Personal injury protection coverage, also known as PIP, is car insurance that pays for your medical bills, lost wages, funeral costs or other expenses related to injuries from a car accident, regardless of whether the accident was your fault.

Some form of personal injury protection insurance is required in 15 states, including all 12 states with no-fault auto insurance laws. It’s different from liability insurance, which pays for harm you cause to other people or their property.

We’ll explain how personal injury protection insurance works, what it does and doesn’t cover and how to determine whether you need it.

What does personal injury protection cover?

As mentioned, PIP covers injury-related expenses for you as the driver up to your policy limits. It also covers your passengers, and it covers you if you’re a pedestrian or bicyclist injured in an auto accident, or if you’re riding in someone else’s car.

PIP coverage can include:

• Medical expenses, including the costs of an ambulance, scans, surgery, medication and rehabilitation

• Funeral expenses

• Lost wages

• The cost of at-home care

• Other costs resulting from injury, such as for transportation, child care or house-cleaning services

PIP insurance does not cover property damage or injuries to the occupants of other cars.

How does personal injury protection work?

With PIP coverage, you can file an insurance claim with your own auto insurance company for benefits related to medical expenses after a car accident, no matter which driver was at fault. The insurance company will pay up to your coverage limit, minus the deductible.

If you were found not to be at fault, your insurance company will later reclaim its expenses from the other driver’s insurer. If the expenses exceed the no-fault limits set by the state, you are then permitted to sue the other driver.

Is personal injury protection mandatory?

If you live in a no-fault state, PIP coverage is required under state law, just like liability coverage.

Only 12 states are true no-fault states, meaning they place certain restrictions on a consumer’s right to sue. Three of those states — Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania — are called “choice no-fault” states, meaning individual drivers can choose to opt out of no-fault provisions and reject PIP coverage.

In addition, three at-fault states also require that drivers purchase some form of personal injury protection, and in six other states and the District of Columbia the coverage is optional. PIP is unavailable in the remaining 29 states. In those states, Medical Payments coverage, or MedPay, offers a limited version of the same coverage.

Read more: These are the minimum car insurance requirements in all 50 U.S. states

Is PIP coverage required in my state?

Personal injury protection insurance is required in all 12 no-fault states. These states, and the minimum thresholds required, are:

• Florida: $10,000 per person

• Hawaii: $10,000 per person

• Kansas: $4,500/person for medical expenses: $900/month for one year for disability/loss of income: $25/day for in-home services: $2,000 for funeral, burial or cremation expense; $4,500 for rehabilitation expense

• Kentucky: $10,000 per person, per accident*

• Massachusetts: $8,000 per person, per accident

• Michigan: up to $50,000 or opt-out

• Minnesota: $20,000 for medical expenses, $20,000 for non-medical expenses.

• New Jersey: $15,000 per person or accident*

• New York: $50,000 per person

• North Dakota: $30,000 per person

• Pennsylvania: $5,000, for medical payments only, called medical benefits insurance*

• Utah: $3,000 per person

* In Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, individual drivers can choose to opt out of no-fault provisions and reject PIP coverage.

PIP is also required in three at-fault states. These states, and the minimum thresholds required, are:

• Delaware: $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident.

• Maryland: $2,500 per accident, ability to waive for driver but not passengers or pedestrians.

• Oregon: $15,000 per person.

PIP insurance is optional in six states and Washington, D.C.:

• Arkansas

• New Hampshire

• South Dakota

• Texas

• Virginia

• Washington

• Washington, D.C.

Personal injury protection coverage is unavailable in the remaining 29 states.

In those states, Medical Payments coverage, or MedPay, offers similar coverage. Like PIP, MedPay covers medical expenses for you and your passengers after a car accident regardless of who is at fault. However, MedPay does not extend to lost income, home services or other related costs of being injured.

FAQs

What is the difference between PIP and liability?

Liability insurance pays for harm you cause to other people or their property. That’s why it is required of drivers in nearly every state.

It does not cover your own injuries or even your passengers’ injuries. Nor does it pay to repair damage to your car. (Collision coverage pays for that.)

Does PIP require a deductible?

Yes, PIP is subject to a deductible, similar to the deductibles in liability insurance. Depending on the state, it may be possible to choose a deductible as low as $0 or as high as $1,000 or more.

Remember, however, that the lower the deductible the higher the premium.

Is personal injury protection no-fault car insurance?

Personal injury protection coverage is sometimes referred to as no-fault insurance. But this can confuse the meaning of no-fault, which actually refers to the laws of the state.

A no-fault state is one that places restrictions on the right to sue and, as part of that law, requires drivers to purchase personal injury protection insurance. In no-fault states, drivers are restricted from suing if an accident’s expenses are below a certain threshold. Those limits, and how they are determined, vary by state.

Bottom line: Do you need personal injury coverage?

Adding PIP coverage to your car insurance policy depends on where you live — and whether you have health insurance.

If you live in a no-fault state, there’s no question you must include PIP in your car insurance coverage.

If you live in a state where it is available but optional, the choice may be more nuanced. If you don’t have health insurance at all, PIP coverage could protect you from having to pay high medical bills out of pocket in the event of an accident.

Some states require health insurance to pay for your injuries before PIP. However, PIP insurance could still pay for your health insurance deductible, making it an attractive option, for example, if you carry a high deductible.

In any case, it’s always a good idea to evaluate how much car insurance you need.