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Personal injury protection (PIP) covers medical expenses, lost wages and other related costs if you or your passengers are injured in an auto accident, regardless of who’s at fault.
PIP is required in some states as part of “no-fault auto insurance” laws that restrict your ability to sue for car crash injuries. If PIP is optional coverage in your state, it can still be a valuable part of a car insurance policy.
What Does Personal Injury Protection Cover?
PIP insurance generally covers:
- Your medical expenses from a car accident.
- Your wages lost due to the injuries.
- Rehabilitation costs.
- Replacement services for things you can’t do for yourself or your family, because of the accident, such as house cleaning and child care.
- Funeral expenses and survivor benefits.
A goal of PIP is to provide prompt payment for car accident injuries. Because PIP claims are paid regardless of who caused the accident, there’s no waiting around for a liability lawsuit against someone else to be resolved.
What Is Not Covered by Personal Injury Protection?
PIP insurance does not cover:
- Bodily injuries to the other driver and their passengers.
- Injuries in an accident if you are driving for work purposes.
- Injuries from an accident while you were committing a crime.
- Damage to someone else’s property.
- Damage to your vehicle.
Do I Need Personal Injury Protection?
Some states require drivers to have PIP. It is optional coverage in other states and not available in others.
In states where PIP is optional, it’s generally a good coverage to have. That’s because PIP can help cover expenses, such as your health insurance deductible, lost wages and replacement services for tasks you cannot perform due to your injuries, such as child care or house cleaning.
Personal Injury Protection Requirements by State
PIP is required in 15 states. Among these, 12 states mandate PIP through “no-fault insurance” laws, which generally require you to make smaller injury claims on your own PIP insurance. The other three states require PIP but lack “no-fault insurance” laws.
Additionally, PIP is optional coverage in four states and the District of Columbia and is unavailable in other states.
No-fault states where PIP is required
States that require PIP as part of no-fault car insurance are:
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Kansas
- Kentucky (offers a choice of no-fault or some ability to sue)
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New Jersey (offers a choice of no-fault or some ability to sue)
- New York
- North Dakota
- Pennsylvania (offers a choice of no-fault or some ability to sue)
- Utah
Other states where PIP is required
Other states that require PIP:
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Oregon
States where PIP is optional
States where PIP is optional:
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Texas
- Washington
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PIP in Your State
Find more information here for states where PIP is available, including details on when you can sue someone in no-fault states. This is typically called the lawsuit “threshold.” Average PIP claim amounts are from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ 2023 Auto Insurance Database Report.
Arkansas
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Hawaii
Kansas
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
New Jersey
New York
North Dakota
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Texas
Utah
Washington
Alternatives to PIP
If your state requires personal injury protection coverage, you have no choice but to buy it. If PIP is optional where you live, you might choose to decline it if you have a good health insurance plan that you’d use for car accident injuries. Still, PIP has some perks that health insurance won’t offer, such as reimbursem*nt for lost wages and payments for services you can’t do, such as house cleaning.
But PIP doesn’t cover all injury-related expenses if you get into a car accident. For example, if you cause an accident that results in injuries to others, you’ll need to tap the bodily injury portion of your liability car insurance. Liability car insurance also covers your legal costs, settlements and judgments if you are sued because of a car accident.
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Personal Injury Protection FAQs
How is personal injury protection different from bodily injury liability?
PIP covers you and your passengers’ medical costs and other expenses (such as lost wages), no matter who is at fault for the accident. In contrast, bodily injury liability insurance covers medical expenses for injuries to others if you’re at fault for an accident. Bodily injury liability also covers your legal costs if you’re sued because of an accident.
PIP is required in 15 states, optional in other states and unavailable in others. Bodily injury liability insurance is a portion of liability car insurance and is required in most states.
Do you need PIP if you have health insurance?
You’re required to have PIP in 15 states and mandated even if you have health insurance. In some states, PIP is optional and unavailable in others.
How do you file a PIP claim?
If you have PIP, you typically file a claim with your own car insurance company, no matter who caused the accident. Your insurance company will cover your injury-related expenses, up to the policy limits.
If your passengers are injured, the rules can vary by state. For example, some states might require passengers who have their own auto policy to file a claim on their policy for PIP coverage.
Should I get medical payments coverage on top of PIP?
It usually doesn’t make sense to buy both medical payments coverage (MedPay) and PIP since you would be paying for redundant coverage. MedPay and PIP are similar in that they both pay for you and your passengers’ medical expenses, no matter who caused the accident. But PIP covers more.
MedPay does not cover lost wages or replacement services (like house cleaning or laundry services), while PIP does. If you have the option to buy both PIP and MedPay in your state as part of your car insurance policy, PIP is generally the better coverage.