Michigan car accident and no-fault FAQ

Get medical care, call the police, and photograph the vehicles and the scene. Tell every doctor the injuries came from a car crash. Then report the claim to your own auto insurer and ask for an application for no-fault benefits.

Yes, if anyone was hurt or killed, or if the property damage appears to total $1,000 or more. The driver must report it immediately to the nearest or most convenient police station or officer under MCL 257.622.

Usually your own auto insurer. If you do not have a policy, the policy of your spouse or a relative you live with normally pays. If no policy in your household applies, you apply through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan.

Yes. Concussions, disc injuries and soft tissue injuries often show symptoms days later. A prompt visit also creates a record that ties the injury to the crash, which insurers look for first.

Your own collision coverage pays for damage to your car, depending on the type you bought. If you were not more than 50% at fault and your car was insured, you can recover up to $3,000 of uncovered damage, such as your deductible, from the at-fault driver in a mini-tort claim.

You still claim no-fault benefits from your own insurer, or from the assigned claims plan if no policy applies. Pain and suffering can be claimed under your own uninsured motorist coverage if your policy includes it. Report the crash to police right away and check your policy’s reporting and notice requirements for uninsured motorist claims.

Personal protection insurance (PIP) pays allowable expenses such as medical care and attendant care, wage loss for up to three years, and up to $20 a day for household help for up to three years. It also pays survivors’ loss and funeral expenses after a death.

Yes. MCL 500.3105 makes PIP benefits payable without regard to fault. Fault matters only for a lawsuit against a driver and for some vehicle damage claims.

It depends on the level chosen on your policy: unlimited, $500,000, $250,000, $250,000 with exclusions, $50,000 for some Medicaid enrollees, or no PIP medical for some people with Medicare Parts A and B. If no valid choice was made, the law treats the policy as unlimited. The level appears on your declarations page.

PIP pays 85% of the gross income you would have earned for up to three years after the crash. For accidents from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, the maximum is $7,455 per 30 days. For accidents from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, it is $7,201.

Yes, when a doctor says the care is needed and the hours are documented. For most people injured after the 2019 reform, care in the home from family, household members or friends is paid for up to 56 hours per week. People protected by Andary v. USAA are not subject to that limit.

Yes. Replacement services pay up to $20 a day for household tasks you would have done yourself, such as cleaning, yard work and driving, for up to three years after the crash. A doctor’s restriction and a daily log make the claim much easier to collect.

If you owned or registered a vehicle involved in the crash that was not insured, you are barred from PIP under MCL 500.3113. If you did not own the uninsured vehicle, you may still claim through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, which caps medical benefits at $250,000.

It can. If you chose coordinated coverage, your health plan generally pays first and PIP pays what it does not cover. If you chose the $250,000 level with exclusions or opted out under Medicare, health coverage carries more of the load. Your declarations page shows which applies.

You must give your no-fault insurer written notice of the injury within one year of the crash, unless it has already paid benefits. A completed application for benefits serves as that notice. Missing it can bar the claim entirely.

Under MCL 500.3145, you can recover only losses incurred within one year before the lawsuit is filed. That period is tolled from a specific claim for payment until the insurer formally denies it, and the clock then resumes. Tolling requires that you pursue the claim with reasonable diligence.

Three years from the date of the crash under MCL 600.5805. For a wrongful death claim, the clock runs from the date of death. Shorter notice deadlines apply when a government agency is involved.

Yes, and it is set by your policy, not by statute. In Rory v. Continental Insurance (2005), the Michigan Supreme Court held that shortened contractual deadlines in uninsured motorist coverage are enforced as written. Read the policy or have a lawyer read it soon after the crash.

Claims against public agencies have short notice deadlines. For an injury caused by a defective highway, written notice must be served within 120 days under MCL 691.1404, and some other public-agency deadlines are shorter. Talk to a lawyer within weeks, not months.

No. You have no contract with the other driver’s insurer and no duty to give it a statement. Anything you say can be used to argue you were at fault or not badly hurt.

