Passenger Injury Claim: Who Pays, Even When the Driver Is a Friend or Relative

You were riding with someone you trust, and now you’re hurt. If the thought of making a claim against a friend or relative makes you feel sick, that’s a normal reaction.

The short answer: a passenger can claim against whichever driver caused the crash, even a friend or relative, and that driver’s liability insurer usually handles and pays the claim, up to the policy limit. In Michigan, your medical bills and most lost pay usually come first from your own household’s no-fault policy, not from the driver at all (MCL 500.3107(1), 500.3114(1)). This reflects Michigan law as of November 2026.

Hurt as a passenger and not sure what to do about the driver? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

Who can a passenger claim against?

Anyone whose carelessness helped cause the crash. That can be:

• The driver you were riding with, whether a stranger, a friend or a relative.
• Another driver, or both drivers if both made mistakes.
• The owner of the car, in some states. Michigan makes an owner liable for negligent driving done with the owner’s consent or knowledge, and presumes consent when the driver is the owner’s spouse, parent, brother, sister, son, daughter or other immediate family member (MCL 257.401(1)).

Your claim usually runs against bodily injury liability coverage, which “applies to injuries you cause to someone else” (NAIC). Medical payments coverage or personal injury protection (PIP) can also pay for treating a car’s passengers, up to its limit (NAIC). Which comes first depends on whether your state is no-fault.

Does claiming against a friend or relative mean suing them personally?

Usually it starts as a claim with their insurer. If it becomes a lawsuit, the driver’s name is on it, but their insurance is what stands behind it, up to the limit.

The harder part is often the process. You’re dealing with an adjuster who handles claims like this every day, while feeling guilty about making one. That makes it easy to accept too little or miss a deadline. Read how to talk to an insurance adjuster before you give a recorded statement.

In Michigan:

• The driver is the defendant. The insurer can’t be joined as a defendant, and the trial generally can’t mention insurance (MCL 500.3030).
• The insurer takes part. Michigan’s Supreme Court has said, in a business insurance case, that a liability insurer must defend if the allegations even arguably fall within coverage (American Bumper, 1996). The policy sets the exact terms, so your friend should report the crash promptly.
• Limits matter. Michigan liability policies default to $250,000 per person and $500,000 per crash for injuries. A policyholder can choose as little as $50,000 and $100,000 (MCL 500.3009(1), (5), (8)). The limit is the policy’s ceiling, so a judgment above it could fall on the driver. Once a suit is filed, the insurance agreement can be obtained in discovery (MCR 2.302(B)(2)).
• Premiums can change. Michigan insurers must have rating plans with surcharges for substantially at-fault accidents (MCL 500.2111(3)(a)). The law ties that to the accident, not to who made a claim.
• Family status isn’t a shield. Michigan ended spousal immunity and parent-child immunity for ordinary negligence decades ago (Hosko v Hosko, 1971; Plumley v Klein, 1972).

It may help to tell your friend, “This goes through your insurance, and I’m checking what your policy covers.”

Is a passenger ever at fault?

It’s possible, though you weren’t driving. “Fault” means an act or omission that was a proximate cause of the harm (MCL 600.6304(8)). For example, a passenger who grabbed the wheel could be blamed, and the other side might argue that you knew the driver was drunk. Those are illustrations, not rules. It depends on the facts.

What is a household or family-member exclusion?

It’s a clause in an auto policy that removes or limits liability coverage when the injured person is the policyholder or a family or household member. It mainly matters if you’re related to, or live with, the policyholder, but the policy’s wording decides.

States treat these clauses differently. For example, Wisconsin bars policies from excluding people “related by blood, marriage or adoption to the insured” (Wis. Stat. § 632.32(6)(b)1.).

If the driver’s coverage falls short or is missing, your own policy may help. See uninsured and underinsured motorist claims.

Not sure whether an exclusion applies to you? Get a free case review, or compare Michigan lawyers.

What is a guest statute, and does it still apply?

A guest statute limits a non-paying passenger’s right to sue the driver unless the driver’s conduct was especially bad, such as willful or wanton misconduct.

Indiana still has one. It protects a driver from claims by a parent, spouse, child or stepchild, brother, sister or hitchhiker riding without payment, unless the injury came from wanton or willful misconduct. Friends aren’t on that list (Ind. Code § 34-30-11-1). If you were hurt outside Michigan, check that state’s current law early.

What if the injured passenger is a child?

