DOES CAR INSURANCE PREMIUM INCREASE BECAUSE OF NO-FAULT CLAIM?
Minnesota is a ‘No-Fault‘ state. This means that if you are injured in a car accident, YOUR AUTO INSURANCE must pay your initial medical bills and lost wages, regardless of who caused the accident. In other words, YOUR insurance pays even if you are hit by a drunk driver who ran a red light while texting on his phone. Your auto insurance pays your medical bills and wage loss even if you are a passenger in another person’s car and your car is not involved in the accident at all. Our car accident lawyers help people with No-Fault claims every day.
Even more surprising is what happens if a person doesn’t own a vehicle with auto insurance, and they are injured as a passenger in another vehicle. In that case, the passengers medical bills are paid by the auto insurance for any family member they live with. This would apply to your adult child who lives with you but doesn’t own their own car. If your live-in adult child is injured in an accident while in someone else’s car, your auto insurance must provide coverage for medical bills and lost wages.
AUTO INSURANCE RATES AFTER CAR ACCIDENT MEDICAL BILLS
Our car accident lawyers sometimes get questions from people who are worried that their auto insurance rates. They question will their rates go up if they make a No-Fault claim, even if the accident wasn’t their fault. Likewise, if another family member is making a claim for an accident where the owner’s car wasn’t even involved in the accident. The answer is, your car insurance rate will not go up if you are not at least 51% at fault in causing the accident. The auto insurance company cannot just raise your rates for submitting a claim for No-Fault Benefits for yourself or a person living with you.
In fact, it is against the law in MN for an insurance company to raise your rate for making a No-Fault claim. It is a fair claims violation under Minn.Stat. §72A.20 Subd 23(d). They cannot use PIP claims to raise or increase premiums or rates where there was less than 51% fault on the insured.
Subdivision (d) provides that a car insurer cannot use an applicant’s prior claims for benefits paid under section 65B.44 as an underwriting standard if the applicant was 50 percent or less negligent. To do so [increase premiums for a non at fault accident] would be in violation of three laws: Minn. Stat. §65B.17 , Subd. 2(b), Minn. Rule 2770.7700 Subp. 2 and Minn. Rule 2770.7900 Subp. 5.
CAR ACCIDENT LAWYERS
For more information on No-Fault insurance benefits, click here. If you or a family member has been injured in a MN car accident, please call us and speak with a lawyer for a free consultation. One of our car accident attorneys will answer your questions and explain your rights to you. We have more than 25 years’ experience successfully helping hundreds of people who have been injured in a car accident. Our lawyers take cases throughout Minnesota, and we will come to you.