You must give your own insurer reasonable proof of your loss, and your policy may require an examination under oath. In Cruz v. State Farm (2002), the Michigan Supreme Court held these clauses enforceable only to the extent they do not conflict with the no-fault act. Talk to a lawyer before an examination under oath.

It is an exam by a doctor the insurer chooses and pays, allowed by MCL 500.3151. The doctor must practice the same specialty as your treating specialist and meet board-certification and practice-time requirements. The report is often used to cut off benefits.

Benefits are overdue if not paid within 30 days after the insurer receives reasonable proof of the fact and amount of the loss. Overdue benefits carry 12% simple interest a year under MCL 500.3142.

An insurer may try to rescind a policy because of misstatements in the application. In Bazzi v. Sentinel (2018), the Michigan Supreme Court held that rescission is an equitable remedy and the court must balance the equities before rescinding as to an innocent third party. A rescission letter should be reviewed by a lawyer right away.

Ask for the denial in writing and the report it relies on, and keep submitting bills and forms. You can sue for overdue benefits with interest. If the court finds the insurer unreasonably refused or delayed payment, it must pay a reasonable attorney fee on top of the benefits.

Not before a lawyer reads it. A release usually ends every claim it describes, including future medical bills. Releases are sometimes drafted more broadly than the payment they come with.

Only if the injury caused death, serious impairment of body function, or permanent serious disfigurement. This is the threshold in MCL 500.3135(1). Most injury lawsuits turn on whether the injury is a serious impairment.

MCL 500.3135(5) requires an impairment that is objectively manifested, affects an important body function, and affects your general ability to lead your normal life. There is no minimum duration. The question compares your life before and after the crash.

Your damages are reduced by your share of fault. If you were more than 50% at fault, you cannot recover noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering. Your no-fault benefits are not affected by fault.

Yes. Under MCL 500.3135(3)(c), you can claim excess economic loss from the at-fault driver: wage loss above the monthly cap or after three years, and medical expenses above your PIP limit. Lost income is reduced by the taxes you would have paid.

Since July 2020, the default bodily injury limits are $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident. A driver may choose lower limits, but not below $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident. If the driver has too little, your own underinsured motorist coverage may fill the gap.

Possibly. Michigan’s dram shop act allows claims against a licensed seller that served a visibly intoxicated person. Every defendant must get written notice within 120 days after you hire a lawyer, and the suit must be filed within two years.

Most work on a contingency fee. Michigan Court Rule 8.121 caps the fee in personal injury cases at one-third of the amount recovered, computed after case costs are deducted. You pay no fee if nothing is recovered.

In a no-fault case, yes, if the court finds the insurer unreasonably refused or unreasonably delayed proper payment. MCL 500.3148 then requires a reasonable attorney fee in addition to the benefits owed.

Before you give a statement, attend an examination under oath or insurer medical exam, sign a release, or accept a denial. Earlier is better when an injury will keep you off work or needs surgery, because the evidence and deadlines are easier to manage from the start.

Yes. Since the 2019 amendments, MCL 500.3112 lets a provider make a claim and bring a direct cause of action against the insurer for its charges. Providers may also take an assignment of benefits already incurred, but an assignment of future benefits is void under MCL 500.3143.

For treatment after July 1, 2023, most providers are capped at 190% of the Medicare amount. When Medicare sets no amount, the cap is 52.5% of the provider’s January 1, 2019 charge. Under Andary v. USAA, the cap does not apply to people injured while covered by a policy issued before June 11, 2019.

A provider can recover only charges incurred within one year before it files suit, subject to tolling from a specific claim until a formal denial. Aging balances should be reviewed long before they reach a year.

If an insurer decides a provider overutilized care or charged an inappropriate amount, MCL 500.3157a lets the provider appeal to the Department of Insurance and Financial Services under the department’s rules. Calendar the denial the day it arrives so the appeal window is not missed.