The Questions Everyone Asks
Nearly every driver asks the same things after a crash. Who pays the medical bills? What does my insurance actually cover? How long will this take, and will my rates go up?
New York has specific answers to each one. Some come with deadlines measured in days, not months. Miss one and you can lose benefits you already paid for.
This guide covers what to do right after a crash, the insurance coverages that apply in New York, how settlements work, and what a collision does to your driving record and premiums.
What to Do Immediately After the Crash
Stop, check for injuries, and call 911 if anyone is hurt. New York requires you to report any crash involving injury to the police. For property damage over $1,000, you must also file a Report of Motor Vehicle Accident (form MV-104) with the DMV within 10 days.
Exchange license, registration, and insurance information with the other driver. Photograph the vehicles, the roadway, and anything that shows how the crash happened. Get names and phone numbers for witnesses before they leave.
See a doctor promptly, even if the pain seems minor. Neck, back, and shoulder injuries often worsen over days. A gap between the crash and your first medical visit becomes a question in every claim that follows. The full sequence of deadlines, calls, and early offers is in this companion article.
The Insurance Coverages Available in New York
New York is a no-fault state. Your own policy's Personal Injury Protection pays your medical bills and lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. Basic no-fault provides up to $50,000 per person. It covers medical treatment, 80 percent of lost earnings up to $2,000 per month for up to three years, and $25 per day for other reasonable expenses.
The deadline matters most here. You must file the no-fault application with the correct insurer within 30 days of the accident. Late applications are routinely denied.
Beyond no-fault, every New York policy carries bodily injury liability coverage with minimum limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, plus $10,000 for property damage. That is the at-fault driver's coverage. It pays injury claims that go beyond no-fault.
Two coverages on your own policy protect you when the other driver has too little insurance or none at all. Uninsured motorist coverage applies to hit-and-run drivers and uninsured vehicles. Supplementary Underinsured Motorist coverage, or SUM, applies when the at-fault driver's limits are lower than yours. Both come with notice requirements. The UM filing window can be as short as 90 days. If you were driving for work when the crash happened, workers' compensation may also apply, and a third-party case can exist alongside it.
When You Can Sue: The Serious Injury Threshold
No-fault pays bills. It does not pay for pain and suffering. To bring a lawsuit for those damages, your injury must meet the serious injury threshold in Insurance Law § 5102(d).
Under current law, the categories are: death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system, permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, and significant limitation of use of a body function or system.
New York amended this statute effective May 26, 2026. The amendment removed the former 90/180-day category, which counted certain non-permanent injuries that disrupted daily activities. That category now applies only to older cases filed before the change took effect. A fracture still qualifies on its own. Soft tissue injuries require medical proof of permanent or significant limitation.
Fault matters too. Under CPLR § 1411(b), in motor vehicle cases you cannot recover if your share of fault exceeds the combined fault of the parties you are suing. If your fault is equal or lower, your recovery is reduced by your percentage. And under Insurance Law § 5104, certain at-fault injured people face a $100,000 cap on pain and suffering damages, such as owners who failed to insure a vehicle they were required to insure or drivers convicted of impaired driving connected to the crash.
Is There a Timeframe for a Lawsuit or Settlement?
Yes, several. The general deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is three years from the crash under CPLR § 214. Wrongful death claims must be filed within two years under EPTL § 5-4.1.
If a government vehicle was involved, a city bus or a municipal truck, you must serve a Notice of Claim within 90 days under General Municipal Law § 50-e. That deadline arrives before many people have finished treating.
Settlement itself has no fixed clock. A claim can resolve in months when liability is clear and injuries are fully understood. Cases involving surgery, disputed fault, or layered coverage often take longer. Settling before the full extent of an injury is known means settling for less than the case is worth. Once a case settles, New York insurers must pay within 21 days of receiving the settlement documents, or interest begins to run.
How Long Does an Accident Stay on Your Record and Your Rates?
These are two different records, and people often confuse them.
Your DMV driving record shows an accident from January of the year it happened through the end of the third following year. That is roughly four years of visibility. Points from traffic convictions count toward license action for 18 months from the violation date, though the convictions themselves remain visible longer.
Insurance companies run their own lookback, typically three to five years, using claims databases like CLUE. An at-fault accident generally affects your premium for three years in New York. A not-at-fault accident should matter less. Insurers who surcharge for crashes you did not cause can be challenged.
Accidents do fall off the record. During the lookback window, though, a single at-fault crash can raise premiums meaningfully. That is one more reason the fault determination in your claim matters beyond the claim itself.
How Schwartzapfel Holbrook Approaches Car Accident Cases
Several layers of insurance can apply to one crash: no-fault, liability coverage, UM and SUM, sometimes an employer policy or a municipal defendant. Claims resolve well when every layer is identified early and every deadline is met.
Schwartzapfel Holbrook accepts a limited number of serious injury cases across New York City, Nassau County, and Suffolk County. We review every policy that may apply, not just the at-fault driver's, and we prepare each case for trial from the start. That preparation is what carriers weigh when they decide what a claim is worth. The same discipline applies whether the case is a highway collision or a work-zone crash involving a construction site.
