All Utah residents have to buy car insurance, and the law requires no-fault coverage in particular. One of the components of this coverage is Personal Injury Protection, also called PIP. How does this coverage work? How can it help you out after a vehicle wreck? 

It’s important for Utah residents to always carry the PIP coverage required of them by law. However, you can also increase your coverage to your benefit.

Understanding No-Fault Car Insurance  

Most states assign fault in car wrecks. This means that the driver that causes a wreck must pay for costs like the property damage and injuries of other involved parties. They usually use auto liability coverage to do so.  

Other states, Utah included, are a bit different because they have no-fault laws. These regulations help reduce the number of lawsuits that might follow car wrecks. They allow drivers to first use their own car insurance to pay for their own damage. Only

after the cost of their losses meet qualifying thresholds can someone file a claim on the at-fault driver’s liability policy.  

The coverage required by no-fault laws is personal injury protection. Work with your Utah insurance agent to determine the amount of coverage that is right for you.  

Utah’s PIP Requirement  

By law, all Utah auto insurance policies must contain at least $3,000 in PIP coverage. If you fail to carry this coverage, then you could face penalties.  

PIP insurance helps drivers hurt in accidents cover their own injury costs and related losses following car wrecks. So, say for example that you have a wreck that injures your back. While health insurance can pay for certain medical costs, that doesn’t mean it always will cover all of them. PIP coverage can step in to cover your remaining medical costs.  

Utah’s PIP insurance requirement is not the maximum amount of PIP coverage you can carry. Therefore, you can increase your policy limits to provide you more assistance.   

To file against someone else’s bodily liability coverage, you must meet a threshold of at least $3,000 in medical expenses. In other words, you essentially have to exhaust your PIP coverage on medical costs alone before filing a claim on liability overage. That could leave no coverage for other expenses that PIP might otherwise cover.  

As a result, it is often a good idea to increase your policy’s PIP coverage. You will have more money available from your own policy. This often makes the process of claiming benefits much easier. You might not have to worry about even having to file a claim on another party’s policy, which can save you a lot of hassle and legal expenses. Instead, you will know where your help comes from every time.