No-fault insurance (PIP). Every Florida driver must carry $10,000 in personal injury protection. It pays first, regardless of fault, but only 80% of medical bills and 60% of lost income. To unlock the full $10,000, a doctor must find you had an emergency medical condition; otherwise benefits can be capped at $2,500. PIP never pays for pain and suffering.
Stepping outside no-fault.To claim pain and suffering from the at-fault driver, Florida requires a serious injury: a permanent injury, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, or death. That's where most of a serious claim's value is, and where insurers fight hardest.
Uninsured motorist coverage.Florida doesn't require drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage, and many don't. Insurers must offer UM coverage, and you can only go without it if you rejected it in writing. Your own UM/UIM coverage is a contract, and your insurer has to honor it.
Bad faith (Fla. Stat. § 624.155).Insurers must try in good faith to settle claims when, under all the circumstances, they could and should have done so. Before suing for bad faith, you must file a civil remedy notice with the Florida Department of Financial Services describing the violation, and the insurer gets 60 days to cure it. A first-party bad faith claim against your own insurer generally can't go forward until the underlying claim is resolved in your favor. Since 2023, negligence alone isn't enough to prove bad faith, so the record we build from day one matters.