5 Things to Know About No Fault and Property Damage Insurance After a Car Crash in Florida

The Florida Department of Motor Vehicles estimates that there are 200,000 car accidents in Florida each year. Florida requires that all motorists have a minimum type of insurance called personal injury protection or PIP. This type of auto insurance is also sometimes called no-fault insurance. The second type of insurance that is required is called property damage insurance. Both of these types of auto insurance offer specific protections for the person who is insured in the event of an auto accident.

HERE ARE 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT NO FAULT AND PROPERTY DAMAGE INSURANCE:

1. Under no-fault insurance, your auto insurance provider is responsible to pay 80% (usually up to $10,000) of your reasonable, related and necessary medical expenses regardless of who is at fault.
2. You need to seek medical care and treatment within the first fourteen days after a car accident to qualify for a no-fault insurance claim.
3. If you don’t have what is known as an “emergency medical condition,” your no-fault benefits may be further limited.
4. Property damage insurance will pay for the damage that you cause to someone else’s property. It could be a car or it could be anything from a tree to a fence or any other type of private property.
5. If you weren’t responsible for the accident, you would look for the other driver’s property damage insurance to pay for the damage to your car.

In Florida, PIP or no-fault coverage allows injured drivers to seek reimbursement from their own insurance policy after they’ve been injured in an auto accident. Unfortunately, sometimes insurance companies aren’t timely or they ignore the policyholder all together. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help these individuals with PIP insurance disputes. If after an investigation the insurer is found to be liable for bad faith insurance practices, they may be forced to compensate the policyholder per the terms of their insurance policy coverage.

Reference:

Florida Traffic Accidents. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://dmvflorida.org/2004-crash-data.shtml

Mitchell J. Panter

October 24, 2016

Mitchell J. Panter is the Managing Partner at Panter, Panter & Sampedro, a personal injury law firm in Miami recognized for protecting Florida's families for over 30 years. Mr. Panter is a board-certified trial lawyer and one of the most trusted personal injury litigators in South Florida.