After a car accident in New York, your own insurance pays your medical bills first through no-fault Personal Injury Protection, regardless of who caused the crash. Property damage works differently and still runs through the at-fault driver’s liability coverage. Understanding which system applies to which cost is the difference between a smooth claim and a confusing one.
Two Separate Systems, Not One
New York’s no-fault law means injury claims and property damage claims are handled through entirely different processes. Your PIP coverage pays your medical bills, lost wages, and related expenses up to $50,000 by default, no matter who caused the accident, which is meant to get injured people help quickly without waiting on a fault determination. That $50,000 is just the statutory minimum. If you’ve added Additional Personal Injury Protection, often called APIP, your actual PIP limit can run well above that, which matters a great deal in a serious injury claim.
Property damage isn’t part of the no-fault system at all. If the other driver caused the accident, their property damage liability coverage is what pays to repair your car, which means fault still matters for that part of the claim even though it doesn’t matter for your medical bills.
The Deadlines Most Drivers Don’t Know About
Two separate deadlines matter here, and they apply to different people. These come directly from New York’s no-fault regulation, not a general rule of thumb. You, or someone on your behalf, generally have 30 days from the accident to submit a no-fault application to your insurer. Miss that window without a documented, reasonable excuse, and your claim can be denied outright, even if the accident clearly wasn’t your fault.
The second deadline belongs to your medical providers, not you. Once you’re being treated, each provider generally has 45 days from each date of service to submit their bill to your no-fault insurer. This is one of the more common reasons legitimate claims get delayed or denied, not because the injury wasn’t real, but because a provider’s paperwork didn’t move fast enough. Report the accident promptly, start treatment promptly, and make sure any provider you see knows upfront that you’re filing a no-fault claim, so their office handles the billing correctly from the start.
When You Can Step Outside No-Fault
New York’s no-fault system caps what you can recover through your own PIP at whatever your policy’s limit is, $50,000 by default or higher with APIP, and it doesn’t cover pain and suffering at all regardless of that limit. If your medical costs exceed your PIP limit, or if your injury is serious enough to clear New York’s threshold for stepping outside no-fault, you can pursue a claim directly against the at-fault driver for damages no-fault doesn’t cover.
This is exactly the situation Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage exists for. If the at-fault driver doesn’t carry enough liability coverage to cover a serious injury claim, SUM steps in to cover the gap, which is why carrying more than the state minimum matters more than most drivers realize.
What This Means Right After a Crash
Report the accident to your own insurer promptly, even if you weren’t at fault, since your PIP claim starts with your own carrier regardless of who caused it. Get medical attention quickly if you’re hurt at all, both for your health and because the claim deadlines start running from the date of the accident, not from when symptoms show up.
Common Questions About New York Car Accidents
Do I file a claim with my insurance or the other driver’s if they caused the accident? Both, but for different things. Your medical claims go through your own PIP regardless of fault. Property damage typically goes through the at-fault driver’s liability coverage.
What happens if the at-fault driver has no insurance at all? Your own uninsured motorist coverage steps in for your bodily injury, which is why that coverage is mandatory in New York. It doesn’t extend to your car, though. Uninsured motorist coverage in New York covers injury only, never property damage. If your own collision coverage is in place, that’s what pays to repair your car. If you don’t carry collision, you get nothing toward the vehicle itself.
Is a motorcycle accident handled the same way under no-fault? No. Motorcycles are excluded from New York’s no-fault system entirely, which is why SUM coverage matters even more for motorcyclists than for typical drivers. See our dedicated article on motorcycle insurance in New York for the full picture.
What if I’m partly at fault for the accident? New York uses comparative fault for liability claims, meaning your recovery from the other driver can be reduced by your own percentage of fault, though your no-fault PIP benefits aren’t affected by fault at all.
We’ve been doing business this way in the Hudson Valley for over 80 years. If you’ve been in an accident and aren’t sure what to do next, call us. No phone tree, no pressure, just a straight answer.