Florida No-Fault (PIP) Insurance, Explained

What PIP is (and isn't)

Personal Injury Protection — PIP — is the mandatory medical coverage on every Florida auto policy. It pays your medical bills and part of your lost wages after a crash, no matter who caused it. That's what "no-fault" means: for smaller injuries, you deal with your own insurer, not the other driver's.

PIP does not pay for pain and suffering, and it does not pay for property damage to your car. Those come from other coverages.

What PIP pays

Under Florida Statute §627.736, PIP covers:

• 80% of reasonable medical expenses up to $10,000 total.
• 60% of lost wages from injury-related time off work.
• $5,000 in death benefits, on top of any medical coverage.

The $10,000 cap has not increased since PIP was created in the 1970s. It runs out fast — an ER visit and an MRI can consume it entirely.

The 14-day treatment rule

This is the single most important thing to know about Florida PIP:

If you do not receive initial medical care from a qualified provider within 14 days of the crash, you lose PIP benefits entirely.

"Qualified provider" means an M.D., D.O., dentist, chiropractor, hospital, or a licensed physician assistant or ARNP. Massage therapists and acupuncturists don't count for the initial visit. If day 14 comes and goes without treatment, no PIP — even if a serious injury shows up on day 20.

Emergency vs. non-emergency medical condition

Florida splits PIP into two tiers based on what a provider diagnoses:

• Emergency Medical Condition (EMC): full $10,000 available.
• No EMC finding: only $2,500 available.

An EMC is a medical condition that, without immediate attention, could reasonably be expected to cause serious harm. It has to be documented by a qualifying provider. Insurers will often argue no EMC exists to cap your benefits at $2,500.

When you can sue the at-fault driver outside PIP

Because PIP is capped and doesn't pay for pain and suffering, Florida law lets you "step outside" no-fault and sue the at-fault driver only if you meet the serious injury threshold in §627.737(2):

• Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function;
• Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability;
• Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement; or
• Death.

Meeting the threshold unlocks non-economic damages — pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and mental anguish — from the at-fault driver's bodily injury liability coverage.

Bodily injury liability coverage

Here's a Florida quirk: bodily injury (BI) liability coverage is not required for most private-passenger drivers. Roughly one in five Florida drivers carries no BI coverage at all. That's why uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage on your own policy is one of the most important protections you can buy in Florida. It steps in when the at-fault driver has too little coverage — or none.