Hunter Duke, Attorney and Chief Operating Officer at WGK Personal Injury Lawyers

You were riding in the car. You didn’t touch the wheel, you didn’t choose the route, and you’re the one who left in an ambulance. An injured passenger car accident claim in Maryland is a claim for medical bills, lost income, and pain, brought by someone who was riding in a vehicle and carries no blame for the crash.

That puts you in an unusual spot. Nobody can pin the crash on you, and more than one insurance policy may owe you money. The hard part isn’t whether you have a claim. It’s working out which insurance company pays, and in what order. Call (410) 837-2144 for a free case review. You pay nothing unless our Maryland car accident attorneys recover compensation for you.

Whose Insurance Company Pays When You Were the Passenger In a Maryland Car Accident

Usually, two policies are in play, and sometimes three. There’s the policy on the car you were sitting in, and the policy on the other car. There may also be your own policy, or a household policy, sitting behind both of them.

You don’t get to pick and choose what coverage you want to go after. Maryland law sets the order those policies pay in, and it limits how many of them you can collect from.

The driver who was giving you a ride

You can make a claim against the person who was driving you if that driver was at fault. Maryland’s insurance regulator says bodily injury liability coverage pays for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering the policyholder is legally responsible for. The coverage “may be applicable to passengers in your vehicle.”1

This is where people get stuck. The driver is often a friend, a coworker, a spouse, or a parent, and nobody wants to sue someone they care about. Remember, the insurance company pays the claim, not the driver out of pocket. The coverage exists for exactly this situation.

Things can be slightly different when the driver is a close family member. Some insurance companies try to deny claims from within the household, and others try to limit coverage for family members to the state minimum requirements, regardless of the policy the insured driver purchased. Maryland has carved out rules to protect families who are involved in collisions. State law requires insurance companies to offer family member liability coverage in the same amount as the policy’s set coverage. However, this only works for policies carrying more than the state minimum.2

Whether it was actually elected depends on the specific policy. That’s a question to answer with the declarations page in front of you. If the family member liability coverage wasn’t added to the policy, you may be limited to $30,000 for bodily injury benefits, regardless of the policyholder’s actual liability limits.

The driver of the other car

If the other driver caused the crash, their liability coverage answers to you the same way. You don’t need to own a car or hold a policy for that to be true, and your claim doesn’t depend on who you were riding with.

In practice, this is where passenger claims stall. “Word versus word” is the insurance companies’ default liability position. Drivers are pitted against one another, each with their own version of what happened and who’s at fault. The insurance companies use this to delay the claims process and avoid paying out unless more substantial evidence is brought forth.

A defendant’s insurance company will also sometimes say it hasn’t been able to reach its own insured, which pushes any decision on fault further out.

Presenting the claim to both

You don’t have to choose which insurance company to pursue before the dust settles and it’s clear who’s at fault. A passenger’s claim can be presented to both drivers’ insurance companies while they argue about liability. Often, that’s the right move.

What you can’t do is collect the same benefit twice. Maryland law says a person may not recover no-fault or uninsured motorist benefits from more than one policy on a duplicative or supplemental basis, with one narrow statutory exception.3

So the sequence matters more than the number of policies. Getting that order right is most of the work on a passenger file in the Maryland car accident claims process.

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How Your Medical Bills Get Paid While the Claim Is Open

The car you were riding in pays first. That surprises most passengers, because people assume they have to wait for a fault decision, or that their own insurance is the starting point.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Benefits

Personal injury protection, or PIP, is a no-fault medical and wage benefit that is on a Maryland auto policy. The statute lists a guest or passenger occupying the insured vehicle as a covered person, so you’re covered by being in the seat, not by being on the policy.4 Limited exclusions apply, for example if you intentionally caused the crash, were in a vehicle you knew was stolen, or were committing a felony, and policies can limit PIP for motorcycles, mopeds and scooters.

