What is no-fault insurance for your vehicle?

Car insurance protects you after a crash. Still, if you are like most people in Florida, you don’t really understand how it works.

There is an assumption that the other driver’s policy will pay for your losses when someone causes a crash. However, Florida still has no-fault coverage rules which affect how you make a claim and what compensation you receive.

What should drivers know about no-fault insurance in Florida?

Every Florida driver must carry no-fault injury protection

Property damage coverage in Florida is standard liability insurance. You have to carry at least $10,000 in property damage liability coverage to pay the other party if you damage someone else’s vehicle or property.

However, if a crash causes an injury, fault won’t matter in the initial claim. Personal injury protection (PIP) coverage is no-fault coverage in Florida. You and any passengers in your vehicle can make a claim against your PIP coverage, while the driver of the other vehicle would make a claim against their own PIP coverage regardless of fault.

Florida’s basic no-fault insurance coverage will pay for up to $10,000 worth of costs related to injuries. When it comes to medical coverage, PIP will usually cover 80% of the documented losses, up to that $10,000 coverage maximum.

What if your losses exceed your no-fault coverage?

Hopefully, if you are in a crash that involved more than $10,000 worth of medical losses, either you or the driver who causes the wreck will have more comprehensive insurance than the bare minimum.

If the driver who caused the crash has bodily injury liability protection, that coverage will help pay for medical costs and lost wages that exceed the no-fault coverage on your policy. If if the other driver does not have bodily injury liability protection, then your policy could help if you have underinsured driver coverage.

In some situations, people hurt by a driver without bodily injury liability coverage and without additional coverage on their own policies may need to file a personal injury lawsuit against the driver who caused the wreck. Learning about how Florida no-fault insurance operates can help you get the compensation you deserve if you get hurt in a serious crash.