Can You Retrieve Lost Wages After a Car Accident in Miami?

Miami has some amazing atmosphere. It has beaches, great food, shopping opportunities, clubs, and bars. You can visit museums, enjoy sunbathing and swimming, or check out a Heat or Marlins game if they’re in town.

You may notice that Miami has some heavy traffic during rush hour, though. If you drive through the city’s most crowded areas, you should know your way around, or you might get into some bumper-to-bumper traffic jams, especially during the tourist season. You might also get into a vehicular collision, and then you must contact the police and your insurance company.

If you’re in a Miami car accident, you might wonder whether you can retrieve lost wages if you miss work for a while. You’ll discuss that in the following article.

Florida PIP

First, we’ll mention Florida PIP since that matters in these instances. PIP means personal injury protection. It’s no-fault insurance coverage that all Florida residents must have. Some drivers grumble when they get it, but it comes in handy if they ever hit another vehicle.

Florida PIP benefits get you 60% of lost wages. That means if a vehicle hits your car in Miami, you can get back some of the money you’ll lose while recovering. However, you won’t get it all back.

PIP will assist you because it’s in place whether the other driver caused the accident or you did. Some states require it, while others do not.

You must seek medical treatment within 14 days after the accident, though. Otherwise, you can’t get the benefits that PIP insurance affords you.

Florida Drivers Must Have Minimum PIP Insurance Policies

If you are a Miami driver, you need PIP insurance. You must also have a minimum amount. If you don’t, and you hit another driver, you can pay serious penalties and even lose your license in some cases. That’s normally a judge’s decision.

You must have at least a $10,000 policy, though you can have a more expensive one. That amount should cover all the PIP benefits that the law demands, plus medical bills.

What if Your Medical Bills Cost Over $10,000?

$10,000 sounds like a lot of money. However, you might burn through that quickly if you injure yourself in a car accident, though. Maybe you need surgery, or you need some equipment following the crash, like a wheelchair, a cane, or a neck brace. Perhaps you also need an MRI or some X-rays.

If so, you can quickly exceed that $10,000. If that happens, you will have nothing left that covers your lost wages.

You can get around this, though. You can purchase a policy that is worth more. Maybe you won’t like paying more, but that policy can help you tremendously if you get into a vehicular collision in Miami and must miss some work. You might get a policy worth double the minimum or more.

What About Suing the Other Driver?

PIP insurance helps you after a crash that you caused since it’s no-fault insurance. What about suing the other driver, though? Is that a viable option?

You can sue another driver over income loss following a car wreck in Miami. If you do this, though, you must prove the other driver caused the crash. You should hire a skilled personal injury lawyer and get their help.

They can tell you some strategies you can pursue that should prove the other driver harmed you. You can use traffic camera or store camera footage if any exists. Maybe someone’s smartphone camera caught the crash as well if you’re lucky.

You must also show medical documents or any other proof that the crash hurt you so that you must miss work. Maybe you can’t resume working like you could before, at least not for several weeks or months. While you’re out of action, you might get money from the at-fault driver, but only by getting a jury’s decision in your favor.

You Might Also Get a Settlement Offer

You can also get a settlement offer if the other driver feels that’s prudent. If that happens, you can accept or reject it. You might reject it if the other driver isn’t offering you enough. Maybe they will try lowballing you with their first offer.

To convince the jury you should get a judgment in your favor that covers your lost wages, you must establish the crash harmed you. Then, you must show medical documentation that states explicitly that you can’t work. 

You also need proof of your gross income. That will show how much the at-fault driver should pay for your missed time.

You can show the previous year’s tax return that states how much you made. You might also show your W-2. You can show pay stubs, especially if you make the same weekly or monthly amount.

If you can also show an employer’s statement verifying your wages, that should help. All this establishes not just that the other driver should pay you, but exactly how much.

You Can Sometimes Recover Lost Wages

If you get in a car wreck in Miami, you can often recover your lost wages. Some come from your PIP insurance. If you caused the accident, though, and you only have a $10,000 policy, you might recover no wages. If your medical bills exceed that amount, and you caused the accident, you can’t sue the other driver.

If the other driver caused the accident, you’re in better shape financially. That’s because you can sue and use the documentation that we mentioned to convince a jury you should get damages.

If you can recover eventually, you can resume work, and you’ll put this unpleasant experience behind you. If the crash severely injured you, though, you may get a large payout from the at-fault driver. 

Maybe they took your career away. If you can get that compensation, you might still feel unhappy because you sustained a permanent injury, but at least you have the money you sorely need.