Maryland’s priority rule then sends you straight there: the insurance company for the vehicle carrying that coverage pays the benefits to a person injured while occupying it.3

The minimum benefit is up to $2,500 in total. That one amount covers reasonable and necessary medical expenses incurred within 3 years of the crash, together with either 85% of the income an earner lost or essential household services for someone who wasn’t earning when the crash happened.4

It’s one pot, not three. A passenger who missed two weeks of shifts and also has an emergency room bill is drawing on the same $2,500 for both.

Here are three important things to know about PIP benefits and claims:

  • PIP is payable without regard to fault. The insurance company may not raise the premium on the policy because of a claim or payment under that coverage.
  • The insurance company paying it has no right of subrogation, which means it isn’t repaid out of your settlement.5 You keep the benefit on top of whatever you recover from the at-fault driver.
  • PIP benefits can be denied if the claim isn’t filed properly and on time. Contact the insurance company immediately after a crash, ask for the proper forms, and claim your PIP benefits right away to avoid any problems.1 Don’t assume the driver is handling it for you.

PIP isn’t automatic in Maryland. A policyholder can waive it in writing, and the statute says that waiver binds each named insured, each listed driver, and household family members who are at least 16.6

The regulator also describes a middle option, where a policyholder buys the coverage for some people and declines it for others, calling the full version “Full PIP” and the partial version “Limited PIP.”1

Where a guest passenger lands on a waived or limited policy is a question for an attorney reading the actual policy. Call before you conclude you have nothing.

MedPay

Medical payments coverage (MedPay) is a second no-fault layer that pays medical and related expenses for people injured while riding in the vehicle, and most policies require the PIP amount to be used up first.1

Your Auto Policy

If the car you were in didn’t have PIP coverage, your personal car insurance policy becomes the backstop. It’s reduced by any medical or disability coverage that applies to the car you were in and is collectible from that vehicle’s insurance company.3

You can recover PIP benefits from your own policy, even if PIP coverage was waived on the driver’s policy. This is true when you’re the first named insured and haven’t waived it yourself.

What WGK Personal Injury Lawyers Does for a Passenger Injury Claim

Our Maryland car accident lawyers work a passenger file on two tracks at once:

  • Get the no-fault benefits moving now.
  • Build the liability case that decides what the claim is finally worth.

The evidence work starts immediately, because most of it has a shelf life. We send preservation letters to businesses and to state and local agencies, and file public records requests where a government camera might have caught the crash. An investigator goes out for footage, both to prove who caused it and to show how hard the impact was.

Where a signal is in dispute, we request light sequencing data to establish what color each driver had. Police body-worn camera footage often contains the statements people gave at the scene, and it regularly moves a fault determination that the written report got wrong.

From there, we:

  • Collect the records and bills after you’re discharged from treatment
  • Resolve health care liens
  • Build the demand package
  • Negotiate, and
  • File suit when the offer doesn’t match the injury.

Over $100 million recovered for our clients.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

If you’re already getting calls about a recorded statement, or you’ve been told the crash was partly your doing, call (410) 837-2144 before you do or say anything that could potentially hurt your personal injury case.

What to Do When Two Insurance Policies Aren’t Enough to Cover Your Losses

Driver calling for assistance beside a damaged vehicle

Maryland requires every registered vehicle to carry bodily injury coverage of up to $30,000 for any one person and up to $60,000 for any two or more people in one accident.7

The Motor Vehicle Administration states the same minimums in plain terms, adding $15,000 for property damage.8

Now put four injured people in one car. Each of them has a separate legal claim, and Maryland’s cap on non-economic damages applies separately to each direct victim of the wrongdoing.9

But all four are reaching into the same $60,000 per-accident limit on a minimum policy. Separate claims, one shared pool. That’s the math that leaves seriously hurt passengers underpaid, and it’s why the order of the claims matters so much.

Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

When those limits run out, another door opens. Maryland’s uninsured motorist statute treats a vehicle as an uninsured motor vehicle when the total liability limits have been reduced, by payments to other people from the same crash, below the amount of your own coverage.10

That’s written for exactly this situation. Once the at-fault driver’s policy is exhausted, your own uninsured motorist claim is the next source.

