People often ask whether they should purchase PIP, meaning “Personal Injury Protection,” in the auto insurance coverage. The short answer to this question is generally, yes. PIP, which stands for Personal Injury Protection, is usually a good value and can really make a big difference in protecting your finances if you are in a car accident. This is true even if the accident is your fault.
When you have been injured in an auto accident, it is very common for medical bills to become a real problem for your personal finances. A very useful tool to help in such circumstances is to buy Personal Injury Protection, commonly known as PIP. PIP is usually not very expensive. It covers your medical bills up to the limit that you buy, which is usually $2500 or $5000. Even if you have health insurance, meeting the deductible can create quite a financial hardship.
In addition to reimbursing you for your medical bills, PIP will also reimburse you for lost wages due to an accident, again up to the limit that you purchase. To calculate the limit that you can recover under PIP, you must add up the amount of medical bills and lost wages. The total that your auto insurance company will pay you is the limit that you purchase.
Generally, the attorneys at Lovins | Trosclair, PLLC, advise people NOT to buy Med Pay. Med Pay looks a lot like Personal Injury Protection at first, and it is a little bit cheaper than PIP. There a couple of important differences, however. First, Med Pay does not cover lost wages. Second, if you have Med Pay, your auto insurance has what is called a “right of subrogation.” In simple terms, the right of subrogation means that, if you recover from the other driver, your auto insurance will get paid back any amount it paid to you under Med Pay. This is different than PIP because with PIP, your auto insurance has no right of subrogation, that is, it has not right to get paid back.
Under Texas law, your auto insurance company is required to offer Personal Injury Protection to you. If you don’t want PIP, the insurance company is required to have you sign (or initial) something saying you do not want it. If the insurance company fails to get you to sign this, or to keep that signed form, you are entitled to PIP benefits.
If you get in a car accident, call the attorneys at Lovins Law, PLLC, right away for a consultation. We can help you with all of the issues that come up when you are injured due to the negligence of another driver. Recovering your PIP benefits is just one way we can help. And of course, you don’t pay us anything until we recover something for you.