Car Accident Injury Insurance Basics

In Hawaii, drivers of vehicles are required to have motor vehicle insurance to cover injuries including personal injury protection coverage (commonly called PIP) and bodily injury coverage (commonly called BI). PIP is no fault medical coverage which must provide at least $10,000 for medical bills for the driver and passengers of the covered car no matter who is at fault for the accident. BI coverage must provide at least $20,000 in coverage for personal injury claims brought against the driver for accidents caused by their negligence. With all the harm that can be caused in a vehicle accident, $20,000 is not a lot of money to fairly compensate someone who is significantly injured. However, that is all the bodily injury coverage needed to drive Hawaii’s roadways. In order to protect yourself there are other optional coverages you can buy including uninsured motorist coverage which pays you and your passengers for injuries if someone causes an accident and does not have any coverage, and underinsured motorist coverage which pays you and your passengers for injuries if someone causes an accident and does not have enough coverage to fairly compensate for the injury. Both are relatively cheap to buy. While I have no interest in seeing insurance companies make more money by selling more coverage, it is heartbreaking to see people injured due to no fault of their own who cannot be fairly compensated because the negligent driver had only $20,000 in coverage. Protect yourself and your loved ones if you can.