Michigan Assigned Claims Plan: No-Fault Benefits Without Auto Insurance

You were walking to the bus, biking to work, or riding in the passenger seat of a friend’s car. You don’t own a vehicle, no one you live with has auto insurance, and now the hospital wants to know who will pay. In Michigan, that question often leads to the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan (MACP).

Vahdat Weisman Law auto accident attorneys help people across Michigan apply for, and fight for, no-fault benefits through the Assigned Claims Plan. Call (734) 469-4994 for a free consultation. No attorney fee unless we recover for you.

What the Assigned Claims Plan Is, and What It Is Not

The plan is not state insurance, and you did not buy it. It is a claims system the Michigan Automobile Insurance Placement Facility (MAIPF) must maintain, with costs spread among the auto insurers and self-insurers doing business in Michigan (MCL 500.3171).

MAIPF reviews eligibility and assigns each claim to a private insurer, often called the servicing insurer, which must make “prompt payment of loss” (MCL 500.3175). From then on, an adjuster at that company handles the claim.

Check Your Household First

If you, your spouse, or a relative you live with has a Michigan auto policy, that insurer pays your personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits, even for a crash on foot or on a bike (MCL 500.3114(1); MCL 500.3115). Since 2019, the insurer of the car that struck a pedestrian is no longer next in line.

If no household policy applies, a pedestrian or bicyclist claims through the plan (MCL 500.3115). A passenger in that position does too (MCL 500.3114(4)), with exceptions for people riding in an employer-owned vehicle or certain commercial passenger vehicles (MCL 500.3114(2), (3)). Our pages on pedestrian accidents and bicycle accidents cover the rest of those claims.

Who Can Get Benefits Through the Plan

An injury from a motor vehicle crash in Michigan qualifies if one of these is true (MCL 500.3172(1)):

• No PIP coverage applies to the injury.
• The applicable coverage cannot be identified, such as when a hit-and-run driver is never found.
• Insurers are disputing which of them owes benefits.
• The only identifiable insurer is financially unable to pay.

When insurers disagree about priority, the plan assigns the claim, the assigned insurer pays right away, and the insurers sort out reimbursement in court (MCL 500.3172(6)).

The accident has to happen in Michigan. The Court of Appeals has held that an Ohio crash did not qualify, even for a Michigan resident (Steanhouse v Michigan Automobile Insurance Placement Facility (On Remand), Docket No. 359576 (Mich Ct App, April 11, 2024)). The Michigan Supreme Court heard argument in October 2025 in a case raising the same out-of-state question (Central Home Health Care Services v MAIPF, Docket No. 167421).

Who the Plan Turns Away

Anyone barred from PIP under a policy is also barred from the plan (MCL 500.3173). The main bars, which apply to the person’s situation at the time of the crash, are in MCL 500.3113:

• Willfully driving or using a vehicle known, or that should have been known, to be taken unlawfully
• Owning or registering an uninsured vehicle involved in the crash
• Not being a Michigan resident, unless the person owned a vehicle registered and insured here
• Driving a vehicle as a named excluded operator

A passenger in a friend’s uninsured car, or a pedestrian struck by one, is not barred by the uninsured-owner rule alone.

The Michigan Supreme Court narrowed the unlawful-taking bar in 2026. A driver without a valid license was not disqualified simply because the driving was illegal; the question is whether the vehicle was taken unlawfully (Swoope v. Citizens Insurance Co of the Midwest, No. 166790 (Mich. Mar. 10, 2026)).

A claim containing or supported by knowingly false, material information is a fraudulent insurance act and is ineligible for plan benefits (MCL 500.3173a(4)). A household that opted out of PIP medical, or excluded a person, is generally not routed to the plan except during a 30-day gap after health coverage ends (MCL 500.3114(4)); our PIP coverage levels page explains those choices.

What the Plan Pays, and Where It Stops

Plan benefits are PIP benefits: medical and rehabilitation expenses, attendant care, mileage to treatment, wage loss, replacement services for household help, and survivor’s loss when someone dies.

Medical care is capped at $250,000. Allowable expenses through the plan stop at $250,000 per person for crashes on or after July 2, 2020 (MCL 500.3172(7); DIFS Order 19-049-M). It rises to $2,000,000 for a person hurt during that 30-day gap. The fee schedule that limits provider charges for PIP-covered care also applies.

Wage loss is outside that cap. Work loss pays 85 percent of lost gross income (a 15 percent tax deduction) for up to three years, subject to a monthly maximum of $7,455 for accidents from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027 (MCL 500.3107(1)(b); DIFS Bulletin 2026-20-INS). Replacement services pay up to $20 a day for the first three years (MCL 500.3107(1)(c)).

Other coverage can reduce what the plan pays. Benefits from other sources covering the same loss, such as private health insurance, reduce plan benefits. Medicaid and Medicare are not counted (MCL 500.3172(5)), so the plan pays ahead of them.

When the $250,000 limit is exhausted, health coverage pays under its own terms. You may also sue the at-fault driver for medical expenses above the limit, and for wage loss beyond what PIP pays, without meeting the serious impairment threshold that applies to pain and suffering (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)).

The One-Year Deadline and How to Apply

MAIPF must be notified of the claim within one year after the accident (MCL 500.3174). That is separate from the time limit for any later lawsuit.

