Florida Auto Insurance Overview
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Florida’s minimum mandatory auto insurance coverage
$10,000 of No-Fault or Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits – pays up to $10,000 for 80% of medical expenses (not including massage therapy and acupuncture) and 60% of lost wages regardless of fault if treatment is initiated within 14 days of the accident. The maximum reimbursement under the PIP coverage is limited to $2,500, unless the injured person has an emergency medical condition. The PIP coverage also provides $5,000 in death benefits.
$10,000 of Property Damage Liability coverage – pays for the damage that the insured causes to another vehicle.
Florida optional auto insurance coverage
Comprehensive – pays for the damage not caused by a collision, such as scratches, theft, vandalism, etc.
Collision – pays for the damages to the insured vehicle.
Medical Payments Coverage – pays for medical expenses, beyond those covered by PIP, that result from a motor vehicle accident if the insured receives initial medical services and care within 14 calendar days after the motor vehicle accident (this coverage generally does not pay for acupuncture or massage therapy).
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist – pays medical expenses incurred by the insured, insured’s resident relative, or passenger in the insured vehicle when the other driver is at fault and does not have enough insurance to cover the total damages sustained by an injured person or does not have any insurance.
Bodily Injury Liability – pays for another person’s physical injury as a result of an accident for which the insured is liable.
Rental Reimbursement Coverage – pays for the cost of a car rental while the insured vehicle cannot be driven due to damage covered by comprehensive or collision coverage.
Loan/Lease Payoff Coverage (“Gap” insurance) – pays for the difference between the actual cash value of the insured vehicle and the principal payoff under a loan or lease.
Rental Car Coverage – pays per day up to certain number of days or up to certain amount.
Florida PIP Coverage
Florida is a no-fault insurance state, i.e., if you are injured in a car accident, your insurance company pays for up to $10,000 for 80% of your medical expenses (not including massage therapy and acupuncture) and 60% of lost wages (minus a deductible if you have chosen one) regardless of whether you are at fault as long as the injured person initiated treatment within 14 days after the car accident. It also provides $5,000 in death benefits. This coverage is called “Florida No-Fault Coverage” or Personal Injury Protection (PIP).
The maximum reimbursement under the PIP coverage is limited to $2,500, unless the injured person has an “emergency medical condition” (EMC) as determined by a statutory authorized provider. Typically, the EMC determination is made by a medical doctor. Chiropractors are not allowed to make such a determination.
Emergency medical condition means a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity, which may include severe pain, such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in any of the following:
For accidents that happen in Florida, the PIP insurance usually covers the insured person, resident relatives of the insured person, passengers, drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists who do not own a vehicle on their own, pedestrians and bicyclists. For out-of-state accidents, PIP only covers the insured and resident relatives of the insured while driving the insured car only.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Every automobile insurance policy issued in Florida which provides bodily injury liability coverage must also provide an equal amount of uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, unless the insured properly rejects such coverage in writing or selects lesser coverage. If the insured is injured in an accident with an uninsured motorist and it turns out that an insurer failed to obtain an informed rejection, the insurance company must provide stacking UM/UIM coverage at that point, even if the injured had not been paying for it.
The UM/UIM coverage covers a variety of accidents involving a motor vehicle, as long as there has been a physical contact with the uninsured vehicle or a phantom vehicle caused another vehicle to wreck without actual contact (e.g., hit and run accidents, accidents caused by objects falling off of another vehicle, accidents caused by blown truck tires on highway, accidents caused when a vehicle is forced off the road to avoid a head-on collision, etc.).
The UM/UIM coverage may be stacking or non-stacking. Although non-staking UM costs at least 20% less than stacking UM, stacking UM provides 2 valuable benefits that non-stacking UM coverage does not. First, unlike non-stacking UM, stacking UM allows the insured to add the UM limits of two or more vehicles together for any one accident. Second, stacking UM covers the insured in any vehicle, whereas non-stacking UM provides coverage only for the vehicle on which the UM premium is paid.
Finally, the UM/UIM coverage covers not only the named insured, but also the named insured’s resident relatives when injured in the insured vehicle, someone else’s vehicle, or as a pedestrian. The UM/UIM coverage also covers permissive users or passengers in the insured vehicle, in addition to their own UM/UIM coverage.
The applicability of the UM/UIM insurance coverage varies by state laws and the insurance policy.
How can we help?
Whether a claimant is able to get compensation for his/her damages largely depends on available insurance coverage. After all, in most cases, if there is no insurance coverage, there is no claim.
At Anna Handy Law Firm, P.A. we can look into all sources of potential coverage for your claim. In some cases, we can file a lawsuit to determine the applicability of coverage to your claim. If you have been injured in an accident that was not your fault, please give us a call for a free non-obligation consultation. (386) 248-3000.