What’s Different About Michigan’s No Fault Auto Insurance?
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.
Michigan no fault insurance policies reimburse drivers for medical costs and lost income for up to three years. Lost income reimbursement is currently around four and a half thousand dollars, and applies when an insured driver is killed as well as injured. In the case of a death, the money is paid to the family of the insured person.
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.
The no fault law in Michigan is also useful for protecting people covered by Michigan auto insurance from lawsuits, though there are situations where you can still be sued. If you caused an accident where someone else was seriously hurt or killed, you were involved in an accident with an out of state car, or your accident occurred outside of Michigan, you may still be sued.
If you were at fault for an accident (more than fifty percent) it’s also possible that you might be sued for up to five hundred dollars worth of damage to another car. However, you can still get payment from Michigan no fault auto insurance plans for up to your coverage limits, even if you’re legally responsible for damages.
Michigan requires a minimum of twenty thousand dollars in bodily injury and property damage residual coverage for every person who is hurt or killed in an accident, as well as up to forty thousand for each accident where several people are hurt or killed. Up to ten thousand dollars of coverage for property damage in another state is also required for Michigan auto insurance. Be aware, however, that the court might award more than this, and you would be responsible for the excess.
So what doesn’t Michigan no fault insurance cover? Collision insurance, which covers repairs to your car, is not required. Comprehensive insurance is also not mandated by law, and covers damage to your car if it is stolen, or damaged by fire, flood, animals, vandalism, or falling objects. If you are hit by an uninsured motorist and have not voluntarily purchased coverage for this, you will also not be covered by regular Michigan auto insurance.
