Understanding the no-fault system

by Guest » Fri Apr 04, 2008 08:15 am
Guest

Hi all!

Going through the forums, I have somewhat gathered pieces to understand the no-fault system as-

Many states have "no-fault" laws. Some times it becomes difficult to determine who caused the accident. So, each party in an accident is responsible for its own medical expenses and other injury-related costs that are incurred in an accident. This means your motor vehicle insurance company will pay the bills for your injuries and your passengers' injuries up to the personal injury protection benefits ("PIP") limit. And you cannot sue or be sued unless there are serious injuries. Since, no-fault is only applicable to injuries, hence it is allowed to sue for general damages eg. property damages, loss of wages or sufferings if those sufferings are beyond a certain level. Since, the pure no-fault system does not allow any party to sue the other, hence most of the states have somewhat modified their systems now-a-days.



Now, would anyone care to tell me whether this is a correct definition for it?

If you'd assume this to be correct,

This means your motor vehicle insurance company will pay the bills for your injuries and your passengers' injuries up to the personal injury protection benefits ("PIP") limit.



What sort of policy are you talking about (when my collision insurance won't cover my bodily injuries & again my liability insurance is for the other person)??

Please help me understand the thing..Plasmahectic

Total Comments: 1

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:58 pm Post Subject:

If you'd assume this to be correct,

Quote:
This means your motor vehicle insurance company will pay the bills for your injuries and your passengers' injuries up to the personal injury protection benefits ("PIP") limit.

This is correct in a PIP state....

What sort of policy are you talking about (when my collision insurance won't cover my bodily injuries & again my liability insurance is for the other person)??

Ok take physical damage (ie collision or property damage out of it...that has nothing to do with pip)....In most PIP states the way it works is this...let's assume the other guy is 100% at fault....his carrier will pay under their liablity (PD) coverage to fix your car....let's further assume you got a minor injury...let's say 1k in medical bills, 500 in loss of wage...if you are in a no-fault pip state (pip only pertains to injuries, nothing to do with the vehicle repairs)...your states PIP limit/threshold is 3k...so you have 1500 in 'bills' for this injury your carrier will pay that under the PIP coverage....and you are done...nothing from the other guy as far as your injury etc...now same scenrio, only this time you have horrible injuries...your total is 20k in 'specials' or 'bills' now you have eclipsed that pip threshold of 3k, and can go after the other guy for you injuries....PIP is meant to stop small injury claims from turning into big ones, and to stop people from claiming injuries when there either aren't any or they are inflated...and ultimately to keep premiums lower...all states are not pip states, nor do they even offer it in all states...

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