Is Michigan’s No Fault Auto Insurance Different?
There are some things about Michigan auto insurance that you might not be familiar with if you’ve only registered cars in other areas in the US. This insurance is legally required in this state, and made up of three major segments. These are residual liability for bodily injury and property damage to others, personal injury insurance and property protection insurance. When registering a car in Michigan, it’s important to be able to prove you possess this insurance, since driving without it is illegal.
Policies under Michigan’s no fault insurance provide for reimbursement of medical costs plus lost income from your injury for up to three years. The amount you can receive for this was around four and a half thousand dollars as of 2007. This amount also applies when someone who has died in an accident and who has Michigan auto insurance. His or her family will receive up to that amount every month for three years to make up for the lost income.
In addition, if someone is injured and can’t provide housekeeping or other services for their family, they may be entitled to up to twenty dollars per day to hire other people to do this for them. It’s possible to synchronize this kind of coverage to any disability or health policy you currently have to reduce your premium. However, Medicaid and Medicare policies cannot be synchronized. Synchronized policies then become the primary payer, with your Michigan auto insurance covering remaining expenses.
Users of Michigan no fault insurance who damage personal property like buildings and fences can have their insurance company pay up to a million dollars for that damage, as well as damage which has been done to correctly parked cars.
Michigan’s no fault law also protects people with Michigan auto insurance from lawsuits, except under a few special situations. For instance, if you caused an accident and someone else was killed or seriously injured, you were involved in an accident with a car that’s not registered in Michigan, or you were involved in an accident in a different state, a suit might happen.
In addition, if you were more than fifty percent at fault in an accident, you may be sued for up to five hundred dollars in damage to the other car. However, in situations where you’re sued or are legally responsible for damages, your Michigan no fault insurance will pay up to your coverage limits.
There’s a minimum requirement of twenty thousand dollars worth of coverage for property damage and bodily injury coverage to handle situations where a person is injured or killed in an accident. For accidents where several people are injured or killed, up to forty thousand dollars of coverage is required. To cover property damage that happens outside of Michigan, you’ll need to have up to ten thousand dollars of Michigan auto insurance coverage. Just remember that if the court awards more than this, you’ll be responsible for the excess you need to pay.
There are some things that aren’t covered by Michigan no fault insurance, too. For instance, there’s no requirement for insurance to cover repairs to your car, for comprehensive coverage (which handles flood, animal, fire, vandalism and theft damages) or for uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. You have to buy coverage for this to have it dealt with as part of your Michigan auto insurance.