First Steps for an Injured Passenger in Florida

Attorney Answer

As a passenger you are almost never the one at fault, and Florida gives you a layer of coverage that pays no matter who caused the crash — but it carries a 14-day deadline that catches people who felt fine at the scene. Medical care first, paperwork second, and do both this week.

Personal injury protection is where your medical bills start. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.736(1), a policy that complies with Florida's security requirements must provide PIP to the named insured, to relatives residing in the same household unless excluded, to persons operating the insured motor vehicle, to passengers in it, and to other people struck by it, up to $10,000 in medical and disability benefits and $5,000 in death benefits. As a passenger you sit inside those categories. Which policy actually answers for you depends on whether you have your own auto policy, whether you live with a relative who does, and, failing both, the coverage on the car you were riding in.

The trigger is strict, and it is how passengers most often lose benefits they were entitled to. Under § 627.736(1)(a), PIP pays "Eighty percent of all reasonable expenses for medically necessary medical, surgical, X-ray, dental, and rehabilitative services, including prosthetic devices and medically necessary ambulance, hospital, and nursing services if the individual receives initial services and care pursuant to subparagraph 1. within 14 days after the motor vehicle accident." Fourteen days from the crash — not from the day the stiffness gets bad.

Beyond PIP, whether you can also recover for the human side of an injury is governed by § 627.737(2), which allows damages in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish and inconvenience only where the injury consists in whole or in part of a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability other than scarring or disfigurement, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death. Economic losses — bills and lost wages above what PIP paid — are not gated by that threshold.

Fault matters less to a passenger than to a driver, but it still decides which driver's liability coverage pays and in what share. Florida's shared-fault statute is § 768.81, and which version applies turns on when your crash happened. For accidents before March 24, 2023, Fla. Stat. § 768.81(2) provided: "(2) EFFECT OF CONTRIBUTORY FAULT. — In a negligence action, contributory fault chargeable to the claimant diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as economic and noneconomic damages for an injury attributable to the claimant's contributory fault, but does not bar recovery." Under that version no percentage of fault ended a claim; it only reduced what could be recovered. The Legislature changed that rule in 2023. For accidents on or after March 24, 2023, the statute keeps the proportional reduction and adds subsection (6), under which a party found to be more than 50 percent at fault for their own harm may not recover damages at all. Which regime governs your crash is a question for a Florida lawyer, not one to settle from a page.

What you can do

1. See a doctor within 14 days of the crash, even if you feel fine. Tell them you were in a collision and describe every symptom.

2. Get the crash report number from the agency that responded, and order the report once it is available.

3. Tell your own auto insurer — or the insurer on a household relative's policy — that you were a passenger in a crash, and open a PIP claim.

4. Collect the insurance information for the car you were in and for every other vehicle involved, plus the names and numbers of any witnesses.

5. Keep every bill, every explanation of benefits and a simple written record of the work you miss.

6. Do not give a recorded statement to another driver's insurer before you have advice.

7. Ask a Florida attorney which policies apply to you and in what order — a passenger often has more than one. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. The deadline for a negligence claim is set by Fla. Stat. § 95.11 and keyed to the date of the crash: two years for accidents on or after March 24, 2023, under "(5) WITHIN TWO YEARS. — (a) An action founded on negligence," and the former four-year period for accidents before that date. Your message does not say when the crash happened, so both are possible, and the 14-day PIP window runs far sooner than either. Have a Florida attorney review your real dates. This page cannot compute a deadline.