A child has a claim of their own, and adults make the decisions for them. In Michigan:

• PIP. A child is usually covered as a relative in the same household as the policyholder (MCL 500.3114(1)). If parents live apart, ask which household counts. A custody order is only a starting point. Courts also weigh the usual domicile factors and, with joint custody, where the child spends most of their time and sleeps most nights (Frownfelter v Esurance, Mich 2026). Our guide for parents of teen drivers has more.
• A claim against a parent. A child can bring one for ordinary negligence, with the exceptions in Plumley v Klein. The household exclusion above may limit what the parent’s policy pays.
• Who acts for the child. Without a conservator, the court appoints a next friend, nominated by the child at 14 or older, or by a relative or friend if younger (MCR 2.201(E)).
• Settlements. Once a suit is filed, a judge must pass on a settlement’s fairness, and the child usually appears in court. A guardian ad litem is required if the next friend has also made a claim in the suit and will share in it (MCR 2.420(B)). Before a suit, the Estates and Protected Individuals Code governs (MCR 2.420(A)).

In Michigan, which insurer pays a passenger’s PIP?

Usually not the driver’s. Your friend’s policy generally isn’t involved in your PIP unless you’re their spouse or a relative living in their household. As of November 2026, you check in this order:

1. Are you in a special case? A motorcycle passenger follows its own priority list (Michigan motorcycle law). In a vehicle owned or registered by your employer, or your spouse’s or a household relative’s employer, that vehicle’s insurer pays (MCL 500.3114(3), (5)).
2. Was the vehicle carrying passengers as a business? Its insurer pays. But for school and many other buses, taxis and rideshare vehicles, it pays a passenger only if no other policy gives that passenger PIP (MCL 500.3114(2)).
3. Otherwise, your household’s policy pays: one naming you, your spouse or a relative you live with (MCL 500.3114(1)). If you have your own policy, it pays first.
4. No such policy? You claim through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, with medical benefits limited to $250,000 in most cases (MCL 500.3114(4), 500.3172(7), 500.3107c(1)(b)).

Three things can change this:

• Coverage level. For policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, medical coverage follows the level chosen, unless the policyholder opted out (MCL 500.3107c, 500.3107d). See what PIP pays.
• An opt-out. It applies to the household, and generally the plan isn’t a fallback (MCL 500.3107d(5), 500.3114(4)). The Court of Appeals reached the same result in 2026 for a Medicare opt-out policyholder hurt outside a vehicle, a decision that could still be appealed (Van Heusen v MAIPF). Your health coverage comes into play, and the at-fault driver can be liable for allowable expenses without PIP’s limit (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)). After a Medicare opt-out, you have a duty to seek Medicare payment for care from providers that take Medicare (Canty v Mason, Mich 2026).
• Living outside Michigan. Non-residents generally can’t get PIP unless they own a vehicle registered and insured in Michigan (MCL 500.3113(c)).

In Michigan, what can a passenger claim from the at-fault driver?

PIP doesn’t pay everything. No-fault keeps these claims against a driver:

• Pain and suffering, only if the crash caused death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement (MCL 500.3135(1)). See how the threshold works.
• Economic losses above PIP’s limits, including future medical costs and lost pay, reduced by income taxes you would have paid (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)). For example, with a $250,000 PIP limit and $400,000 in care, the other $150,000 can be claimed.
• Economic losses for non-residents, but they must meet the same injury threshold (MCL 500.3135(3)(d)).

Our guide to Michigan car accident claims covers these in depth.

What are Michigan’s deadlines for a passenger?

Don’t rely on a child’s age to extend PIP notice. For other situations, see Michigan’s injury deadlines.

What to do next

1. Get medical care, and keep every bill and record.
2. Give written PIP notice to the right insurer, or the Assigned Claims Plan, and keep a copy.
3. Get the facts on coverage: the driver’s insurer, the policy limits and whether any exclusion applies.
4. Hold off on releases and recorded statements to the driver’s insurer until you know how badly you’re hurt.
5. Get a free case review. Tell us what happened in four quick questions, or compare Michigan lawyers. Read how injury lawyers get paid, and get any fee agreement in writing.

What waiting can cost

• Your PIP claim. Without written notice or a payment within a year of the crash, you can lose the right to sue for PIP benefits (MCL 500.3145(1)).
• Your claim against the driver. After three years it’s generally too late (MCL 600.5805).

What a good outcome looks like

Your bills go to the right insurer while you heal. If you were badly hurt, the driver’s insurer answers for what your own coverage doesn’t, and your friend or relative isn’t left carrying it alone where the policy covers it. From feeling you must choose between your recovery and someone you care about, to knowing who actually pays, what the policy covers and how long you have.

For more, see our car accident lawsuit guide and all our car, truck and motorcycle accident guides.

Updated November 9, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.