Choosing the Right Lawyer is No ACCIDENT- A Personal Injury Guide - By Jeff Adelman (2025 Edition)

Choosing the Right Lawyer is No Accident
can also pay up to 60 percent of lost wages. Total PIP coverage is capped
at $10,000 whether used for medical bills or lost wages.
Importantly, PIP benefits follows the person in most cases. For example,
let’s say Luke and Leia are traveling in a vehicle and the driver, Luke,
causes an accident that injures both of them. If Leia owns a vehicle, her
PIP benefits go through her own insurance company, and Luke's PIP
benefits go through his policy. This is the case even though Leia was not
driving. Now if Leia did not own a vehicle and nobody in her household
owned a vehicle, then she could get benefits from Luke’s policy.
You can also purchase Medical Payments coverage, often called “Med
Pay” for short, which gives you supplemental coverage above the
$10,000. You can get this additional coverage in amounts of $1,000 or
more above the $10,000 PIP coverage cap. Just like any other coverage,
the more coverage you want, the higher your premium will be.
If you have health insurance, Med Pay may not be necessary, because it
will kick in in after the $10,000 of PIP benefits is used up.
Collision Coverage is another good option that you should have on your
policy. Collision coverage means if the person that hits you does not have
insurance or if they don’t have adequate insurance, your insurance pays
to get your car repaired or replaced.
Collision coverage has nothing to do with personal injury, only property
damage. If you don’t have this coverage on your policy and there’s a
dispute as to liability (who caused the accident), you’ll have to wait until
that liability dispute is resolved before your car is taken care of. Whereas
if you have collision coverage, you can get the car repairs paid for by
your insurance company right away, and your insurance company can go
after the other insurance company later to recover the money that they
paid out to repair your car, as well as any deductible you might have.
This is called subrogation. Even if the accident is your fault, your
insurance company is still responsible to repair your vehicle or pay for
the value of the vehicle if the car is declared a total loss.
Jeff Adelman, B.C.S., Esq. 5