Legally reviewed by Dean Levy, Florida personal injury attorney (Florida Bar No. 1012164). Last updated August 14, 2026.
If you were hurt as a passenger in a Florida car accident, your own personal injury protection (PIP) policy usually pays first, even in someone else’s car. Without your own policy or a resident relative’s, the PIP on the vehicle you rode in covers you. Fault-based claims against the drivers come after.
Key takeaways
- Your own PIP policy follows you into other people’s cars.
- Without your own coverage, the host vehicle’s PIP protects you.
- Passengers can bring fault claims against any driver who caused the crash.
- Florida does not require most drivers to carry bodily injury coverage.
- Seeing a doctor within 14 days protects your PIP benefits.
Whose insurance pays for a passenger in a Florida car accident?
Start with your own policy. Personal injury protection follows the person rather than the car, so a passenger who owns an insured vehicle in Florida claims PIP through that policy no matter whose car the crash happened in. PIP pays 80 percent of medical bills and 60 percent of lost wages, up to $10,000.
The ladder continues from there. A passenger who owns no vehicle but lives with a relative who carries PIP claims under that household policy next. Only a passenger with neither source turns to the policy on the car they occupied, which Florida Statutes § 627.736 extends to passengers in the insured vehicle.
One rule applies to every rung. PIP benefits generally require initial medical care within 14 days of the crash, and the details are covered in our full guide to Florida’s 14-day rule. Passengers get no extension on that window.
Can a passenger file a claim against the driver of the car they were in?
Yes, and it happens in most serious passenger cases. The claim is presented to the driver’s insurance company rather than collected from the driver personally, which is exactly the situation the policy was purchased for.
A passenger can also claim against the other driver, or against both when fault is shared. Florida divides responsibility by percentage of fault, and passengers are almost never assigned any of it, which makes these claims cleaner than most. The main exception an insurer may raise is conduct like knowingly getting into the car of an obviously impaired driver.
The scale of the problem is worth pausing on. Florida recorded more than 360,000 traffic crashes in 2025, injuring over 235,000 people, according to preliminary data from the FLHSMV Crash Dashboard, and a large share of those injured people were riding in someone else’s seat.
What if the at-fault driver carries no bodily injury coverage?
This is the trap in Florida passenger claims. The state’s registration minimums are $10,000 in PIP and $10,000 in property damage liability, and bodily injury liability is not required for most private drivers. A driver can be fully legal and still have nothing available to pay your injury claim.
Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage exists for exactly this gap. A passenger may be able to claim UM benefits through the host vehicle’s policy, through their own policy, or through a household member’s policy, depending on the coverage purchased. Our guide to what happens when the at-fault driver has no insurance walks through those options in detail.
Finding every available policy is half the work in these cases. Passengers routinely leave money unclaimed because nobody checked all the coverage layers.
When can an injured passenger recover pain and suffering?
When the injury crosses Florida’s threshold. Under Florida Statutes § 627.737(2), a claim for pain and suffering requires a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.
Economic losses follow a different rule. Medical bills and lost wages beyond what PIP paid can be claimed from an at-fault driver without meeting any threshold. The table below shows how the pieces fit together.
| Payment source | What it covers | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Personal injury protection (PIP) | 80% of medical bills and 60% of lost wages, up to $10,000 | First-line coverage, no fault required |
| At-fault driver’s bodily injury coverage | Full damages, including pain and suffering for qualifying injuries | The driver caused the crash and bought this optional coverage |
| Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage | Stands in for a driver who has no coverage or too little | Purchased on the host vehicle’s policy or in your household |
| Health insurance | Continuing treatment under normal plan terms | After PIP benefits are exhausted |
What should an injured passenger in a Broward County crash do first?
Get examined within 14 days, before anything else. Broward County logged more than 36,000 crashes in 2025, according to preliminary FLHSMV data, and the passengers in those crashes lose PIP benefits to the 14-day rule far more often than drivers do, usually because they assume the driver’s insurance handles everything.
Then preserve the record. Request the crash report, which can take up to 10 days to become available, and decline to give recorded statements to any driver’s insurer before getting advice. Nothing requires a passenger to help an adjuster build the file against their own claim.
Timing matters more when several passengers are hurt, because everyone shares the same policy limits. A Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyer can identify every policy in play, and Dean Levy Injury Law does that review at no charge.
Frequently asked questions
Does the driver’s insurance or my own insurance pay first for a passenger?
Your own PIP pays first if you own an insured vehicle, because personal injury protection follows the person rather than the car. If you own no vehicle, a policy belonging to a relative in your household applies next. Only when neither exists does the PIP on the car you occupied step in. Fault-based claims against the drivers run separately from all of this.
Can I file a claim if the driver was my friend or a family member?
Yes. The claim is presented to the driver’s insurance company, not collected from the driver personally, which is what the policy exists for. One wrinkle: if the driver is a relative you live with, household policy terms can complicate which coverage applies. An attorney can sort that out quickly, and the friendship usually survives the claim better than unpaid medical bills would.
What if both drivers share fault for the crash?
An injured passenger can bring claims against every driver whose negligence contributed, and Florida law divides responsibility between them by percentage of fault. Passengers are almost never assigned fault themselves, which keeps these claims comparatively clean. The exception is conduct like knowingly riding with an obviously impaired driver, which an insurer may raise to reduce a recovery.
Do passengers have to see a doctor within 14 days too?
Yes. The 14-day treatment rule in Florida Statutes § 627.736 applies to anyone claiming PIP benefits, including passengers. Without initial care from a qualifying provider inside that window, PIP medical benefits are generally lost, and the available cap depends on an emergency medical condition finding. Prompt care also documents the injuries for any later fault-based claim.
How long does an injured passenger have to file a lawsuit in Florida?
Two years from the crash in most cases, under Florida Statutes § 95.11(5)(a). Crashes that happened before March 24, 2023 carry the older four-year deadline instead. Insurance negotiations do not pause either clock, so a passenger claim that is dragging near its deadline should be filed to preserve it.
What happens when several passengers are hurt in the same crash?
Every injured passenger claims against the same set of policies, and bodily injury coverage carries per-person and per-crash limits that all claimants share. When three or four people pursue one modest policy, the money can run out before the last claim is paid. Acting early, and identifying every available policy, matters more in multi-passenger crashes than in any other kind.
Talk to a Fort Lauderdale car accident attorney about your passenger claim
Dean Levy Injury Law represents injured passengers across Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, and Lighthouse Point. Dean Levy has practiced Florida personal injury law since his admission to the Florida Bar in 2018, and every case starts with a free consultation on a contingency fee basis. Call (888) 613-3326 or visit the office at 955 South Federal Hwy, Suite 416, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316.
This article is general legal information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Dean Levy Injury Law. Coverage always depends on the policies and facts involved in a specific crash. Consult a licensed Florida attorney about your situation before making any decision based on this information.
