Car Accident Laws in New York: Fault, Insurance & Deadlines

Short answer: New York is a no-fault state. After a crash, your own auto insurer pays your medical bills and lost wages through Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage, regardless of who caused the crash. You generally cannot sue the other driver for pain and suffering unless your injury meets New York's "serious injury" threshold. If you do have the right to sue, the deadline is normally three years from the date of the crash for injury or property damage claims (CPLR 214) — but if a government vehicle (city, county, state, or public transit) was involved, you must file a sworn Notice of Claim within 90 days, or you can lose the right to sue entirely. Confirm current limits and deadlines with the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) or a licensed New York attorney before relying on any number below — insurance minimums and filing deadlines can change.

1. Is New York a no-fault or at-fault state?

New York is one of a small number of true no-fault states, governed by Article 51 of the New York Insurance Law (the "No-Fault Law"). After a covered crash, you file a claim with your own insurance company for medical treatment, lost earnings, and certain other expenses through your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage — no matter who caused the accident.

The trade-off: your right to sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering (non-economic damages) is limited. Under Insurance Law § 5104, you can only step outside no-fault and sue in court if your injury meets the "serious injury" threshold defined in Insurance Law § 5102(d) — for example death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, permanent loss of use of a body organ or system, or a significant limitation of use lasting a defined period. You can also sue for economic losses (like lost wages) that exceed your basic no-fault benefits. Property damage claims (vehicle repair costs) are not part of the no-fault system and can generally be pursued against the at-fault driver's insurer directly.

Because "serious injury" is a heavily litigated legal standard with fact-specific outcomes, do not assume you do or don't qualify — get a New York attorney or the DFS consumer help line to look at your specific medical findings.

2. Minimum auto insurance required in New York

According to the New York DMV and DFS, every registered vehicle must carry, at minimum:

• Bodily injury liability: $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident (often written as "25/50")
• Death (fatal-injury) liability: $50,000 per person / $100,000 per accident (applies if the crash is fatal)
• Property damage liability: $10,000 per accident
• Personal Injury Protection (PIP / no-fault): mandatory, minimum $50,000 per person for medical expenses, lost earnings (subject to a percentage/cap), and other reasonable expenses
• Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage: mandatory, generally at least $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident (matching the minimum bodily injury limits)
• Supplementary underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage: not mandatory — New York insurers must offer it, but you may accept or decline it. On many newer policies it is included by default unless you opt out, so check your declarations page.

These figures have been widely reported as unchanged for many years, but insurance minimums are set in statute and regulation and can be revised. Verify the current figures directly with the New York Department of Financial Services (dfs.ny.gov) before relying on them for a claim or a coverage decision.

3. Statute of limitations to sue after a crash

• Personal injury claims: Three years from the date of the crash, under CPLR § 214(5).
• Property damage claims: Three years from the date of the crash, under CPLR § 214(4).
• Wrongful death claims: New York uses a separate, shorter two-year deadline under EPTL § 5-4.1 — if the crash was fatal, treat this as time-critical and get legal advice immediately.

These are civil filing deadlines, not deadlines to file a no-fault (PIP) claim with your own insurer — no-fault claims have their own much shorter contractual notice deadlines (often as little as 30 days to notify your insurer and submit proof of claim), so notify your carrier right away regardless of the lawsuit deadline. The New York State Unified Court System publishes a statute-of-limitations timetable at nycourts.gov that can help you confirm which deadline applies to your situation.

4. Shared-fault rule: pure comparative negligence

New York follows pure comparative negligence under CPLR § 1411. This means you can still recover damages even if you were significantly at fault for the crash — even up to 99% at fault — but your award is reduced by your own percentage of fault. For example, if a jury finds you 30% responsible for a crash and awards $100,000 in damages, you would recover $70,000. Unlike "modified" comparative negligence states, New York does not cut off recovery once your fault reaches 50% or 51%.

5. When you must report a crash

Under the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law and DMV rules:

• If a crash involves injury, death, or more than $1,000 in total property damage, drivers must file the DMV's MV-104 Report of Motor Vehicle Accident within 10 days of the crash.
• At the scene, if there is injury, death, or apparent property damage, you should also notify police so an official police accident report is generated — in New York City and many other jurisdictions, officers responding to a crash with injury are generally required to prepare one.
• Failing to file the MV-104 when required can lead to license suspension and other penalties, separate from any civil claim.

Confirm current thresholds and forms directly at dmv.ny.gov, since dollar thresholds for mandatory reporting can be updated by the legislature.

6. Damage caps and the shorter deadline for government vehicles

New York does not currently impose a general statutory cap on compensatory (economic or non-economic) damages in ordinary car-accident negligence cases; proposals to cap non-economic damages in negligence cases have been introduced in the legislature but have not been enacted as of this writing, so confirm there has been no change before assuming otherwise.

If the at-fault vehicle was owned or operated by a city, county, state agency, public school, or transit authority (e.g., an MTA bus, a police car, a sanitation truck), special rules apply and the timeline is dramatically shorter:

• You must generally serve a sworn Notice of Claim within 90 days of the crash under General Municipal Law § 50-e.
• You must then commence the lawsuit within one year and 90 days of the crash under General Municipal Law § 50-i.
• Claims against New York State itself (as opposed to a city or county) go through the New York Court of Claims and carry their own separate, similarly short notice deadlines.

Missing the 90-day notice window can permanently bar an otherwise valid claim, so if any government-owned or government-operated vehicle was involved, treat this as urgent and get advice immediately rather than waiting anywhere near the standard three-year window.

What to do after a crash in New York

1. Check for injuries and call 911 if anyone is hurt, or if the crash may exceed the property-damage/injury reporting threshold.
2. Move to safety if the vehicles are drivable and it's safe to do so, and turn on hazard lights.
3. Exchange information with the other driver(s): name, address, phone, driver's license number, license plate, and insurance company and policy number.
4. Identify witnesses and get their contact information before they leave.
5. Document the scene with photos and video of vehicle positions, damage, license plates, road conditions, traffic signals, and any visible injuries.
6. Get a copy of the police report if officers respond, and file the MV-104 with DMV yourself within 10 days if police were not called and the injury/death/$1,000 threshold is met.
7. Notify your own insurer promptly to open a no-fault (PIP) claim — do this quickly, since no-fault notice deadlines are far shorter than the three-year lawsuit deadline.
8. Seek medical evaluation immediately, even if you feel fine — this both protects your health and creates a medical record tying injuries to the crash date, which matters for the "serious injury" threshold.
9. Track lost wages and expenses connected to the crash.
10. If a government vehicle was involved, contact an attorney immediately given the 90-day Notice of Claim deadline.
11. Talk to a licensed New York attorney before signing any release or accepting a settlement, especially if you are unsure whether your injuries meet the serious-injury threshold or if fault is disputed.

This article is general information about New York law, not legal advice; confirm current requirements and deadlines with the New York DFS, DMV, or a licensed New York attorney before acting.