Should I use my own insurance if the crash wasn't my fault?

Start with PIP, because it is probably already yours

Texas insurers may not issue an auto policy without offering personal injury protection, and the coverage applies unless a named insured rejected it in writing. Most people do not remember either way, and a large share of Texans are carrying PIP they have forgotten about. We check your policy for it.

Two features make it the right first stop. It is paid without regard to fault, so it does not matter that the other driver caused the wreck, and it is paid without regard to collateral sources, so it is not reduced because your health insurance also paid. It covers reasonable medical expenses and replaces lost income, and it pays in weeks rather than at the end of a claim.

The statute requires insurers to offer at least $2,500 of it, and that minimum is what most policies carry — though you can buy more. It is not going to cover a surgery. It will cover the first imaging and the first month of therapy, which is exactly when people quit treating for lack of money.

PIP versus MedPay — not the same coverage

People use the names interchangeably. The difference shows up at the end, when someone wants paid back.

A Texas PIP carrier generally has no right of subrogation — it cannot claw its payment back out of your settlement. There is one real exception: if the at-fault driver had no financial responsibility on the date of the crash, the PIP carrier does get a claim against that driver.

Medical payments coverage is different. Its reimbursement right is contractual, and Texas courts enforce contractual subrogation language. So MedPay money may well come back out of your recovery. Both are worth using; only one is usually free.

Use your health insurance. Really.

People hold off because the crash "was not their fault," as if using the coverage were cheating. Two reasons that is backwards.

First, the network rate protects you. Texas limits recovery of medical expenses to amounts actually paid or incurred, so a provider billing $40,000 outside any network does not automatically create a $40,000 claim — but it does create a $40,000 bill with your name on it. Running care through your plan converts that into a contracted rate, which is both a smaller debt and a cleaner number.

Second, gaps in treatment are the single most effective argument an insurer has for paying you less. Skipping care to avoid a copay costs you twice: in your recovery and in your claim.

Your plan may assert a reimbursement right at the end. Texas caps what many plans can take, and the older made-whole defense no longer applies — but Medicare, Medicaid and self-funded employer plans sit outside that chapter and follow their own, tougher rules. That is a reason to plan for the payback, not a reason to skip treatment.

UM/UIM, for when their policy is not enough

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage must also be offered and applies unless you rejected it in writing. It covers you when the at-fault driver has no insurance, flees, or carries Texas minimum limits that do not touch your injuries. Depending on the policy language, it can follow you as a passenger in someone else's car and even as a pedestrian.

One thing to know going in: a Texas UIM carrier does not owe benefits merely because you asked. The other driver's liability and your damages have to be established first. That makes UM/UIM slower than people expect, and it is a reason to start it early rather than after everything else has closed.

The rate question, answered precisely

You will hear a flat "using your own coverage will not affect your rates." The actual protection is narrower, and you deserve the real version. A Texas rule prohibits an insurer from refusing to renew a personal auto policy based solely on not-at-fault accidents or claims, with an exception where there are two or more within a twelve-month period. That rule is about non-renewal. It is not a general bar on rating or surcharge.

In practice, using PIP after a wreck you did not cause is routine and rarely the thing that moves a premium. But if you want certainty, we get the answer from your insurer in writing before the claim is opened — and weigh the answer against skipping treatment, which is the more expensive mistake by a wide margin.

Authority: Tex. Ins. Code ch. 1952, subch. C & D (UM/UIM and PIP) · Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 140 (payor reimbursement)