In Florida, the Personal Injury Protection laws pay up to $10,000.00 of benefits, which comprise of medical coverage AND wage coverage. This is generally considered primary coverage in Florida, so the PIP comes first or pays before health insurance, for example. Generally, it pays medical benefits at 80 percent (of a fee schedule) and 60 percent of wages. One key thing to understand is that it generally pays on a FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS. Thus, if you do not submit your wage claim early enough, then the PIP benefits may exhaust (conversely, if you have a PIP deductible and submit your wage claim first, then your wage claim may apply in part or in full to the deductible). If you are at fault, and the PIP benefits exhaust (or if you have deductible and your submit first), then there would be no means to collect your lost wages, absent having some form of disability insurance with your employer. If you are not at fault, and if the other person has bodily injury coverage, you could always make a wage claim against the other insurance company if PIP benefits were exhausted or if your wage claim was applied to a deductible. However, when you make a claim against the other insurance, it will not pay right away or piecemeal; either the insurance company will offer you some form of lump sum settlement when your treatment is concluded or pay a trial judgment. Whereas, if you timely get your wage claim to PIP, it will pay you generally within 30 days from when a properly submitted claim is made and thus it is important to submit is at the best time.
