Car insurance claims in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania makes you choose. Under § 1705(a)(1) of the Vehicle Code every insurer must tell each named insured, in writing and at least forty-five days before renewal, that two alternatives exist: full tort and limited tort. A person who elects limited tort keeps the right to be compensated for economic loss caused by another driver’s fault, but unless the injury is a serious injury they are barred from maintaining an action for any non-economic loss, subject to exceptions the statute lists (§ 1705(d)). The election is made once, on the declarations page, and it decides what an accident years later is worth. Check which one you hold before anything else.

Where a claim does proceed in tort, shared fault follows § 7102(a) of the Judicial Code: contributory negligence does not bar recovery where the plaintiff’s negligence «was not greater than» the defendant’s, and damages are reduced in proportion to it. Recovery therefore survives at fifty percent and stops above it. The court deadlines are short and symmetrical: two years to sue for injuries to the person or the death of an individual, and two years for taking, detaining or injuring personal property (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(2) and (3)). Suing your own insurer for first-party benefits is four years from the accident, or four years from the last payment if some were made (75 Pa.C.S. § 1721(a)); a general action on the policy as a written contract also runs four years (42 Pa.C.S. § 5525(a)(8)).

The insurer’s clock is in the Pennsylvania Code and it runs in working days. Within ten working days of notice the insurer must acknowledge the claim and provide the necessary forms and instructions (31 Pa. Code § 146.5(a), (d)). Investigation must be completed within thirty days, and if it cannot be, the claimant is owed a written explanation then and every forty-five days after (§ 146.6). Within fifteen working days of receiving properly executed proofs of loss, a first-party claimant must be told in writing whether the claim is accepted or denied, with the policy provision relied on named in any denial (§ 146.7(a)(1)). One further protection is easy to miss: an insurer negotiating with an unrepresented claimant must give written warning that a time limit is expiring — thirty days ahead for first-party claimants, sixty for third-party (§ 146.7(e)).

On cover, the statutory floor is $15,000 for injury to one person, $30,000 for two or more, and $5,000 for damage to the property of others (75 Pa.C.S. § 1702). Every policy also carries a medical benefit of at least $5,000 (§ 1711(a)), and benefits are overdue if not paid within thirty days of reasonable proof, after which they bear twelve percent a year and can carry an attorney’s fee where the refusal was unreasonable (§ 1716). Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages must be offered, but purchasing them is optional and rejection is made on a prescribed signed waiver (§ 1731); lower limits require a written request (§ 1734). After a crash, the driver must notify the nearest police office immediately by the quickest means if anyone is injured or killed, or if any vehicle needs towing (§ 3746(a)) — a towing test, not a dollar threshold.