PIP and med-pay rules in Texas

Texas is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused your crash, and that driver's insurer, is ultimately responsible for your losses.¹ But that claim takes months to settle, and your medical bills won't wait that long. Personal injury protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage (med-pay) are two first-party coverages on your own policy that pay quickly, no matter who was at fault, while the liability case plays out.

The sheer number of crashes is why this coverage matters. In Austin alone, thatcarhitme.com logged 11,937 reported crashes in 2025, plus 902 in May 2026 by itself.²³ Behind most of those numbers is a driver deciding, often from a hospital bed, how to pay the first round of bills.

Is PIP required in Texas?

Sort of. Texas doesn't require you to carry PIP, but it does require the insurer to put it in front of you. Under Section 1952.152 of the Texas Insurance Code, an insurer may not issue an auto liability policy in the state "unless the insurer provides personal injury protection coverage."⁴ It's built into your policy by default, and it comes out only if you, the named insured, reject it in writing.⁴ A verbal "no thanks" doesn't count.

There's a catch at renewal. Once you reject PIP in writing, the insurer doesn't have to keep offering it on later renewals or a reinstated policy; your written waiver carries forward until you ask for the coverage back in writing.⁴ If you signed a stack of forms years ago and waived PIP then, you may not have it now even if you assume you do.

How much? The law sets a floor for what the company must make available. It doesn't cap what you're allowed to buy. Section 1952.153 says an insurer isn't required to provide PIP "in an amount that exceeds $2,500 for all benefits, in the aggregate, for each person."⁵ So $2,500 per person is the standard default. Most Texas insurers also sell $5,000 and $10,000 options for a modest extra premium, and the higher limit is usually worth taking.

What PIP actually pays for

PIP is broader than many drivers realize. Section 1952.151 covers reasonable expenses that arise from the crash and are incurred within three years of it, in three categories: necessary medical, surgical, x-ray, dental, ambulance, hospital, nursing, and funeral services; replacement of income lost by an income producer; and reimbursement for essential services an injured person would normally have done at home, like childcare or housework, when the injury prevents it.⁶

Two things make PIP genuinely useful in the days after a crash. It pays without regard to fault, so you don't have to prove anything or wait for the other side to accept blame.⁷ And it pays without regard to any other coverage, so your health insurance being "primary" doesn't block it.⁷ There's no deductible and no Florida-style 14-day treatment deadline. The statute just gives you three years to incur the covered expense.⁶ Your passengers are covered under it as well.⁸

The part insurers rarely advertise

Here's the rule that catches people off guard. When your own insurer pays PIP benefits, it has no right to claw that money back out of your settlement. Section 1952.155 says an insurer paying PIP "does not have a right of subrogation or claim against any other person or insurer to recover" those benefits.⁹ In plain terms, the $2,500 (or $5,000, or $10,000) that PIP paid is yours to keep on top of whatever you later recover from the at-fault driver. It isn't an advance you pay back.

There is one exception. If the driver who hit you carried no insurance and had no financial responsibility on file the day of the crash, your insurer can pursue that driver to recover what it paid you.⁹ That reaches the uninsured motorist, not you.

PIP vs. med-pay

Med-pay is the leaner option. The Texas Department of Insurance describes medical payments coverage as paying "your and your passengers' medical bills," including when you're hurt as a pedestrian or while riding in someone else's car.⁸ What it does not do is replace lost wages or cover household services. PIP does both.⁸

Med-pay is also fully optional in Texas. An insurer isn't required to offer it the way it must offer PIP.⁸ Some carriers sell it as an add-on, others as an alternative to PIP, and the two overlap on the medical piece. If you're weighing them, PIP's wage and services benefits usually make it the stronger buy, with med-pay useful as a supplement for extra medical-only limits.

How PIP fits with the rest of your claim

PIP and med-pay are a head start. They rarely cover the whole recovery. Because Texas keeps fault in the system, you still have the right to pursue the at-fault driver for what your first-party coverage didn't reach: the remaining medical bills, full lost earnings, pain, and vehicle damage.¹

A few Texas numbers shape that larger claim. The minimum liability an at-fault driver must carry is 30/60/25, which means $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per crash, and $25,000 for property damage.¹⁰ When your losses run past those limits, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage fills the gap; Texas insurers must include UM/UIM in every auto policy unless you reject it in writing, the same mechanism as PIP.¹¹ Texas also uses modified comparative fault: you can recover only if you're 50 percent or less at fault, and your award is reduced by your share of the blame.¹² And you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file suit.¹³

If the wreck also cut your car's resale value, that diminished value claim runs against the at-fault insurer and is separate from PIP or med-pay; our Texas diminished value guide walks through it. To pull the official record of your crash, start with the Texas crash reports page. And if the injuries or the coverage math get complicated, you can find a Texas attorney who handles crash claims.

The practical move: look at your declarations page today for a "PIP" or "personal injury protection" line, before you ever need it. If it's there, use it early, because the bills PIP covers are the ones that arrive first. If it isn't, you probably waived it in writing at some point, and you can ask your insurer to add it back.

This article is general information about Texas law, not legal advice for your situation.

Sources

Texas Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance Guide (Consumer Bulletin CB-020). https://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb020.html
thatcarhitme.com, Austin, TX Crash Report, 2025. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/texas/austin/2025-annual-report
thatcarhitme.com, Austin, TX Crash Report, May 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/texas/austin/may-2026-report
Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.152, Personal Injury Protection Coverage Required. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm
Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.153, maximum benefit an insurer must provide. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm
Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.151, Personal Injury Protection Benefits. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm
Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.155, benefits payable without regard to fault or collateral source. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm
Texas Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance Guide (Consumer Bulletin CB-020). https://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb020.html
Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.155, subrogation limits and the uninsured-driver exception. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm
Tex. Transp. Code Section 601.072, minimum coverage amounts. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm
Tex. Ins. Code Sections 1952.101 and 1952.104, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and written rejection. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 33.001, proportionate responsibility. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.33.htm
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 16.003(a), two-year limitations period. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.16.htm

PIP & Med-Pay Rules in Texas