Full Tort vs. Limited Tort in Pennsylvania: Which Should You Choose?

In Pennsylvania, every driver who buys car insurance chooses between two tort options. Limited tort usually costs less but gives up the right to sue another driver for pain and suffering unless your injury counts as serious. Full tort costs more and keeps that right. Both options still let you recover medical bills and other out-of-pocket losses from a driver who injures you. The choice only changes what you can recover for noneconomic harm such as pain and suffering.

The rules come from section 1705 of Pennsylvania's Vehicle Code, which also sets the exact wording of the notice insurers must give you. Reading that notice before you sign is the single most useful thing you can do.

What limited tort means

Under the limited tort option, you and the household members your policy covers can still seek recovery for all medical and other out-of-pocket expenses caused by another driver. What you give up is the ability to seek compensation for pain and suffering and other nonmonetary damages, unless the injury is a serious injury or one of the exceptions in the law applies.

Pennsylvania defines a serious injury as a personal injury resulting in death, serious impairment of body function, or permanent serious disfigurement. Whether a particular injury meets that standard is a legal question, and it is the point many limited tort disputes turn on.

What full tort means

Under the full tort option, you and covered household members keep an unrestricted right to seek compensation for injuries caused by other drivers. That includes medical and out-of-pocket expenses and also pain and suffering and other nonmonetary damages, with no serious injury threshold.

What makes Pennsylvania unusual is that the threshold is a choice. In New York, for comparison, the Department of Financial Services explains that you can sue another driver for pain and suffering only if you sustained a serious injury as defined in the state's Insurance Law, and every driver is under that rule. Pennsylvania lets each household decide whether to accept a threshold in exchange for a lower premium.

Exceptions that restore full tort rights

The statute lists situations where someone who chose limited tort can still recover as if they had full tort. Under section 1705, that happens when the at-fault driver:

• Is convicted of, or accepts Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition for, driving under the influence in that accident
• Is operating a vehicle registered in another state
• Intends to injure himself or another person
• Has not maintained the financial responsibility the law requires, meaning they were uninsured

A limited tort election also does not limit claims against a business that designs, makes, repairs, or services vehicles over a defect it caused or failed to correct, and it does not apply when you are injured while riding in a vehicle that is not a private passenger vehicle.

What happens if you do not choose

Insurers must send the tort notice, and a policy cannot be issued until you have had the chance to choose. If you do not respond to the first notice within 20 days, the insurer must send a second and final notice. If you still have not responded ten days before the renewal date, the law presumes you chose full tort, and you are charged the full tort premium.

To choose limited tort, you have to sign and return the notice. Once you elect an option, it stays in force on that insurer's policies, including renewals and replacements, until the insurer receives a signed form choosing the other option. Where a policy has two or more named insureds, any one of them can make the election for all of them.

Who else your choice affects

• Your choice generally binds relatives living in your household who are not named insureds on a policy of their own
• If a person is covered by two policies with different tort options, the option of the policy on the vehicle they were riding in usually controls
• An owner of a registered private passenger vehicle who has no insurance is treated as having chosen limited tort
• Someone who owns no registered vehicle and is not covered by any auto policy is not restricted by the limited tort rules

Pennsylvania law also bars insurers from canceling, refusing to write, or refusing to renew a policy based on which tort option you elect.

How to decide

The decision is a trade between a lower premium now and your ability to recover for pain and suffering later. Your notice lists the annual premium for basic coverage under each option, so you can see the exact price difference for your policy rather than guessing. Questions worth asking yourself:

• How large is the premium difference on your own notice?
• Who in your household would be bound by the choice, and how much do they drive or ride?
• Would you be comfortable relying on the serious injury standard if someone else caused a crash that hurt you?
• Do you have other coverage, such as health insurance, that would pay medical bills either way?

Because whether an injury is serious enough to sue under limited tort is a legal question, a licensed Pennsylvania attorney or your agent can explain how the choice applies to your situation. Comparing quotes under both options from more than one insurer shows you what the difference actually costs.

The bottom line

Limited tort trades a lower premium for a restricted right to sue for pain and suffering, with a serious injury threshold and a short list of statutory exceptions. Full tort keeps that right for a higher price, and it is what you get if you never return the form. Look at the premium for each option on your own notice, think about everyone in your household it covers, and make the choice on purpose rather than by default.