• Does insurance pay if the accident is not my fault?

Yes. Understanding the types of insurance coverage that may apply to your case is helpful. First, Michigan requires residents to register their vehicles and to carry insurance. Under mandatory no-fault insurance laws, each policy must contain three types of protection: 

  1. Personal Injury Protection (PIP): Covers medical expenses and lost wages.
  2. Property Protection Insurance (PPI): Covers non-vehicle property damage and vehicular damage occurring while the car is legally parked. 
  3. Residual Liability Insurance: Consists of both bodily injury and property damage insurance. This coverage allows the victim to recover from the at-fault driver. State law requires drivers to maintain minimum policies: $50,000.00 in bodily injury for one person in one accident and $100,000.00 for two or more persons in one accident.

Besides the required forms of coverage, drivers can opt into additional protection plans. These include: 

  1. Collision Insurance: Covers vehicle repairs after damage to moving vehicles.
  2. Underinsured Motorist Insurance (UIM): Covers damages exceeding the at-fault driver’s policy limits.
  3. Uninsured Motorist Insurance (UM). Covers the victim’s injuries and damages when the at-fault driver is uninsured or unknown.

Even if an auto accident victim was at fault, they may still be able to recover damages. However, Michigan’s comparative negligence law reduces an auto accident victim’s pain and suffering compensation (non-economic damages) and economic damages by the amount that the victim was at fault. If the injured person was “more than 50% or more at fault for the auto accident, ” the victim cannot recover any pain and suffering compensation (non-economic loss). But the victim would still be able to collect economic loss that would then be reduced by the amount they were at fault.

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