personal injury protection is a sort of extension policy of auto insurance companies that provides full or partial coverage as a result of the car accident. Coverage is often monetary and usually prioritizes the medical bills, if there are any.
However, a personal injury protection is not available in all US states and in some states, it is mandatory and a part of the law which means all insurance companies serving that state will have PIPs as a part of their insurance policies. The only difference, though, is that the coverage may vary in every state. For instance, some states make either only the medical expenses or only the monetary settlements compulsory. However, there are states like Michigan that provides a lifetime personal injury protection for the insured as well as the plaintiff. In addition, PIPs may only cover the expenses partially but there are also those that cover full.
There are also cases where the insurance company of the plaintiff will temporarily cover the expenses and pay for the loss of the insured and then recover what they paid for from the negligent party’s insurance carrier once the case is all settled. So what’s the good thing about this? This is actually pretty convenient for the insured because they will no longer have to be involved in the whole settlement negotiation processes. It will be the carriers who would fight who’s getting what and how much they’re getting or substracting from the expenses paid. Negotiators are nasty beings, and this will be a good riddance if you don’t have to witness or participate during these negotiation processes.
Another type of PIPs is the one that covers not only the insured, but also cover the people involved in the whole accident as well as paying the loss, medical or funeral expenses. However, the insured is of course, the first priority. But this will be very convenient for those that were not supposed to be involved in the accident but were inevitably involved. Examples of these are pedestrians and damages in several private properties.
Depending on each state, your PIP may amount from a few thousands of dollars to hundreds of dollars (around $1000 to $250,000). If possible, submit your insurance information to your hospital if your hospitalization is a direct result of the car accident. This is important because 3rd party insurance carriers are not exactly obliged to pay your medical bills, but your own insurance company is.