Why You Should Use Your Personal Injury Protection

Auto insurance in Washington state is linked to the vehicle. The auto insurance coverage for the vehicle you were driving at the time of the collision is the primary insurance coverage. Even if you had your own personal injury protection (“PIP”) insurance it would not pay until the policy limits for the coverage on the vehicle you were driving were exhausted.

When you make an insurance claim where you are not the at-fault driver, that insurance claim cannot result in an auto insurance rate increase. In fact, if an auto insurance company raises its insurance rates, the insured is entitled to a written explanation of the basis for such an increase. Increases are only allowed following at-fault collisions, traffic citations, etc. Increases are not allowed when insurance is used when the insured driver is not at fault in causing the crash.

When there is PIP insurance coverage available, health insurance will not pay claims for treatment for injuries caused in the car collision. When you are in a car crash, the insurance covering the vehicle you were driving or riding in is the primary insurance to pay your medical bills if PIP coverage was purchased. Your health insurance will investigate whether there was PIP coverage on the vehicle you were driving and once they discover there is PIP coverage they will deny and could even retract any payments to your medical providers. Recently health insurance has also been contacting the patient’s auto insurance directly to get “paid back” any bills that health insurance paid that are related to car accident injuries. If your health insurance requests information from your attorney’s office regarding the availability of PIP coverage, we must disclose it to health insurance. Failure to disclose this information would be insurance fraud.

In Washington PIP is entitled to reimbursement once your case is resolved with the at-fault driver pursuant to the auto insurance contract. However, they must reduce the amount they are entitled to by a proportional share of your attorney fees and costs (which is roughly one-third). The reduction means that at the end of your case you will get more in your pocket if you use your PIP insurance. If instead all your providers “hold” your bills and get paid when your case is resolved, we will pay the providers directly and you will not get the benefit of that 1/3 reduction.

You can also find more information about how PIP insurance works at the Office of the Washington Insurance Commissioner’s website. See:  Personal injury protection (PIP) | Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner

Amy Jones is a senior attorney at Herrmann Law Group.