Personal Injury Protection is one of those insurance policies that many people choose to carry. It’s the kind of policy that helps you pay for your lost wages and medical expenses following an accident, and it can help you get through a financially challenging time in your life when something occurs. Whether you were to blame or someone else caused your accident, your injuries might be serious enough you cannot return to work immediately. If you need time to recover, you spend ample time in the hospital, or you require rehabilitation prior to your return to work, you might lose wages.
While state law in most states protects employees from losing their jobs due to injury, there is no law that requires employers to pay anyone who does not attend work while they recover. This means you’re out a paycheck while the rest of the world goes on. Your monthly expenses don’t go away because you no longer have income, and your medical bills continue to grow as you recover. It’s devastating to almost anyone who is involved in this type of situation, and you want to know if your PIP insurance is going to protect you in this situation.
Does My PIP Insurance Protect Me?
If you have it, yes it will. That’s as complex an answer as we can give at this point in time without knowing any specifics. The amount of coverage you pay for is what you’ll get in terms of protection from an accident. We don’t know what your PIP covers, so we can’t tell you how much of your medical bills or your lost wages it will cover.
The ideal situation is to have a policy that covers at least 6 months of your income. If you make $200,000 per year, you’ll want a PIP policy that covers at least $100,000 of your income, which is six months and half your income. This is a good average for anyone who might be involved in a car accident in which injuries are sustained, even if they are among the most serious injuries. Don’t stop at just half, however. It’s often much more cost-effective to have a policy that covers more. It’s not too expensive, and it might be worthwhile if anything ever happens and you’re unable to work.
This is an insurance policy that is not automatically included in your insurance policy. You don’t just get PIP added to your coverage. It’s something you must pay for as an additional rider, and it’s something you’ll need to call and ask about. If you’re not sure you have this with your policy, call your insurance provider to ask them if you have coverage. If you don’t, ask for a few quotes so you may add this coverage to your policy as soon as possible.
When Insurance Doesn’t Cover the Bills
For many people, the PIP they have on their insurance policy is not enough. If your medical bills are high because your insurance doesn’t cover something, if you’re out of work indefinitely, and you exceed the amount your insurance is required to pay, you have to pay out of pocket for the cost of your medical bills as well as continue to lose wages.
If this happens to you, you want to call a personal injury attorney right away. This is the only way to recover the remainder of the income you’re losing as well as the cost of your medical bills. In this situation, you must be able to prove the other driver was negligent when he or she hit you or caused your accident, and that person must have an insurance policy of their own. Even though you can win a case against someone without an insurance policy to cover a lawsuit, you might never see a dime from them if they cannot afford to pay you.
If you do decide to sue someone for negligence and damages, there are other factors for which you can request compensation. You might ask for the insurance company to settle your case for pain and suffering, loss of consortium or enjoyment, diminished work capacity, and even future medical bills for the injuries you suffered. If you’re unsure what you might be entitled to, it’s best to call a personal injury attorney to discuss your case.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident, there is no telling what might happen. No two cases are the same, and many people are hurt badly enough they never recover. Some people don’t think they are hurt right away and only end up finding out they’re injured a few days or even weeks following an accident. You do have options, but you must know how to handle them, who to call, and when to take action.
The best thing you can do following an accident is getting the police on the scene to file an accident report and determine who is at fault, get checked out by a doctor, and call a personal injury attorney for a free consultation. We discuss your case, what you might be entitled to, and what we can do for you if you decide to move forward with legal matters. It’s hard to tell what your insurance covers without knowing more about your policy.