“Who Pays for My Treatment?” | How the PEI Auto Insurance System Works After a Crash

A man wearing a knee brace goes through papers at a picnic table while his wife laughs beside him, red soil fields behind them.

After a crash on Prince Edward Island, your own insurer pays for treatment and part of your lost income through Section B accident benefits, whoever caused the collision. Medical and rehabilitation costs are covered to $50,000 for four years, written notice is due within 30 days and proof of claim within 90. A separate claim against the at-fault driver can follow, and for sprains, strains and whiplash that claim is capped at $9,659 for pain and suffering in 2026.

The PEI auto system runs in two lanes. One pays for your recovery now. The other settles who was responsible later. Knowing which lane you are in, and which dates belong to it, is most of what you need in the first weeks.

What does Section B pay on Prince Edward Island?

Section B is the accident benefits part of the standard Island auto policy. It covers drivers, passengers and people on foot or on a bike who are insured under the policy, and it pays whether or not you were at fault. Under the standard policy form in use for accidents on or after 1 October 2015, it pays:

  • Medical and rehabilitation expenses to $50,000 per person, for expenses incurred within four years of the accident
  • Loss of income of the lesser of $250 a week or 80 per cent of your gross weekly employment income, less other income replacement you receive
  • A housekeeping benefit of $100 a week for up to 52 weeks for a principal unpaid housekeeper who is completely unable to do household duties
  • Funeral expenses to $2,500, and death benefits for survivors

The four years is worth noticing. It is not four years to claim. It is four years for the treatment itself to happen, so care postponed to a quieter year can fall outside the window.

Who qualifies for income replacement?

You must have been employed on the date of the accident, and within 30 days of it the injury must leave you substantially unable to do the essential duties of your job for at least seven days. Payments generally stop at 104 weeks, unless the injury continues to prevent you from any work you are reasonably suited to by education, training or experience.

That 30-day test is easy to miss because it is not a form. It is a fact about your recovery. If you push through work for weeks before stopping, write down what you could and could not do each day, because that record is what shows when the inability began.

What are the deadlines after a crash?

The standard policy asks for written notice of claim within 30 days of the accident, or as soon as practicable after, and proof of claim within 90 days. A phone call to your insurer is a good first step, but follow it with something in writing and keep proof you sent it.

If a Section B dispute goes to court, the policy says the action must start within one year from the date the cause of action arose. A claim against the other driver for injury falls under the Statute of Limitations, which allows two years from the date the cause of action arose.

Our article on Prince Edward Island Section B claim deadlines lays out every date in order, including the ones for hit and run and uninsured drivers.

How does the minor injury cap work?

The cap limits one thing: damages for pain and suffering in a claim against the at-fault driver. It does not limit your Section B benefits, your lost income or your treatment costs.

Since 1 October 2014, a minor personal injury on the Island means a sprain, a strain or a whiplash injury that does not cause a serious impairment. For an accident in 2026, the most recoverable for pain and suffering from a minor injury is $9,659, the figure published by the province on 2 February 2026. The amount is indexed every year, and the year of the accident decides which figure applies.

Whether an injury stays under the cap turns on what it has done to your work, your studies and your ordinary days, and whether that continues. Our article on the minor injury cap in Prince Edward Island explains the test and the treatment rule that decides many cases.

What if you were hurt while working?

Section B does not pay a person who is entitled to benefits under a workers compensation law. If the crash happened on the job, the Workers Compensation Board of PEI is likely your first route. Our article on how a WCB claim works in PEI covers it.

What if you disagree with your insurer?

Start by asking for the decision in writing, with reasons. The province sets out a complaint path in order:

  1. Speak with your adjuster or agent
  2. Write to a senior representative at the insurance company
  3. Go to the insurer's internal ombudsperson, then the General Insurance OmbudService
  4. If it is still unresolved, write to the Superintendent's office at the Financial and Consumer Services Division

Your insurer can also ask you to attend a medical examination while a claim is pending. Go, and write down the date, who examined you, how long it took and what you were asked to do.

Keep the one-year limit for a Section B court action in view while a complaint is moving. A complaint does not pause it.

What should you write down?

  • The date you gave written notice and the date you sent proof of claim, with copies of both
  • Every symptom and the date it first appeared, in plain words
  • Each day you could not do the essential parts of your job, starting with the first week
  • Every appointment, what was recommended, and the reason for any you missed
  • Every call and letter from your insurer, with the name of the person and the date
  • Every cost: mileage, parking, prescriptions, equipment and help at home

Keeping the record

The Island's system rewards people who can show what happened and when. A few lines a day, kept in one place, is what turns a recovery into a record. Recovering after a car accident in Prince Edward Island covers the whole route. The National MVA Recovery Guide holds the daily record, and the Prince Edward Island MVA Companion Guide holds the Island's dates and forms.

Why use Hurt Square?

Because Section B pays on what you can show, and the written notice deadline comes early. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it all.

  • What you can show, with dates. The National MVA Recovery Guide has daily pain and symptom tracking, every appointment, medication, expenses and time away from work.
  • The Prince Edward Island rules, in plain words. The Prince Edward Island MVA Companion Guide holds the deadlines, forms and insurer routes that apply in Prince Edward Island.
  • Made for hard days. 192 pages and more than 1,600 fillable fields that work on your phone, tablet or computer, in plain language.

Both guides, $49. The National MVA Recovery Guide and the Prince Edward Island MVA Companion Guide, with the discount applied at checkout. Normally $63.99.

Get both guides

Sources

Last verified: 14 October 2026. If you find something out of date here, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.

This article is general information for people on Prince Edward Island. It is not legal, medical or insurance advice, and your own policy wording governs.
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If you want the whole system, it comes in two parts.

Two things decide how an injury claim goes.

What you wrote down. The National Recovery Guide is the daily record: symptoms, appointments, calls, costs, and what you can no longer do. It is the part a claim is eventually judged on.
Whether you did the right thing at the right time for where you live. Your Provincial Companion Guide carries your deadlines, your forms, your boards and your appeal routes. Ontario is not British Columbia. Generic advice sends people to the wrong form, and then to the wrong date.

Buy only the National Guide and you keep a perfect record, then miss a deadline nobody told you about.

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