#5 What happens if my PIP runs out, and I still need treatment?

QUESTION: What happens if my Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefit runs out and I still need treatment from my car accident?

ANSWER: If your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits are exhausted but you still need treatment for injuries from a car accident in Oregon, you can access other PIP policies. If you were a passenger when the accident occurred, the PIP policy for the car you were in covers you, regardless of fault. If those benefits run out, you can then use the PIP coverage from your own auto policy. Should you need additional coverage beyond that, and you lived with a family member at the time of the accident, you may make a claim through their PIP policy as well. Oregon’s PIP statute provides multiple layers of coverage to ensure you get the medical treatment you need to make a full recovery.

What happens if my Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefit runs out and I still need treatment from my car accident?

Our clients are always surprised when we tell them that there are likely other PIP policies that you can access.

When Oregon’s PIP statute was written in the 70s, an order was established as to who’s PIP policy would pay under different circumstances.

If you were a passenger in a car — regardless of how the collision happened, the PIP insurance for the car you were in during the accident pays for your medical treatment.

Remember it doesn’t make a difference who’s fault the accident was when you’re making a PIP claim. If you’re a passenger in a car and someone runs a red light and hits the car you were in, you make a claim through the PIP policy for the car you were a passenger in during the time of the collision.

As strange as it sounds, you don’t make a claim through the driver’s insurance company who caused the accident. The first PIP policy to be used for your medical treatment will always be through the car you were in when the auto accident occurred.

If you exhaust the PIP benefit from the first PIP policy, then you can access the PIP benefit from your own car insurance policy. This will provide an additional $15,000 or two years of coverage from the date of the accident.

What happens if you still need additional coverage?

This may surprise you.

If you were living with a family member at the time of the collision — a parent, an aunt, uncle, cousin, or a sibling — you’re able to make a claim through their PIP policies.

This is how the statute is written in the state of Oregon, which means you don’t need to be concerned about your PIP coverage being exhausted before you’re done treating from the injuries from your car accident. There will likely be other PIP policies that you can utilize.

Whether you’re our client or not, we want to be a bridge of support for you.

We’ve developed a robust library of articles and videos organized into four topics which include our responses to the personal injury claim-related questions we’re asked most often.

• Top 10 Personal Injury Claim Mistakes to Avoid
• What You Need to Know About Your Claim
• How Are My Medical Bills & Wage Loss Paid
• How to Prepare for Your Independent Medical Exam

The articles provide advice and guidelines to help you navigate each phase of the personal injury claims process. Whether we represent you or not, we are passionate about helping you protect your rights, you receiving the medical care you need to recover from your injuries, and having the information you need to avoid mistakes that can harm your personal injury claim.