In Maryland, standard underinsured coverage offsets rather than adds. The regulator puts it plainly: if you and the other driver both carry the minimum, “the amounts can’t be ‘stacked,'” and the most you can be paid by both insurance companies together is the maximum of your own coverage.11

In practice, this means:

  • If the at-fault policy coverage is $30,000 and your underinsured coverage is $30,000, your maximum benefit is $30,000.
  • If the at-fault policy coverage is $30,000 and your underinsured coverage is $100,000, your maximum benefit is $100,000.
  • If you purchased enhanced coverage for $30,000, your maximum benefit is $60,000 because it stacks on the underinsured driver’s policy.11

Ultimately, it all depends on the coverage you purchased when you bought your car insurance policy. Check the declarations page or bring it to our car accident attorneys in Maryland, because the difference is real money.

Maryland’s Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund

Some passengers have no policy of their own and no household policy to fall back on. Maryland’s Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund is a state fund of last resort for people hurt by an uninsured driver with nowhere else to turn. The statute sets a ceiling rather than a starting point: the maximum payable from the Fund for one accident is $30,000 for injury to or death of one person.12

Read that as a limit, not a floor. The identical $30,000 figure appears twice in this section for two unrelated reasons: as the per-person minimum a Maryland driver must carry, and as the most the Fund will ever pay one person. Those are different rules, and they don’t add together.

Two eligibility points decide whether the Fund is even available. A claimant who already has uninsured motorist coverage on a policy is excluded, because the Fund exists for people with no other route.13

So is a claimant who was riding in an uninsured vehicle owned by the claimant or by a household family member.13

That second one catches people who had no idea the family car had lapsed.

When to Call a Car Accident Lawyer After You’re Hurt as a Passenger in a Maryland Crash

You need to prioritize two things after you’re injured as a passenger in a Maryland car accident:

  • Calling an attorney before you give the insurance company a recorded statement, and
  • Seeking medical attention before you do anything else.

Those two decisions shape the claim more than anything that happens later.

Treatment timing is the most common way a strong passenger claim loses value.

Insurance companies also try to take a recorded statement before you’ve talked to a car accident lawyer. The problem isn’t that you’d lie. It’s that saying “I’m not really in pain,” when you’re in shock on day one becomes the insurance company’s devaluation tool when your neck seizes up on day four.

At WGK Personal Injury Lawyers, we know how to protect you from these tactics and what other tactics the adjuster might try to hurt your claim.

There are two things that can hurt passenger claims, in particular.

The first is property damage. Minimal property damage is used to attack the connection between a modest-looking crash and a real injury.

The second is a crash involving a phantom vehicle. When a driver claims another car forced the collision and then disappears, that phantom vehicle creates real problems for an uninsured motorist claim. Knowing how to document a collision with a car that didn’t leave a trace is a challenge our Maryland car accident lawyers know how to handle well.

Passenger Claims We Handle

Every passenger’s story is different. At WGK Personal Injury Lawyers, we have decades of experience representing all types of passengers across a wide range of auto accident cases, including:

  • Rideshare accidents: A rideshare passenger’s claim against Uber or Lyft can run against the Uber driver’s policy as well as coverage held by the rideshare companies themselves.
  • Child crash victims: Coverage analysis for child injury claims is the same, but the deadline isn’t, and a court has to approve how settlement money is held for a minor.
  • Uninsured drivers and hit and run accidents: The at-fault driver had no insurance, or left the scene. Uninsured motorist coverage and the Fund both come into play.
  • Commercial vehicle accidents: A commercial vehicle was involved in the collision, which means larger policies, more defendants, and a faster evidence clock.
  • Catastrophic injuries: The injury is severe. Head injuries in particular get missed on day one, which is why traumatic brain injury claims and catastrophic injury claims are handled differently from the start.

