How Michigan no-fault works after a truck crash
Michigan is a no-fault state. Under MCL 500.3105, every Michigan auto policy provides Personal Injury Protection (PIP) that pays the policyholder — and household residents and, in many cases, occupants of the insured vehicle — for accidental bodily injury arising from a motor vehicle. That coverage applies whether the other vehicle is a passenger car, a commercial truck, or a tractor-trailer.
PIP pays regardless of fault. Even if you were partly to blame for the crash — or even if you were the truck driver — PIP benefits are paid first, before any liability is determined.
What Michigan PIP covers
Under MCL 500.3107, PIP pays:
Medical care
All reasonable and necessary medical, hospital, surgical, rehabilitation, prescription, and other care — up to the medical coverage limit chosen when the policy was purchased. Post-2019 reform (2019 PA 21), Michigan drivers can pick from $50,000, $250,000, $500,000, unlimited, or (for Medicare-eligible drivers) opt out. Pre-July 2020 policies typically carry unlimited PIP.
Wage loss
85% of gross wages actually lost, for up to 3 years, subject to a monthly maximum adjusted annually under MCL 500.3107(1)(b).
Replacement services
Up to $20 per day for services you can no longer perform yourself — housework, childcare, lawn care, snow removal — for up to 3 years.
Attendant care
Ongoing medical care and supervision provided by family members or professional agencies. In catastrophic truck-crash cases involving brain or spinal injuries, attendant care can be the single largest component of PIP.
Survivor's loss benefits
Under MCL 500.3108, dependents of a person killed in a truck crash receive benefits equal to what the deceased would have contributed to the household, up to the monthly PIP maximum, for 3 years.
Mileage and transportation
Travel to and from medical appointments is a covered PIP expense at the state-set mileage rate.
Who pays your PIP — the priority order
MCL 500.3114 assigns priority among potentially responsible insurers. For a person injured in a truck crash:
- 1. Your own auto policy — if you have one.
- 2. A resident spouse's or relative's policy — if you don't.
- 3. The vehicle you were occupying — if no household policy applies.
- 4. The Michigan Assigned Claims Plan — if none of the above applies (MCL 500.3172).
Commercial trucks operating in Michigan carry federal-minimum liability insurance but generally do not carry Michigan no-fault PIP — so PIP usually comes from a passenger vehicle's policy, a household policy, or the Assigned Claims Plan.
PIP for pedestrians and bicyclists
You do not have to be in a car to collect no-fault PIP. If you were walking, biking, or standing on the side of the road when a truck struck you, PIP still applies through the priority order — your own policy, your household policy, or the Assigned Claims Plan.
PIP does not replace your lawsuit
Michigan no-fault does not bar you from suing the truck driver, motor carrier, or other liable parties. Under MCL 500.3135, a third-party lawsuit is allowed whenever your injuries meet the serious impairment of body function threshold — an objectively manifested injury that affects your general ability to lead your normal life.
The lawsuit lets you recover:
- Pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life.
- Excess medical costs above your PIP coverage limit.
- Excess wage loss beyond 3 years or above the monthly PIP cap.
- Loss of earning capacity.
Deadlines that also apply to PIP
- 1 year written notice to the priority insurer under MCL 500.3145(1).
- 1-year-back rule — recovery limited to losses in the year immediately before suit was filed (MCL 500.3145(2)).
- Assigned Claims Plan — 1-year notice under MCL 500.3172.
Confused about which insurer should pay your PIP?
Call Jay Trucks & Associates. We'll pull every policy that touches the crash, apply the Michigan priority order, and make sure the correct insurer opens your PIP claim — while we simultaneously prepare the third-party case against the trucking company.