If you are receiving medical treatment for injuries caused by a Michigan car accident, the cost of getting to and from that treatment may be part of your No-Fault claim. Michigan medical mileage reimbursement can help cover reasonable transportation expenses associated with accident-related medical care, including travel to doctors, physical therapy, rehabilitation, diagnostic testing, and other necessary treatment.
Medical mileage is easy to overlook because each individual trip may seem small. But someone attending physical therapy several times a week, seeing specialists, undergoing imaging, or traveling long distances for treatment can accumulate substantial transportation expenses over the course of recovery.
Medical transportation expenses fall within Michigan’s broader Personal Injury Protection (PIP) system. For an explanation of the other benefits that may be available after a crash, see our Michigan No-Fault Insurance Lawyer guide.
Legally reviewed by Attorney Koro E. Khamo
Founder & Managing Attorney at Khamo Law
Michigan Bar No. P80994
Does Michigan No-Fault Cover Mileage to Medical Appointments?
Michigan’s No-Fault Act provides PIP benefits for reasonable charges incurred for reasonably necessary products, services, and accommodations for an injured person’s care, recovery, or rehabilitation.
The statutory basis appears in Michigan Legislature — MCL 500.3107.
Transportation that is reasonably necessary to obtain accident-related medical treatment can therefore become part of a No-Fault claim.
The key connection is the medical treatment.
The trip should relate to care, recovery, or rehabilitation necessitated by injuries arising from the motor vehicle accident.
What Medical Trips May Qualify for Reimbursement?
Depending on the circumstances, transportation expenses may arise from trips to:
- Primary care physicians
- Orthopedic specialists
- Neurologists
- Surgeons
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Rehabilitation facilities
- Diagnostic imaging
- MRIs, CT scans, or X-rays
- Pain-management appointments
- Mental-health treatment related to the accident
- Post-surgical follow-up appointments
- Other accident-related medical providers
The fact that a person traveled somewhere after a crash does not automatically make the trip reimbursable.
The transportation should be connected to reasonably necessary treatment or rehabilitation for the accident-related injuries.
What Transportation Expenses Can Be Included?
Medical transportation does not always involve an injured person driving their own vehicle.
Depending on the circumstances and supporting documentation, transportation expenses may involve:
- Mileage for use of a private vehicle
- Parking expenses
- Tolls
- Taxi transportation
- Rideshare transportation
- Public transportation
- Other reasonable transportation required to obtain accident-related medical care
Someone who cannot drive because of an injury may need another person to transport them.
A seriously injured person may require a different form of transportation altogether.
The appropriate documentation will depend on how the injured person travels to treatment.
Is There a Set Michigan No-Fault Medical Mileage Rate?
Michigan’s No-Fault statute does not simply establish one universal per-mile medical mileage rate that applies to every claim.
This is an important distinction because medical-mileage reimbursement is sometimes presented online as though Michigan law sets a single automatic cents-per-mile amount.
The No-Fault Act instead addresses reasonable charges for reasonably necessary care, recovery, and rehabilitation expenses.
The amount an insurer reimburses for private-vehicle mileage can therefore become an issue in the claim.
Do not assume that a mileage rate used for employment, taxes, workers’ compensation, or another reimbursement system automatically establishes the amount payable under a Michigan No-Fault claim.
If an insurer pays mileage at a particular rate, keep the insurer’s correspondence and calculations so you can see exactly how the reimbursement was determined.
How Do You Document Medical Mileage After a Michigan Car Accident?
A detailed mileage log is one of the simplest ways to document medical transportation.
For each trip, consider recording:
- Date of the appointment
- Medical provider or facility
- Address or destination
- Reason for the visit
- Starting location
- Round-trip mileage
- Transportation method
- Parking expenses
- Tolls
- Other transportation costs
If you use a taxi, rideshare service, public transportation, or another paid transportation provider, preserve receipts and electronic confirmations.
Appointment records can also help establish that the transportation corresponded with actual medical treatment.
Example of a Michigan Medical Mileage Claim
Suppose someone is injured in a car accident and begins physical therapy three times per week.
The therapy clinic is 12 miles from the person’s home.
A round trip is therefore approximately 24 miles.
Over several months of treatment, those repeated trips can add up to hundreds or even thousands of miles.
The injured person may also be traveling separately to an orthopedic surgeon, imaging facility, primary care physician, or other provider.
