New York Auto Insurance & Crash Law

VictimsGuide’s New York library organizes the rules that matter after a serious motor-vehicle crash: compulsory liability insurance, no-fault benefits, the serious-injury threshold, uninsured and supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, policy-limit disclosure, claims handling, employer and commercial coverage, government claims, comparative negligence, settlement, subrogation and controlling case authority.

New York rules to identify early

• No-fault: basic economic loss is handled through the first-party no-fault system, with strict claim and proof deadlines.
• Serious injury: noneconomic damages from most covered auto accidents generally require satisfaction of the Insurance Law § 5102 serious-injury threshold.
• UM/SUM: mandatory UM and optional or higher SUM coverage require careful review of endorsements, exhaustion, notice and settlement provisions.
• Comparative fault: New York uses comparative negligence, so claimant fault ordinarily reduces damages rather than creating a complete bar.
• Government claims: municipal and state defendants can trigger special notice-of-claim and Court of Claims procedures.

Preserve the complete policy, no-fault application and payment records, UM/SUM endorsements, crash report, photographs, video and vehicle data, and investigate employer, commercial, umbrella and excess coverage before signing a release.

Current-law review: September 17, 2026. Verify current New York statutes, Department of Financial Services guidance, appellate authority and the policy actually issued before relying on this educational guide.