PiP the trauma with Personal injury Protection
It is an insurance coverage for expenditures related to personal injuries resulting from automobile accidents. As per the personal injury law, this extension of normal car insurance pays the policyholder, others in his/her vehicle and the third party regardless of the policyholder being guilty or innocent. Personal injury claim can be made in all the American states and it's mandatory in a few. That's because PiP provides basic coverage for everybody involved in the event.
The perfect auto insurance package has been found out to comprise the following:
- Uninsured motorist coverage
- Personal property liability
- Collision coverage
- Bodily injury liability
- Comprehensive coverage
We missed out on the personal injury protection or PIP because we do not see it very often. Reasons are -
- It's mandatory only in Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon and Utah.
- Our misconceptions on bodily injury liability, comprehensive coverage and medical insurances.
Comprehensive insurance policies protect the insurance holder from theft, illegal and natural or unintentional damages. Bodily injury liability - required to drive in every state of the U.S. - pays the amount that had been previously set for each. But expenses can always rise and personal injury insurance pays for all the medical expenses and other assorted damages incurred by the insurance holder, the passengers and/or the victim(s). The limit is stretchable. Now, this is the same thing as Medical Payment Insurance or Medpay.
- What if the other two suffices?
If you don't belong to any of the states mentioned above, then you can stay happy with bodily injury liability and comprehensive coverage; otherwise, this option can highly replace a few other that are less beneficial. Another reason is that personal injury claims are no-fault insurance policies and a personal injury settlement doesn't require to confirm who's at fault. It saves time; speeds up the payment procedure and allows taking timely steps.
According to personal injury lawyers, personal injury protection together with an uninsured motorist coverage pays around 80% of the total damages inflicted on the insurance holder and the associated people and eliminates the cost and time of lawsuits being filed unless a mortal injury or death occurs. While a health insurance policy can recover lost wages or reimburse medical bills for only the policyholder and comprehensive and collision insurance helps paying for physical damages inflicted on the policyholder's vehicle, PiP covers all that remains associated with the mishap besides saving valuable time and providing ready money.
- When do you need personal injury coverage?
- Proper driving habits mean less risk for the policyholder, the passengers, the vehicle and other motorists and pedestrians. But accidents often occur due to others' mistakes and so there are the health insurance policies. It, however, doesn't cover the passengers unless they are on the same health plan.
- If your state requires personal injury cases to be protected.
- If you are in the middle-aged or older age group but have good health and liability insurance policies. A minimum personal injury accident protection shall be enough, but for the younger ones just starting out and without a health and liability insurance, the premiums are higher.
So decide according to where you live, your health, your driving habits, your personal circumstances and your level of existing coverage. If you think you have enough, a little more introspection shall get you to the core of the matter.
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