Personal injury protection insurance extends coverage to passengers in your car in the event of an accident. This policy can be attached to your car insurance to help provide more coverage and prevent financial difficulty because you had people in your car, which may cause some legal actions.
Regular car insurance protects only the car owner whenever an accident happens, and anyone else in the car is excluded from the coverage. With personal injury protection insurance, which is also called no-fault insurance coverage, everyone stands a chance to be treated. It does not ask if the injured have medical insurance; the coverage entitles them to medical attention after the accident without fault.
Many states enforce this coverage as a law. It helps not to get sued by anyone angered or affected by the accident and sustained injuries. However, it is crucial not to wait until you are made to get it alongside your car insurance.
How does personal injury protection cover work?
No-fault states where this policy is enforced ensure that individuals who are in a car during an accident receive not only medical attention but refunds for lost income, funeral expenses if the accident took a life, and child care funds. Meanwhile, what is covered under this policy differs in each state, so you should inquire if you are moving to a new state.
What does Personal injury protection insurance generally cover?
Purchasing PIP coverage helps to cover the following areas:
- Cost of getting rehabilitation after an accident
- Medical treatment bills post-car accident
- Funeral expenses and benefits for their survivors
- Taking care of activities that may be unable for you to do after the accident and treatment, like housekeeping, cooking, or even childcare
What personal injury protection insurance may not cover generally?
- Property damage which occurred as a result of the accident
- Injuries to others who were not inside the car when the accident took place
- Accident that happened with the vehicle and passengers while breaking a law or being pursued for a crime
- Car theft or damage from other circumstances
Is personal injury insurance the same as bodily injury insurance?
These two are closely related, but they are never the same. While personal injury protection insurance covers injury sustained by the driver and the passengers, bodily injury insurance covers you from lawsuits that may arise as one who caused the accident.
Bodily injury insurance ensures your assets are safe if anyone insists on filing a court case against you. In contrast, personal injury insurance focuses more on offsetting the medical bills from treatment.
Also Read: Insurance broker – What to expect and benefits
Do I need personal injury insurance if I have health insurance?
Yes, you do. Health insurance has a separate role in protecting your health from illnesses, and it will not function optimally after an accident with other humans.
It does not concern itself with driving and injuring your passengers in an accident. If the passengers do not have their health insurance policy and you do as the driver, your health insurance will not cover your passengers during an accident.
So, they genuinely serve different purposes and can not replace each other even in premiums and deductibles.
Also Read: What is the out of pocket maximum? How it works and 3 benefits
Conclusion
In conclusion, as trivial as this policy looks, personal injury protection insurance is a coverage with outstanding benefits regardless of how careful you drive. If you can not control how every other driver uses the road, adding PIP to your car insurance can save you from a substantial financial loss on a bad day.
