Does PIP cover lost wages?

PIP covers 60 percent of lost gross income and loss of earning capacity, along with reasonable replacement services where you can't perform ordinary tasks.

The limit is shared. Wage benefits and medical benefits both draw on the same $10,000, so wage loss reduces what remains for treatment. In a case with significant time off work, wage payments can consume the benefit quickly.

Documentation is the practical obstacle. Insurers require a disability slip from a treating provider stating you can't work, and wage verification from your employer. Missing either stops payment.

For self-employed people it's harder. Tax returns, profit and loss statements, invoices, and evidence of work turned away all become relevant, and these claims are routinely underpaid because the documentation is harder to assemble.

What to do: get the work restriction in writing from your provider at the time, not retroactively. Keep records of every day missed and every appointment.

The remaining 40 percent, and any wage loss beyond the limit, becomes part of a claim against the at-fault driver.