Florida Statute 627.736: PIP Coverage, Deadlines, and Lawsuits

Florida Statute 627.736 is the state’s Personal Injury Protection law. It requires every registered vehicle owner to carry at least $10,000 in PIP coverage, which pays 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost wages after a crash regardless of who caused it. The catch that trips up most claims: you have to get initial medical care from a qualifying provider within 14 days of the accident, or you lose the benefits entirely.¹

What PIP Pays For

The $10,000 minimum policy is not a pot of money for any one type of loss. It splits into categories with different rates and caps.

Medical benefits. PIP pays 80% of reasonable, medically necessary expenses: hospital visits, surgery, X-rays, dental work, rehabilitation, prosthetic devices, ambulance services, and nursing care. Medical and disability benefits share the same $10,000 pool.
Disability benefits. PIP pays 60% of lost gross income and earning capacity when injuries keep you from working. It also covers what you reasonably spend hiring others to do household tasks you would normally handle. This shares the $10,000 limit with medical bills.
Death benefits. A separate $5,000 payment per person to survivors, paid on top of the $10,000 limit rather than out of it.

Death benefits sit outside the main pool, so a fatal crash does not exhaust medical and disability coverage for other injured people on the policy.¹

The Emergency Medical Condition Split

How much of the $10,000 you can actually access depends on how a qualifying provider classifies your injury. If you have an emergency medical condition, the full $10,000 is available. If your condition is classified as non-emergency, benefits cap at $2,500.¹

A painful soft tissue injury that needs weeks of treatment but no emergency intervention often falls on the wrong side of that line. The treating provider makes the determination, and insurers sometimes dispute it, so the documentation from your initial evaluation matters a great deal if that classification is later challenged.

The 14-Day Treatment Deadline

This is where PIP claims most often collapse. Initial medical services have to happen within 14 days of the accident. There is no grace period and no good-cause extension.¹

That initial visit has to be with a qualifying provider: a physician (MD or DO), dentist, chiropractor, or advanced practice registered nurse. Care from other provider types does not satisfy the deadline, even when it is legitimate treatment. Once a qualifying provider has seen you, follow-up care can come from a broader set of practitioners.

Waiting to see whether pain develops is a common mistake. Even if you feel uninjured, getting evaluated inside the 14-day window preserves your right to benefits if symptoms surface later.

Who the Policy Covers

PIP benefits reach past the named policyholder. Coverage extends to:

The named insured on the declarations page.
Relatives living in the same household, unless specifically excluded.
Passengers in the insured vehicle who do not own a motor vehicle themselves.
Pedestrians and cyclists struck by the insured vehicle who were not in another vehicle at the time.

Under this structure, a pedestrian hit while crossing the street may be covered under the driver’s PIP even though the pedestrian was never in a car.¹ Nonresidents whose vehicles have been physically in Florida more than 90 days during the preceding year also have to carry PIP.²

Named Driver Exclusions

You can exclude a household member from your PIP coverage. The exclusion has to name the person on the declarations page or by endorsement, and the named insured must consent in writing. An excluded person loses PIP for injuries, lost wages, and death benefits under that policy and has to meet Florida’s financial responsibility requirements independently.³ This matters most when a household driver with a rough record is left off to keep premiums down, but ends up injured in a covered vehicle with no PIP.

Choosing a Deductible

Insurers must offer you a choice of PIP deductibles: $250, $500, or $1,000. The deductible applies to 100% of your covered expenses and lost wages before PIP begins paying its share, so a higher deductible lowers your premium but delays when benefits kick in. The deductible does not reduce the $5,000 death benefit.⁴

Insurer Payment Timelines and Exams

Once your provider submits written notice with billing and treatment records, the insurer has 30 days to pay or issue a denial with an explanation. Benefits are overdue after that.¹ Incomplete or vague provider paperwork is the most common fixable reason for delay, so pushing your provider to submit thorough itemized bills is usually more productive than pushing the insurer.

The statute also gives the insurer the right to require you to attend a mental or physical examination by a physician of its choosing. The insurer pays for the exam, and it has to take place within your municipality or within 10 miles of your home when a qualified physician is available in that area. The examining physician must be licensed under the same chapter as your treating doctor. Before cutting off payments to your treating provider, the insurer must obtain a report from a Florida-licensed physician stating the treatment was not reasonable, related, or medically necessary.⁵ Refusing to attend a requested exam can suspend your benefits, so treat those notices as mandatory even when they feel adversarial.

Insurers also have the right to require an examination under oath, essentially a sworn deposition about the accident and your treatment. Refusing to participate can end the claim.¹

How PIP Interacts With Other Coverage

PIP is generally the primary payer for injuries from a car crash. Health insurance picks up what remains after PIP pays its share, and the statute is designed to prevent you from collecting the same expense twice.¹ If the crash happens on the job, workers’ compensation may take precedence.

PIP does not cover damage you cause to other people’s property. Florida requires a separate $10,000 in Property Damage Liability coverage for that.⁶

When You Can Sue Beyond PIP

The no-fault system limits your ability to sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering. Section 627.737 creates a tort exemption that generally shields the other driver from lawsuits for non-economic damages, but the exemption ends when your injury meets any of these thresholds:⁷

Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function.
A permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement.
Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement.
Death.

The word “permanent” carries most of the weight. Serious injuries that heal completely typically don’t clear the threshold, which is why classification often turns on detailed medical evidence about whether the injury has reached maximum medical improvement with lasting effects.

Penalties for Letting PIP Lapse

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles can suspend your driver’s license, vehicle registration, and license plate if you drop coverage. Getting them back requires proof of insurance and a reinstatement fee of up to $500.⁸ A suspension can last up to three years if you fail to maintain coverage throughout your registration period.

Driving without proof of insurance is a nonmoving traffic infraction. If you can’t produce proof at or before your court date, the court will order suspension of your registration and license.⁹ Presenting a fraudulent proof-of-insurance document is a first-degree misdemeanor. Reinstatement after a suspension may require an SR-22 certificate, a six-month non-cancellable filing that your insurer reports electronically to the state as proof of PIP and PDL coverage.¹⁰

What Could Change

Senate Bill 522, introduced in the 2026 legislative session, would repeal Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law and replace it with mandatory bodily injury liability coverage. If passed, it would take effect January 1, 2027.¹¹ Similar repeal efforts have failed before, so passage is not guaranteed. If SB 522 or something like it succeeds, drivers would move from a system where their own insurer pays their medical bills regardless of fault to one where the at-fault driver’s liability coverage pays for the other party’s injuries.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 627.736 – Required Personal Injury Protection Benefits; Exclusions; Priority; Claims
2
Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 627.733 – Required Security
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 627.747 – Named Driver Exclusion
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 627.739 – Personal Injury Protection; Optional Limitations; Deductibles
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Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 627.736 – Required Personal Injury Protection Benefits
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Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 324.022 – Financial Responsibility for Property Damage
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 627.737 – Tort Exemption; Limitation on Right to Damages; Punitive Damages
8
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Florida Insurance Requirements
9
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.646 – Security Required; Proof of Security and Display Thereof
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Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Mandatory Programming Required for Electronic Non Cancellable SR22/26-PIP Cases
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Florida Senate. SB 522: Motor Vehicle Insurance