This is why maintaining a mileage log from the beginning of treatment is much easier than attempting to reconstruct months of travel later.
Can Someone Else Drive You to Medical Appointments?
An injury may prevent a crash victim from driving.
For example, someone may be unable to drive because of:
- A leg or foot injury
- Surgery
- Medication restrictions
- A traumatic brain injury
- A spinal injury
- Limited mobility
- A physician’s driving restriction
- Other accident-related limitations
The fact that another person drives the injured person does not necessarily eliminate the transportation expense.
What matters is documenting the accident-related medical trip and the transportation expense being claimed.
Should You Keep Parking and Toll Receipts?
Yes.
Mileage may not be the only transportation expense associated with treatment.
Hospital parking, rehabilitation-center parking, tolls, rideshare charges, taxi fares, and other transportation costs can accumulate during a long recovery.
Keep receipts whenever possible.
A strong medical transportation record can include both the mileage log and supporting receipts associated with the same appointment.
Why Medical Records Matter
The mileage log establishes where you traveled.
Medical records help establish why you traveled there.
For example, if a mileage log shows repeated trips to a physical therapy clinic, the treatment records can help establish that therapy was being provided for injuries arising from the collision.
This connection becomes especially important if an insurance company questions whether particular transportation expenses were related to the accident.
Medical Mileage vs. Replacement Services
Medical mileage and replacement services are different No-Fault benefits.
Medical mileage concerns transportation associated with obtaining accident-related medical care.
Replacement services generally concern ordinary and necessary household services the injured person would have performed but cannot perform because of the accident-related injury.
Examples of replacement services may include household cleaning, laundry, meal preparation, grocery shopping, yard work, or other qualifying household responsibilities.
Learn more in our Michigan replacement services benefits guide.
Medical Mileage vs. Wage-Loss Benefits
Medical mileage is also separate from wage loss.
Medical mileage addresses qualifying transportation expenses related to medical treatment.
Wage-loss benefits address qualifying income an injured person would have earned from work if the accident-related injury had not occurred.
A person recovering from a serious crash may potentially have several different categories of PIP losses at the same time.
Our Michigan wage loss benefits guide explains how work-loss claims operate.
Medical Mileage vs. Attendant Care
Attendant care generally involves assistance or supervision required because of an injured person’s accident-related condition.
Medical mileage concerns transportation associated with treatment.
These categories can sometimes appear together in a serious No-Fault claim, but they address different needs and should be documented accordingly.
What If You Use Uber or Lyft to Get to Treatment?
An injured person who cannot drive may use a rideshare service to attend medical appointments.
If you use Uber, Lyft, a taxi, or another paid transportation service for accident-related treatment, preserve:
- Electronic receipts
- Date and time of the trip
- Pickup and destination information
- Amount paid
- Medical appointment records corresponding with the trip
Those records can help establish both the transportation expense and its relationship to accident-related treatment.
What If Your Medical Provider Is Far From Home?
Some injuries require specialized treatment that is not available nearby.
For example, a patient may need to travel a significant distance for a specialist, surgery, rehabilitation program, or other necessary care.
The longer distance does not automatically make the transportation unrelated to the No-Fault claim.
However, when transportation expenses are substantial, documentation of the medical reason for the treatment and the location of the provider becomes particularly important.
Who Pays Medical Mileage After a Michigan Car Accident?
The insurer responsible for PIP benefits depends on Michigan’s No-Fault priority rules and the circumstances of the accident.
It should not be assumed in every case that the same insurance company will be responsible.
Issues can become more complicated when the injured person is:
- A passenger
- A pedestrian
- A bicyclist
- Uninsured
- Riding in another person’s vehicle
- Involved in a motorcycle accident
- Involved in a commercial or rideshare vehicle accident
Our Michigan No-Fault Insurance Lawyer page explains PIP priority and other No-Fault benefits in greater detail.
When Should You Submit Medical Mileage?
Do not wait until the end of treatment to begin documenting medical transportation.
Maintain the log as the expenses occur and follow the responsible insurer’s procedures for submitting mileage and transportation documentation.
Some insurers may provide their own mileage forms.
Keep copies of everything submitted, including:
- Mileage logs
- Transportation forms
- Receipts
- Appointment documentation
- Emails
- Letters
- Upload confirmations
- Insurer responses
That creates a record of both the expense and the claim for reimbursement.
