PIP and Med-Pay rules in Utah

Utah runs a no-fault car insurance system, so the first medical bills after a crash get paid by your own policy before anyone settles who was at fault.¹ That coverage is personal injury protection, or PIP, and Utah requires it on nearly every passenger vehicle policy in the state.² Med-Pay, short for medical payments coverage, is a separate and optional layer some drivers add on top. If you were just hurt in a crash, the practical questions tend to be the same three: who pays my medical bills now, how fast, and when can I go after the driver who hit me. Here is how Utah answers each.

What Utah PIP actually pays

Every required PIP policy has to cover at least $3,000 per person for the reasonable value of necessary medical, surgical, dental, hospital, nursing, rehabilitation, and ambulance services.³ That $3,000 is a minimum. You can buy more, and many people should. PIP also pays several benefits drivers forget they carry:

• Lost income: the lesser of $250 per week or 85% of your gross income and lost earning capacity, for up to 52 consecutive weeks. It doesn't start for the first three days unless you're disabled longer than two consecutive weeks.³
• Household services: up to $20 per day for as many as 365 days, to hire help for tasks you would normally do yourself, under the same three-day rule.³
• Funeral, burial, or cremation costs up to $1,500 per person.³
• A death benefit of $3,000 paid to the person's heirs.³

PIP pays from the first dollar, without a deductible, which is why it usually pays before your health insurance does.

It pays no matter who caused the crash

Because Utah is a no-fault state, your PIP benefits apply whether you caused the wreck or the other driver did.² The coverage follows people as well as the vehicle. Your policy's PIP covers you as the named insured, relatives who live in your household, and passengers hurt while riding in the insured car.⁴ A pedestrian or cyclist struck by a car can also tap PIP through the involved vehicle's policy.⁴

There is one large exception: motorcycles. Utah does not require PIP on a motorcycle, off-highway vehicle, street-legal all-terrain vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer, and riders are not covered by PIP for injuries suffered while operating one of those.² If you ride, your medical bills come from health insurance, any optional medical coverage you bought, or the at-fault driver, not from no-fault PIP.

The 30-day clock on PIP payments

Utah puts a deadline on the insurer, not only on you. PIP benefits are overdue if the insurer fails to pay within 30 days after it receives reasonable proof of the fact and the amount of the expense.⁵ If part of your claim is documented and part is not, the documented part still has to be paid inside that 30-day window.⁵ When the insurer misses the deadline, the overdue amount collects interest at 1.5% per month.⁵ Keep copies of every bill and every proof of loss you submit, because that paperwork is what starts the clock.

Where Med-Pay fits in Utah

Since PIP is already mandatory here, Utah drivers hear about Med-Pay less than people in liability-only states. Med-Pay is optional in Utah.¹ It's a first-party medical coverage you add to your policy, and like PIP it pays regardless of fault and without a deductible. The difference is scope: PIP also covers wage loss and household help, while Med-Pay is medical-only. Drivers use it to stretch coverage past the $3,000 PIP minimum, to absorb a health-insurance deductible or copay, or to protect passengers. Motorcycle policies, which can't carry PIP, are one place an optional first-party medical coverage earns its keep.²

The $3,000 threshold that decides whether you can sue

This is the rule that catches people off guard. Utah's no-fault bargain is that PIP pays quickly, but it limits when you can sue the at-fault driver for general damages, meaning pain, suffering, and other non-economic harm. Under Utah Code 31A-22-309, you cannot bring that claim unless your injuries clear one of these thresholds:⁵

• more than $3,000 in medical expenses, or
• death, dismemberment, a bone fracture, permanent disability, permanent disfigurement, or permanent impairment based on objective findings.⁵

Clear any one of them and the door opens to a full injury claim against the driver who hit you, including the pain and suffering PIP never covers. A single emergency-room visit with imaging can pass $3,000 fast, so many injured people cross the medical-expense threshold without realizing it. A bone fracture clears it outright, no matter the bill.

If you do have a claim against the at-fault driver, Utah generally gives you four years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit.⁶ That's longer than many states allow, though evidence and memories fade, so it isn't a reason to sit on a claim. A Utah car accident attorney can tell you quickly whether your injuries clear the threshold and whether the claim is worth pursuing.

When PIP runs out

$3,000 doesn't stretch far against current medical prices. Once PIP is exhausted, the next payers are usually your health insurance, any Med-Pay you added, and then the at-fault driver's liability coverage. Utah's minimum liability limits are 30/65/25: $30,000 per person and $65,000 per crash for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage, for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025.⁷ If the driver who hit you carries only the minimum, or has no insurance at all, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage becomes the backstop. Utah requires UM and UIM on every auto policy unless you sign a written waiver lowering or rejecting it.⁸

Vehicle damage runs on a separate track from injury coverage. PIP and Med-Pay pay only for bodily injury, so property damage and any diminished value claim go through liability or collision coverage instead. If you need the official crash report to document a claim, you can get it through Utah's crash-report process.

After a Utah crash, the sequence is usually the same: open a PIP claim with your own insurer right away, send proof of your bills, and watch the 30-day clock. Track your total medical spending, because the moment it passes $3,000, or a doctor documents a fracture or a permanent injury, you've cleared the threshold to pursue the at-fault driver for everything PIP doesn't cover.

This is general information about Utah law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Utah Insurance Department, Auto Insurance. https://insurance.utah.gov/consumers/auto/

2. Utah Code § 31A-22-302 (required components of motor vehicle insurance policies; motorcycle and other exemptions from PIP). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S302.html

3. Utah Code § 31A-22-307 (personal injury protection coverages and benefits). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S307.html

4. Utah Code § 31A-22-308 (persons covered by personal injury protection). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S308.html

5. Utah Code § 31A-22-309 (limitations, exclusions, and conditions to personal injury protection; 30-day payment rule, interest, and injury threshold). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S309.html

6. Utah Code § 78B-2-307 (four-year statute of limitations). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/78B-2-S307.html

7. Utah Code § 31A-22-304 (minimum motor vehicle liability limits). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S304.html

8. Utah Code § 31A-22-305 (uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title31A/Chapter22/31A-22-S305.html