Is Michigan's No Fault Auto Insurance Different?

By Ryan Morelli

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.

Policies under Michigan's no fault insurance provide for reimbursement of medical costs plus lost income from your injury for up to three years. The amount you can receive for this was around four and a half thousand dollars as of 2007. This amount also applies when someone who has died in an accident and who has Michigan auto insurance. His or her family will receive up to that amount every month for three years to make up for the lost income.

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.

If you use Michigan no fault insurance, the policy will pay up to one million dollars for damage you do to fences, railing, buildings, and other types of property belonging to someone else. This policy also pays for damage you do to properly parked cars that belong to other people.

Michigan's no fault law also protects people with Michigan auto insurance from lawsuits, except under a few special situations. For instance, if you caused an accident and someone else was killed or seriously injured, you were involved in an accident with a car that's not registered in Michigan, or you were involved in an accident in a different state, a suit might happen.

You could also be sued for up to five hundred dollars worth of damage to another vehicle if you were more than fifty percent at fault in causing the accident. However, when you're sued or otherwise legally responsible for damages, you'll receive payment up to your coverage limits from your Michigan no fault auto insurance.

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.

Michigan no fault insurance doesn't cover everything, either. For instance, you don't have to have insurance available to cover fixing your own car in an accident or when flood damage, theft, vandalism, or other types of non accident damage occur, or for covering uninsured motorist damage. However, this kind of coverage is available as part of Michigan auto insurance, even if not required by law.

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