What is PIP in NJ?

What does PIP mean in New Jersey?

PIP is the coverage on your own policy that pays you, not the other driver. DOBI says it is sometimes called "no-fault" coverage because it pays your medical expenses no matter who caused the crash.¹

The entity facts, in one place:

• Full name: Personal Injury Protection, part of New Jersey's No-Fault Act in Title 39 of the statutes.
• Two parts: medical expense benefits, plus additional benefits such as income continuation, essential services, a death benefit and funeral expenses.
• Regulator: the Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI). Disputes go to binding arbitration run for DOBI by Forthright.²
• Who carries it: every Standard Policy and Basic Policy. SAIP is narrower: emergency care through the first hospital stay plus certain serious injuries.

The full menu of limits, deductibles and the 2023 ruling on how they stack is on our page about New Jersey PIP limits and medical bills.

What does "per person per accident" mean when several people are hurt?

Each person hurt in the crash is measured against the PIP limit separately; the car does not share one pot. DOBI states the limits as an amount per person per accident.¹

That detail decides real claims. In 2023 and 2024, 27,987 of the 112,966 New Jersey crashes that hurt or killed someone left two or more people hurt, and 7,872 left three or more, our NJDOT count shows. Preliminary 2025 runs at the same pace, 25.5 percent.³

Liability coverage on the cheapest policy works the other way. The Basic Policy's optional $10,000 of bodily injury coverage is one amount for all persons together, as our definition of the NJ Basic auto policy shows.

Is PIP the same as being "not at fault"?

No. PIP is insurance that ignores fault, while "not at fault" is a finding about who caused the crash. That finding only matters for claims against the other driver.

Your PIP pays whether you were 0, 30 or 80 percent to blame. Your fault share does cut what you can take from the other side, under the rule explained in the NJ 51 percent rule in numbers.

Which other NJ insurance rules are built on PIP?

Five other terms only make sense once you know PIP, and most pages treat them as unrelated.

1. The lawsuit option. Every named insured who must carry PIP also has to pick a lawsuit option in writing. See what the verbal threshold means.⁴
2. Who can use the threshold against you. Only a defendant who is eligible for New Jersey PIP-type benefits can invoke it, the NJ Supreme Court held in Zabilowicz.
3. The UCJF. With no auto insurance anywhere in your household, PIP may come from the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, up to $250,000 of medical benefits per person.⁵
4. Health insurance as primary. You can name your health plan to pay first; if that coverage has lapsed at the time of the crash, you owe an extra $750 deductible.⁶
5. Its own court clock. A suit over unpaid PIP runs on a separate timetable, set out in our NJ car accident deadline table.

What does a PIP claim look like in dollars?

On the most common choice, a $250,000 limit with the $250 deductible, your share stops at $1,200 and PIP pays the rest of your medical bills up to the limit.

The reason is the 20 percent co-pay, which DOBI applies only to bills between the deductible and $5,000. So on $30,000 of treatment you pay $250 plus $950, and PIP pays $28,800. On $10,000 the split is $1,200 and $8,800, DOBI's own example.¹

A bigger deductible moves that ceiling up: at $2,500 your share is $3,000. Bills beyond your limit can be claimed from the driver at fault, as our guide to New Jersey no-fault insurance explains.