After you’re involved in an auto accident, one of the ways that you could get paid is through personal injury protection insurance. Personal injury protection helps you cover your medical, living and rehabilitation expenses after you’ve been involved in an auto accident. This works regardless of who was at fault.
PIP insurance is mandatory in New Jersey, because New Jersey is a no-fault state. In this kind of state, you have a limited opportunity to sue another driver for a collision, but your own auto insurance will offer you coverage through PIP to make sure your claim is paid.
How does PIP insurance work?
PIP insurance works by paying your medical costs as well as the cost of care for passengers in your vehicle. The insurance provider will pay up to your coverage limit, even if you were the one at fault for an accident.
The insurance policy may also cover accident-related expenses like transportation to medical facilities, funeral expenses, lost wages and other essential services.
PIP can vary from person to person in New Jersey
Since there are different PIP policies available in the state, your policy may cover more or less than what is discussed here. For example, you may have chosen to have medical PIP only or PIP plus additional essential services.
If you aren’t sure what your insurance will cover, you will need to look at your initial policy documents to see your coverage limits, minimums and maximums. You may have a PIP policy as low as $15,000 or up to $250,000, so the amount of coverage available to you will depend on which you selected in the past.
Can you still sue over a crash in New Jersey?
Sometimes, yes. If the policy that you have doesn’t cover all of your injuries or isn’t enough to compensate those injured, then you may be able to pursue a claim against the at-fault driver. Usually, this only happens in serious cases in which the crash was so severe that it exceeded the amount covered by insurance.
If you’re injured and aren’t sure that your coverage will be enough, you may want to look into your legal options closely.