When Are Michigan PIP Benefits Considered Overdue?
Michigan law generally provides that PIP benefits are payable as loss accrues and become overdue if not paid within 30 days after an insurer receives reasonable proof of the fact and amount of the loss.
See Michigan Legislature — MCL 500.3142.
For medical mileage, that makes complete documentation important.
An insurer cannot properly evaluate an undocumented request that simply states that the injured person drove to appointments.
A mileage log, appointment information, and supporting receipts can provide much clearer proof of the claimed transportation loss.
What If the Insurance Company Denies Medical Mileage?
Medical transportation reimbursement can be disputed for several reasons.
An insurer may question:
- Whether the treatment was accident-related
- Whether the transportation was reasonably necessary
- Whether the trip actually occurred
- The number of miles claimed
- The reimbursement amount
- Missing receipts
- Missing mileage logs
- Whether the correct insurer is responsible
- Whether the claim was submitted within applicable deadlines
The reason for the denial should be identified before determining what needs to be corrected or challenged.
If an insurer has delayed, reduced, terminated, or denied PIP benefits, see our Denied PIP Benefits in Michigan guide.
Deadlines Matter for Unpaid Medical Mileage
Michigan No-Fault claims are subject to statutory notice and recovery deadlines.
MCL 500.3145 contains rules governing actions for recovery of PIP benefits and limitations on recovery of older losses. The statute also contains tolling provisions that can affect the calculation in certain circumstances.
Because mileage expenses accrue as medical trips occur, allowing unpaid transportation expenses to accumulate without addressing them can create avoidable problems.
Keep records of when each expense occurred, when it was submitted, and how the insurer responded.
What Should You Do If You Are Traveling for Accident-Related Treatment?
A simple system can make medical-mileage documentation much easier:
- Start a mileage log immediately.
- Record every accident-related medical trip.
- Record the provider and purpose of each visit.
- Track round-trip mileage.
- Save parking and toll receipts.
- Save Uber, Lyft, taxi, or public-transit receipts.
- Keep appointment records.
- Follow the insurer’s submission requirements.
- Save copies of every submission.
- Document any payment, reduction, or denial.
Consistency is more important than trying to reconstruct the information months later.
Frequently Asked Questions About Michigan Medical Mileage Reimbursement
Does Michigan No-Fault pay mileage for doctor appointments?
Transportation reasonably necessary to obtain accident-related medical care may qualify as part of a Michigan PIP claim when the statutory requirements are satisfied.
Is there a fixed Michigan medical mileage rate?
Michigan’s No-Fault statute does not simply state one universal cents-per-mile rate for every medical-mileage claim.
Can I claim mileage for physical therapy?
Transportation to physical therapy necessitated by accident-related injuries may potentially qualify, depending on the circumstances.
Can I claim parking expenses?
Reasonable transportation expenses associated with accident-related treatment can include more than vehicle mileage. Preserve parking receipts and submit them with the supporting documentation.
Can Uber or Lyft expenses be reimbursed?
Rideshare transportation used to obtain accident-related medical treatment may potentially be included. Preserve the electronic receipt and documentation connecting the trip to the medical appointment.
What should my medical mileage log contain?
At minimum, record the date, provider, destination, purpose of the trip, and round-trip mileage. Preserve related receipts and appointment documentation.
Can someone else drive me to my appointments?
Yes, an injured person may need another person to provide transportation because the injuries prevent driving. Document the trip and the expense being claimed.
What if my insurance company refuses to reimburse my medical mileage?
Determine why the insurer refused payment. The dispute may involve documentation, medical necessity, mileage calculations, PIP eligibility, priority, or applicable deadlines.
How Khamo Law Can Help With a Medical Mileage Dispute
Medical mileage is only one component of a Michigan No-Fault claim, but repeated transportation expenses can become substantial when an injured person requires months or years of treatment.
Khamo Law can review the underlying accident, applicable No-Fault coverage, medical records, mileage logs, transportation receipts, insurer correspondence, and other unpaid PIP benefits.
Our attorneys represent people injured in motor vehicle accidents throughout Metro Detroit and across Michigan.
Talk With Khamo Law About Unpaid Michigan No-Fault Benefits
If an insurance company has failed to pay medical mileage or other PIP benefits after a Michigan car accident, Khamo Law can review the circumstances of the claim.
Call 248-466-0606 or contact Khamo Law for a free consultation.