PIP & Med-Pay rules in Minnesota
Minnesota is a no-fault state. After a crash, your own auto policy pays your first medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the collision. The coverage most people call "PIP" appears in the statute as "basic economic loss benefits," and it is mandatory on every vehicle registered in the state.1 The general concepts of no-fault and Med-Pay are covered on the national hub for this topic. This page stays on what is specific to Minnesota: the exact dollar limits, the weekly caps, the deadline your insurer has to meet, and the point where your injuries let you step outside no-fault and sue the driver who hit you.
What your no-fault coverage pays
Every Minnesota auto policy has to carry at least $40,000 in basic economic loss benefits for each person injured in a crash.1 That $40,000 splits into two separate $20,000 pools that do not borrow from each other:
- Up to $20,000 for medical expenses, covering reasonable and necessary care like hospital stays, surgery, doctor visits, chiropractic, and rehabilitation.1
- Up to $20,000 for income loss, replacement services, and funeral costs combined.1
The income-loss benefit replaces 85 percent of your gross wages while you cannot work, capped at $500 per week.1 If you cannot do household tasks you normally handled yourself, replacement services benefits pay up to $200 per week to hire that help.1 When someone dies in the crash, the policy pays up to $5,000 toward funeral and burial expenses, and survivors' economic loss benefits run up to $500 per week.1 Those caps are set in statute, so a policy cannot offer less, though you can buy higher optional limits.
Where Med-Pay fits in a no-fault state
In tort states, Med-Pay is a small optional add-on that covers medical bills regardless of fault. Minnesota already builds that function into mandatory no-fault. The $20,000 medical portion of your basic economic loss benefits is the coverage doing the job Med-Pay does elsewhere.1 A separate, standalone Med-Pay line is not a required coverage here, so when an agent or an out-of-state form uses the term, in practice it points at the medical side of your PIP.
PIP is primary, even over your health insurance
Here is a detail that surprises a lot of injured drivers. Your no-fault benefits pay first, ahead of your health plan. Minn. Stat. § 65B.61 makes basic economic loss benefits "primary" over other sources for injuries that arise out of the use of a motor vehicle.2 So your auto insurer, not your health insurer, covers the first round of crash-related medical bills up to the $20,000 medical limit. The one carve-out is workers' compensation. If you were hurt on the job, workers' comp is primary and no-fault steps back behind it.2
The 30-day payment clock
Minnesota puts a hard deadline on the insurer. Once the company receives reasonable proof of the fact and amount of your loss, it has 30 days to pay that benefit.3 Miss the deadline and the overdue amount starts running simple interest at 15 percent per year.3 That interest is a real penalty, and it matters if a claim stalls. The clock only starts when the insurer actually has your proof, so submit medical bills and wage-loss documentation promptly and keep copies of everything you send.
Whose policy pays
Coverage follows a priority order, so the policy that pays is not always your own. If you are hurt while riding in a car, you generally look to your own policy first, then to the coverage on the vehicle you were in.4 A pedestrian or bicyclist struck by a car draws on the striking vehicle's no-fault coverage first, and falls back to their own auto policy only if the vehicle had none.4 That rule matters if you were on foot: even with no car of your own involved, the driver's PIP can cover your medical bills and lost wages.
When you can sue the at-fault driver
No-fault pays your economic losses, but it does not pay for pain and suffering. To recover those non-economic damages from the driver who hit you, your injury has to clear Minnesota's tort threshold. Under Minn. Stat. § 65B.51, you can bring that claim only if one of these is true: your reasonable medical expenses exceed $4,000 (the statute leaves certain diagnostic and rehabilitative costs out of that total), you have a disability lasting 60 days or more, a permanent injury, permanent disfigurement, or the crash caused a death.5 Meet any single one and the door to a pain-and-suffering claim opens.
If you do clear the threshold, Minnesota gives you six years from the date of the crash to file a personal-injury lawsuit.6 That is a longer window than many states allow, but evidence and memories fade, so a long deadline is not a reason to wait. When you are ready to talk to an attorney, you can find one through the legal directory.
Motorcycles sit outside the system
One Minnesota rule catches riders off guard. The no-fault act defines "motor vehicle" to exclude motorcycles, so a motorcycle policy is not required to carry PIP.7 If you are injured on a bike, you usually will not have no-fault medical and wage benefits from your own motorcycle coverage. Instead you look to the at-fault driver's liability insurance, your own health plan, or optional coverage you added on purpose. Riders who want first-dollar medical protection have to buy it themselves.
The coverage floor around your PIP
For context, Minnesota's mandatory liability limits are 30/60/10: $30,000 for bodily injury to one person, $60,000 per accident, and $10,000 for property damage.8 Every policy also has to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident.8 Those coverages sit alongside your PIP and pay when the other driver is at fault and either has no insurance or not enough to cover your injuries.
If your medical bills are climbing toward the $20,000 no-fault cap, or your insurer is drifting past the 30-day deadline, those are the moments to have the claim reviewed. For a copy of the police report, see Minnesota crash reports. If your car lost resale value after the repairs, that is a separate diminished value claim against the at-fault driver, not something your PIP covers.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
-
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.44, Basic economic loss benefits. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.44
-
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.61, Benefits primary; subtractions; coordination. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.61
-
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.54, Payment of basic economic loss benefits. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.54
-
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.47, Priority of applicable security. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.47
-
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.51, Deductions; tort limitations. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.51
-
Minnesota Statutes § 541.05, subd. 1(5), six-year limitation for personal injury. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/541.05
-
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.43, Definitions (motor vehicle; motorcycle). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.43
-
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.49, Required coverages. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.49