Coverage can be complicated, depending on your age, what car you were in, and who else was involved in the crash. Our Baltimore car accident lawyers can help you understand your rights and pursue the benefits you need to pay for medical care, make up for missed paychecks, and compensate for harder-to-value life struggles after your wreck. Call us for a free consultation.

Damages an Injured Passenger Can Recover

Maryland sorts a personal injury award into two categories, and the statute is specific about what’s in them.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are defined as loss of earnings and medical expenses. At trial the fact-finder has to itemize the award, breaking out past medical expenses, future medical expenses, past loss of earnings, future loss of earnings and non-economic damages separately.14

Wage loss is often the piece a passenger feels first. On the no-fault side, PIP pays 85% of the income you lost within 3 years of the crash, and the statute’s definition of income is broad: wages, salaries, tips, commissions, professional fees, and earnings from a business or farm you own.4

Tipped work and self-employment count, too. Remember that this benefit lives inside the same $2,500 ceiling. The wage loss beyond it belongs to the claim against the at-fault driver.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are broader than most people expect. The statute covers “pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium, or other nonpecuniary injury.”9

Pain and suffering damages cover both the physical pain and the limitations and restrictions in daily life caused by the injury. The second half is what adjusters and jurors actually use to value a claim, so the things you can no longer do belong in the file alongside the medical records.

One category belongs to passengers more than anyone. Maryland recognizes pre-impact fright as a damages category, meaning the awareness that a collision is about to happen and can’t be prevented. A passenger is, by definition, the person who couldn’t steer or brake.

Note: Maryland caps non-economic damages in all personal injury cases. The binding date is when the crash happened, not when you file or settle. A jury is never told the limit exists, and the court applies it after the verdict.9

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if both drivers blame each other?

Your claim doesn’t wait for a winner. A passenger’s claim can be presented to both drivers’ insurance companies while they argue about fault. Maryland’s contributory negligence rule is what makes each driver dig in, because a driver even slightly at fault recovers nothing.15 Expect a “word versus word” liability position from both sides, and expect evidence rather than argument to break the tie.

As a passenger, this rule doesn’t mean much for you in terms of your ability to recover compensation. What it does is govern the fight between the two drivers, and because a driver even slightly at fault recovers nothing, each of them has every reason to keep blaming the other.

Your claim can sit still while that plays out.

The insurance company says I wasn’t wearing a seat belt. Does that end my claim?

No. Maryland law says failure to use a seat belt may not be considered evidence of negligence or contributory negligence, may not limit the liability of a party or an insurance company, and may not diminish your recovery.16 In an ordinary injury case it can’t even be mentioned at trial. Maryland does require rear passengers 16 and over to be belted, but non-use cannot be used against your claim.

How long do I have to file?

Three years from the date the claim accrues, under Maryland’s general limitations statute. Waiting for the drivers to sort out fault between themselves doesn’t pause that clock. One exception runs the other way: claims involving a local government body require written notice much sooner than three years, so raise that possibility with an attorney as early as you can.

My child was the passenger. Is the deadline different?

Yes. Maryland measures a minor’s own claim from when the disability is removed rather than from the crash, and the action must be filed within the lesser of 3 years or the applicable limitations period after that date. That isn’t the same as an open-ended deadline, and the arithmetic depends on the child’s circumstances. Generally speaking, a child has until their 21st birthday to pursue damages for injuries they suffered as a passenger in a car accident.17 However, get the specific date confirmed rather than working it out yourself.

Will my claim raise my friend’s insurance rates?

Recovering PIP benefits won’t affect the policy. Maryland law says the insurance company may not increase the premium on the policy because of a claim or payment made under that coverage. The liability side is a separate question, and how an insurance company rates a policy after a liability payment is up to that company. So one part is protected by statute and the other isn’t.

Do I have to pay the medical benefits back out of my settlement?

