As a driver in the state of Florida, Bodily Injury Liability Insurance (also called BIL insurance) covers injuries caused by you to another person. Specifically, this form of cover is intended to cover medical expenses for injuries. Florida drivers should educate themselves regarding the advantages of BIL coverage.
How Does a Bodily Injury Liability Policy Work?
A bodily liability insurance policy is important to protect you in the case of an accident where persons other than yourself and your family obtain injuries. The purpose of bodily injury liability insurance is to pay out to injuries your cause to others.
If you don’t have BIL coverage, those you injured in a car accident could sue you for their damages. Seeing as you were at fault, you’d stand to lose your savings and assets.
It’s important to be covered for bodily injury liability insurance. Although bodily injury liability insurance isn’t legally required to drive a car in Florida, you should ideally get some form of cover to protect yourself and your assets in case of a motor accident.
Personal Injury Protection vs Bodily Injury Liability
Personal injury protection is a form of no-fault insurance. The no-fault nature of PIP insurance means that your insurer is legally obligated to pay out on your PIP policy, regardless who was at fault when the accident occurred.
If the other driver was at fault, your insurer isn’t allowed to refuse paying out by insisting the other party’s insurance is responsible for damages. On the other hand, if you were responsible for the accident, your insurance also isn’t allowed to refuse paying out by stating you’re responsible for the costs due to possible irresponsible behavior from your side.
The aim of personal injury protection is to pay out for your personal injuries in the event of an accident. Your passengers will also be covered by this form of insurance.
PIP is also valid for when you sustain injuries while travelling in someone else\’s car as a passenger. Pedestrian and cyclist accidents are also covered, meaning your policy will pay out if you get hit by a car, even if you weren’t driving.
PIP insurance is different from bodily injury liability insurance because PIP coverage pays for injuries you or your family members sustain.
Bodily injury liability insurance pays for injuries you cause to other persons while driving. Unlike PIP, bodily injury liability doesn’t pay out for injuries you and your family or passengers sustain in an accident.
More About Personal Injury Insurance in Florida
PIP insurance covers your own medical expenses after being in a car accident. Rehabilitation expenses can also be included in your policy.
PIP insurance coverage is one of the mandatory insurance policies you need to have to drive a car in Florida state.
Even if you already have a health insurance policy, you can benefit from PIP insurance coverage. For instance, PIP insurance offers several benefits, such as coverage for lost wages and funeral costs. If you were injured in a car accident in Florida, your health insurance policy could cover your physical injuries. This way, the money you get from your PIP coverage can be allocated to lost wages for the time you spent in hospital.
How to Claim Personal Injury?
As with any other type of insurance claiming for your PIP coverage is rather straight-forward. You can submit a claim, either online or by phone. After this, your insurance provider should pay out for the necessary medical expenses immediately.
However, your coverage might be limited in certain ways. For instance, you may have a to get treatment from a medical expert selected by your insurer. In some cases, your car insurance could approve a medical practitioner of your choice, however.
Following the claims process of your car insurance provider is crucial. Failure to provide certain required documentation may result in a penalty, where you might be required to make a 50 percent co-payment on your medical expenses. To make sure you don’t miss any essential documents, ask your insurance provider exactly what they require to settle your claim.
In cases where you’re injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, the standard process is to first exhaust your own PIP coverage before turning to other options. If your PIP policy is too little to pay all your expenses, you can submit a claim under the liability insurance policy of the other driver.
However, if you aren’t satisfied to pay for medical expenses from your own insurance policy, you might be able to avoid claiming from your insurance by filing a lawsuit against the other driver. This is especially an option if you’re significantly or permanently injured.
What Does BIL Cover?
Bodily injury liability coverage is meant to protect you in accidents where you are at fault and another person who wasn’t travelling in your car sustained injuries.
In most cases, this cover won’t be necessary for small injuries, such as a few stitches. Instead, your bodily liability insurance policy will pay out for severe injuries caused to other persons, as well as death.
Only physical injuries are covered by your bodily injury liability policy. Psychological problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder are not considered a bodily injury, so your policy won’t pay out if a third party wants to claim for psychological treatments, or sessions with a psychologist.
The costs covered by bodily liability insurance can vary, but commonly include the following:
- Operations to treat injuries sustained in the accident
- Hospitalization as a result of a car accident
- Ongoing professional care, such as rehabilitation
- Payouts for lost wages if the third party is unable to work
- Funeral expenses and accidental death benefits
All costs related to hospitalization can be covered by your insurance, provided your policy has enough coverage. The ambulance, emergency room and medication will all be paid for if you have enough coverage.
Some expenses for home care may also be included. Such as child care or home cleaning. However, this might only be applicable if someone is incapable of performing these duties themselves and have no other viable alternative.
Who Is Liable to Take out BIL Coverage?
You aren’t legally required to have bodily liability insurance in the state of Florida – not in most cases, at least. There are instances where individuals can be legally obligated to take out bodily injury liability insurance.
If you’ve been convicted of a DUI, you may legally need to take out bodily injury. How need much coverage you need can differ though. It can be anywhere between $10,000 and $100,000, depending on when you were convicted of the DUI.
The Importance of BIL Insurance
Even though bodily injury liability insurance isn’t legally required in Florida, it’s still important to make sure you’re covered. Without BIL insurance, a third party can sue you for medical expenses, funeral costs or lost wages in the event of an accident.
Regardless of whether you have a means to pay, the court can place the liability of the accident on you. If you own any assets, such as a car, house or other valuable items, they will be at risk.
When taking out BIL coverage, it’s important to ensure you have enough. While it can be tempting to take out the minimum cover of $10,000, this won’t realistically be worth much if you’re involved in a serious accident and the third party has to spend months recovering in hospital. Especially if the injured third party is the breadwinner of a family.
In a way, bodily injury liability is more important than PIP. If you have health insurance, PIP coverage is definitely useful, but not necessarily crucial. However, there’s no other form of insurance that will protect you (even just partially) in the case of a serious accident where the third party sustains devastating injuries.
Worst of all, there’s a good chance that you yourself will be in hospital after a serious accident, so the added stress of paying for another person’s medical expenses and losses will be more stress than you can handle.
Allow PINI insurance to ease your mind. We provide car insurance policies with ample cover to take care of you, your family and all applicable third parties in the case of an accident. Contact us today to learn more.