New York Car Accident Settlement Calculator

New York changed its fault rule for motor vehicle injury lawsuits in 2026. In an action to recover damages for personal injury that is subject to the state's no-fault law (article 51 of the Insurance Law), your own share of fault now bars recovery if it is greater than the fault of the person you are suing, or greater than the combined fault of the persons you are suing. If your share is not greater, your damages are reduced in proportion to it (CPLR 1411, as amended by L.2026, ch.58, Part EE). The amendment applies to actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026. A lawsuit commenced before that date, and a New York claim that is not subject to article 51, stays under the older rule, where a share of fault reduces damages but does not bar them. Whether a particular claim is subject to article 51 is a question for a licensed New York attorney.

You have 3 years to file suit in New York, a deadline that is in line with the national average of 2.7 years. This is a standard timeframe, but acting sooner preserves evidence and strengthens your position. New York does apply a discovery rule, which can adjust the starting point of the limitations period when the injury was not immediately discoverable.

New York's no-fault insurance system changes how car accident claims work fundamentally. Instead of filing a claim against the at-fault driver, you first seek compensation through your own PIP coverage. Whether you can also pursue the other driver for pain and suffering depends on the threshold written into New York's statute. Between people covered by New York's no-fault law there is no right of recovery for non-economic loss except in the case of a serious injury, which the Insurance Law defines as a personal injury that results in death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a 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, or significant limitation of use of a body function or system. A former ninth category, a non-permanent injury that kept the person from substantially all usual daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days after the injury, was repealed for actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026 (N.Y. Ins. Law §§ 5102(d), 5104(a); L.2026, ch.58, Part EE).

Drivers in New York must carry at least 25/50/10 in liability coverage — that’s $25K bodily injury per person, $50K per accident, and $10K property damage. While this meets the state minimum, a single ER visit can easily exceed these limits. The at-fault driver’s policy may not fully cover your losses in a serious accident. A New York policy must include uninsured motorist coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage is optional, and the first named insured can decline it in writing (N.Y. Ins. Law § 3420(f)).

New York imposes a 90-day notice requirement for tort claims against government entities. If a government-owned vehicle caused your accident or a poorly maintained government road contributed to it, you must file a formal notice of claim well before the standard statute of limitations expires. Failure to provide timely notice is one of the most common reasons government tort claims are dismissed.

New York does not add diminished value, the resale value a properly repaired car loses because of its accident history, to the cost of repairs in a claim against the at-fault driver. Whether your own collision coverage owes it has no clear New York rule. New York's Appellate Division, Fourth Department reaffirmed in Freitas v Ahmed (2024) the long-standing Johnson v Scholz rule that an owner of an ordinary vehicle recovers either the cost of repairs or the drop in market value, whichever is lower, rather than both. The diminished value guide in the related reading below carries the rule for every state and how to document the loss.