No. Maryland law says the insurance company providing PIP has no right of subrogation and no claim against another person or insurance company to recover what it paid. You keep that benefit on top of whatever you recover from the at-fault driver. That surprises people who’ve had health insurance claw money back out of a settlement, but the PIP rule is different and it’s written into the statute.

What if I don’t have my own car insurance policy?

You’re still covered as a passenger. The PIP statute names a guest or passenger occupying the insured vehicle as a covered person, and the at-fault driver’s liability coverage answers to you no matter what you own. If the at-fault driver had no insurance and you have no household policy, Maryland’s Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund pays a maximum of $30,000 per person. Read that figure as a ceiling, not a starting point.

What does it cost to have a lawyer handle a passenger claim?

Nothing up front. The fee is 33.3% of the gross settlement before a lawsuit is filed. The fee increases to 40% once a lawsuit is filed, whether or not the case goes to trial. When there is a recovery, the case costs we advanced are reimbursed to us out of the gross settlement. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no costs.

Where does a passenger injury claim get filed?

Most passenger claims settle without a lawsuit.

Which court depends on the size of the claim. A claim of $5,000 or less belongs to Maryland’s District Court alone, a claim over $5,000 and up to $30,000 may be filed in either the District Court or the Circuit Court at your election, while a claim above $30,000 goes to the Circuit Court.18

How long does a passenger claim take?

The real drivers are whether the offer is reasonable, whether liability is being challenged, and how fast the evidence can be preserved.

Schedule a Free Consultation With a Maryland Passenger Injury Lawyer

You were the one person in that car who couldn’t have prevented any of it. Start by getting the no-fault benefits moving, and by putting someone between you and the adjusters.

WGK Personal Injury Lawyers has been fighting insurance companies for Maryland families for nearly 50 years. Our attorneys bring nearly 100 years of combined attorney experience to the cases we handle. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Maryland generally gives you three years to file, and a claim touching a local government body can require notice far sooner. Call (410) 837-2144 or use our contact form to start a free case review today.

This content is marketing material and is not legal advice. Every case is unique and laws change frequently. Please contact our office to speak with an attorney about your specific situation before making any legal decisions.

This page answers the question a passenger actually asks. If you want the broader rules on Maryland car accident claims, that’s a separate page. So is the narrower question of passenger conduct and fault, which is a different problem from the one here.