The application goes on MAIPF’s claim form with reasonable proof of loss. Within 60 days, MAIPF or the insurer handling the claim must state in writing what proof it needs (MCL 500.3172(3)).

You have a duty to cooperate, which can include an examination under oath and a medical exam. Cooperation is presumed for a complete application, reasonable proof of loss, and attendance at any examination under oath set on at least 21 days’ notice at a reasonably convenient place (MCL 500.3173a(2)).

Once MAIPF makes its initial eligibility decision, it must assign the claim and identify the servicing insurer (MCL 500.3174). Assignment is not approval. An assigned claim can still be denied later as ineligible (MCL 500.3173a(3)).

If the Car That Hit You Was Uninsured or Never Found

A hit-and-run with no identified vehicle, or a crash with an uninsured driver, does not by itself keep you out of the plan. With no household policy, PIP comes through the plan. Our hit-and-run accident page covers the police report and evidence side.

The servicing insurer must pursue responsible third parties (MCL 500.3175). When the vehicle was uninsured, it may recover those benefits, plus costs and attorney fees, from the owner or registrant (MCL 500.3177). Your own claim against an identified driver for pain and suffering and excess economic loss is separate and is generally due within three years (MCL 600.5805(2)). Uninsured motorist coverage, if anyone in your household carries it, is a contract claim governed by the policy (Bianchi v Auto Club of Michigan, 437 Mich 65 (1991)).

If the Plan Denies or Stops Your Claim

MAIPF must give written notice of a denial and the reasons for it (MCL 500.3173a(1)). A claim denied for a household policy that does not actually exist, or for a 3113 bar that does not fit the facts, may be challenged in court.

A suspension differs from a denial. Noncooperation requires MAIPF to suspend benefits until cooperation resumes, and suspension is not a permanent denial (MCL 500.3173a(1); Great Lakes Pain & Injury Chiropractic Center v Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co, Docket No. 357702 (Mich Ct App, July 28, 2022) (unpublished)).

A lawsuit over plan benefits must be filed within the limits in MCL 500.3145 (MCL 500.3174). If notice was given or benefits were paid within the first year, suit can be filed within one year after the most recent expense, but losses incurred more than one year before suit cannot be recovered (MCL 500.3145(1), (2)). That period is paused from the date of a specific claim for payment until a formal denial, as long as the claim is pursued with reasonable diligence (MCL 500.3145(3)). Our no-fault PIP benefits disputes page covers that litigation.

Why Choose Vahdat Weisman Law?

An Assigned Claims Plan case depends on details that are easy to miss: whether a relative in the home has a policy, whether a 3113 bar applies to the person hurt or only to the car’s owner, what proof MAIPF needs, and how the claim against the driver continues after the $250,000 is gone.

From our Livonia office, we represent injured people and their families throughout Michigan. Founding partners Kara E. Weisman and Jordan S. Vahdat have each been honored as Super Lawyers Rising Stars. Our attorneys are members of the State Bar of Michigan and active in the Michigan Association for Justice. We advance case costs, we work in English and Spanish, and we are available 24/7.

Frequently Asked Questions

• I don’t own a car. Who pays my medical bills? If a spouse or relative you live with has Michigan auto insurance, that policy pays your PIP benefits first. If no one does, you apply through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, which pays medical expenses up to $250,000 (MCL 500.3172(7)). The application is due within one year of the crash.
• The car that hit me had no insurance. Can I still get benefits? Usually, yes. The bar for uninsured vehicles applies to the owner or registrant of an uninsured vehicle involved in the crash, not to a pedestrian or passenger (MCL 500.3113(b)). If no household policy covers you, you claim through the plan.
• I missed the one-year deadline. Is my claim over? Notice to MAIPF is due within one year after the accident (MCL 500.3174), and a late claim is at serious risk. Courts have applied the minority and insanity tolling statute to the no-fault notice requirement (Estate of Thomas v Citizens Insurance Co, Docket No. 312702 (Mich Ct App, Nov 13, 2014)), and a household policy you did not know about may carry its own timeline. Have the dates reviewed before you assume the claim is lost.
• Does the Assigned Claims Plan pay lost wages? Yes. Wage loss is a PIP benefit and is not part of the $250,000 medical cap. It pays 85 percent of lost gross income for up to three years, subject to a monthly maximum set by your accident date (MCL 500.3107(1)(b)).

About the Author

Jordan S. Vahdat is a founding partner of Vahdat Weisman Law in Livonia and handles negligence, premises liability, auto accident, and insurance dispute cases. He has been admitted to all Michigan state courts since 2014, practices in the Eastern District of Michigan, and has served as a case evaluator for the Washtenaw Circuit Trial Court and the 15th District Court since 2020. He is fluent in Spanish.

Talk to a Michigan No-Fault Lawyer About an Assigned Claims Plan Claim

If you were hurt with no auto insurance in your household, or the Assigned Claims Plan has denied or suspended your benefits, call Vahdat Weisman Law at (734) 469-4994 or contact us online for a free consultation. Available 24/7, serving all of Michigan, with Spanish-speaking staff.

Dedicated to Justice. Devoted to You. Winning for Your Future.

Reviewed by Jordan S. Vahdat, Vahdat Weisman Law. Last reviewed October 2026.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is unique, and prior results do not guarantee future success.