Auto Insurance Claims: Personal Injury claim, bodily injury liability, personal injury claim

Question
I was involved in a car accident on Sept 14th when another vehicle ran a red light. My passenger %26 I were take by ambulance to separate hospitals.  We are lucky with no broken bones or serious injuries. We have cuts, bruises, and a whole lot of muscle pain. The other driver had insurance and I'm going thru the claim process with them.  I notified my insurance carrier of the accident and they advised me I could claim personal injury on my insurance for each person in my vehicle in addition to the pending claim with the other carrier.  Would a personal injury claim on my insurance cause my premium to increase? Should I claim anyway? If so should I claim for me and my passenger?

Answer
PIP coverage generally will not cause your premiums to increase; this is considered no fault coverage.  You should check with your agent to be sure, as each state has different rules, but this is almost definitely the case.

You can use your insurance to pay the medical bills and lost wages, if any.  At the same time you can make a bodily injury liability claim against the other insurer.  This is OK.  It is not considered double-dipping, so don't worry about it.

The claim with your insurer is similar to health insurance - just pays the expenses.

The claim with the other insurer is different.  They are defending their customer against your liability claim.  Since this person injured you, you could sue him/her.  they will try to settle your claim to avoid the lawsuit.  In the bodily injury claim, you will try to agree on a settlement that will include the medical bills, lost wages, pain, suffering, aggravattion, etc.

Do not settle the BI claim until you are fully healed!  You want to make sure you know the extent of any injuries and expenses before you settle.  They will ask you to sign a release in exchange for the settlement, and once you sign, you cannot come back.

Once you are healed, I can help you determine the value of your BI claim.  Send a me a list of the med bills, lost wages, description of injuries, and anythig else that is relevant.  

Your passenger should handle his/her claim same as you do.