Sources

  1. Maryland Insurance Administration, A Consumer Guide to Auto Insurance, retrieved 2026-09-11. Bodily injury liability coverage may apply to passengers in the policyholder’s vehicle (page 16); PIP may be denied if not properly and timely filed (page 13); medical payments coverage pays for people riding in the vehicle and generally requires PIP to be exhausted first (page 15); Full PIP and Limited PIP elections (page 17). https://insurance.maryland.gov/Consumer/Documents/publications/autoinsuranceguide.pdf
  2. Maryland Code, Insurance § 19-504.1, 2026. Requirement that an insurance company offer family-member liability coverage equal to nonfamily coverage, limited to policies whose liability coverage exceeds the Transportation Article § 17-103 minimum. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/19-504.1.pdf
  3. Maryland Code, Insurance § 19-513, 2026. Priority rule directing the insurance company for the occupied vehicle to pay personal injury protection benefits; the injured person’s own policy pays where the occupied vehicle carries none; bar on recovering the same benefits from more than one policy on a duplicative or supplemental basis. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/19-513.pdf
  4. Maryland Code, Insurance § 19-505, 2026. Personal injury protection covers a guest or passenger occupying the insured vehicle; minimum benefit of up to $2,500 in total covering expenses incurred within 3 years together with either 85% of lost income for an earner or essential-services reimbursement for a person not earning income; broad statutory definition of income. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/19-505.pdf
  5. Maryland Code, Insurance § 19-507, 2026. Personal injury protection benefits payable without regard to fault, no premium increase because of a claim or payment under the coverage, and no right of subrogation. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/19-507.pdf
  6. Maryland Code, Insurance § 19-506, 2026. Written waiver of personal injury protection and the individuals a waiver binds: each named insured, each listed driver, and household family members at least 16 years old. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/19-506.pdf
  7. Maryland Code, Transportation § 17-103, 2026. Required security of up to $30,000 for any one person and up to $60,000 for any two or more persons for bodily injury or death, plus a separate $15,000 requirement for property of others. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gtr/17-103.pdf
  8. MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration, Auto Insurance Requirements in Maryland, 2026. Consumer statement of the state minimum liability coverage: $30,000 bodily injury per person, $60,000 bodily injury per accident, $15,000 property damage. https://mva.maryland.gov/vehicles/Pages/insurance-requirements.aspx
  9. Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 11-108, 2026. Statutory definition of non-economic damages; the annual $15,000 increase applying to causes of action arising in each closed October-to-September window; the limitation applies to each direct victim of tortious conduct; a jury may not be informed of the limitation. The current-year dollar figures are derived from the statute’s arithmetic, not quoted from it. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gcj/11-108.pdf
  10. Maryland Code, Insurance § 19-509, 2026. Definition of an uninsured motor vehicle, including a vehicle whose applicable liability limits have been reduced by payments to other people from the same occurrence below the amount of the claimant’s own coverage. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/19-509.pdf
  11. Maryland Insurance Administration, Consumer Advisory: Enhanced Underinsured Automobile Insurance Coverage, retrieved 2026-09-11. Standard uninsured and underinsured coverage amounts cannot be added together, plus the worked bodily-injury rows showing $30,000 against $30,000, $30,000 against $100,000, and $30,000 against $30,000 of enhanced coverage. https://insurance.maryland.gov/Consumer/Documents/publications/Consumer-Advisory-Enhanced-Underinsured-Automobile-Insurance-Coverage.pdf
  12. Maryland Code, Insurance § 20-602, 2026. Maximum amount payable from the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund arising from one accident: $30,000 for injury to or death of one individual, $60,000 for more than one, and $15,000 for property damage, with deductions for amounts received from any other source. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/20-602.pdf
  13. Maryland Code, Insurance § 20-601, 2026. Definition of a qualified person for Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund claims, the exclusion for an insured who already has uninsured motorist coverage, and the exclusion for a claimant riding in an uninsured vehicle owned by the claimant or a household family member. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gin/20-601.pdf
  14. Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 11-109, 2026. Definition of economic damages as loss of earnings and medical expenses, and the required itemization of a personal injury verdict into past and future medical expenses, past and future loss of earnings, non-economic damages and other damages. The itemization list contains no vehicle or property category. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gcj/11-109.pdf
  15. Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia (2013). Declines to replace contributory negligence with comparative fault. The quoted formulation, barred from all recovery regardless of the quantum of a defendant’s primary negligence, is from Harrison v. Montgomery County Board of Education (1983), as reproduced in Coleman. https://www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinions/coa/2013/9a12.pdf
  16. Maryland Code, Transportation § 22-412.3, 2026. Failure to use a seat belt may not be considered evidence of negligence or contributory negligence, may not limit liability and may not diminish recovery; reference to a seat belt is barred at trial outside seat-belt-defect cases; rear-seat passengers 16 and over are required to be restrained. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gtr/22-412.3.pdf
  17. Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 5-201, 2026. Where a cause of action accrues in favor of a minor or mental incompetent, the action must be filed within the lesser of three years or the applicable limitations period after the date the disability is removed. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gcj/5-201.pdf
  18. Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 4-401 and § 4-402(d), (e), 2026. District Court exclusive original civil jurisdiction over contract and tort actions where the debt or damages claimed do not exceed $30,000, exclusive of interest, costs and recoverable attorney’s fees; the plaintiff’s election between the District Court and a trial court of general jurisdiction once the amount in controversy exceeds $5,000; the $25,000 amount-in-controversy threshold for demanding a jury trial; and the transfer of jurisdiction on a timely demand. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gcj/4-401.pdf and https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026rs/Statute_Web/gcj/4-402.pdf