New York's no-fault system and serious injury threshold make it one of the most legally complex states for car accident claims. Enter your figures below for a free estimate — then read how New York law affects your specific situation.
New York Serious Injury Threshold — You Must Qualify to Sue for Pain and Suffering
New York's no-fault law bars most car accident victims from suing for pain and suffering unless their injuries meet the "serious injury" threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d). The most commonly contested category is the 90/180 rule: your injury must prevent you from performing substantially all of your customary daily activities for at least 90 of the first 180 days after the accident — and this must be documented by a treating physician contemporaneously, not retroactively. Insurers routinely move to dismiss claims on this ground. If your injuries are significant but not a fracture or permanent condition, the 90/180 rule is the threshold you must meet — and documentation is everything.
New York Settlement Estimator
Medical bills to date
ER, hospital, PT, specialists
Estimated future medical
Surgery, ongoing PT, etc.
Lost wages to date
After PIP 80% reimbursement
Future lost earning capacity
Permanent impairment only
Property damage
Vehicle repair or replacement
Injury severity
NY min: $25,000/person (§ 5103)
At-fault driver's per-person limit
New York Law at a Glance
UM/UIM Required in NY
New York is one of the few states that mandates UM coverage on every policy (§ 3420(f)(1)). Optional SUM coverage at higher limits is strongly recommended for serious injury protection.
New York MVAIC
New York's Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) provides compensation for victims of uninsured and hit-and-run drivers who have no other coverage available. MVAIC is unique to New York and has specific filing requirements and deadlines. Learn more at mvaic.com.
New York is a no-fault state with pure comparative fault under CPLR § 1411. Unlike modified comparative fault states (Texas, Florida, Illinois), New York allows recovery even if you are 99% at fault — your damages are simply reduced by your fault percentage. However, the no-fault system's serious injury threshold is the dominant legal issue in most New York car accident cases, and it operates independently of fault.
Three features drive New York-specific settlement values:
1. The serious injury threshold. To recover pain and suffering damages, your injuries must qualify under one of the nine categories in Insurance Law § 5102(d). Fractures are the clearest qualifying injury — they are per se serious injuries. Soft tissue injuries must meet the 90/180 rule or demonstrate permanent consequential limitation. Insurers invest heavily in independent medical examinations (IMEs) to contest threshold, and summary judgment motions on this issue are routine.
2. New York's $50,000 PIP floor. The highest mandatory PIP minimum in the country means economic losses from medical bills and lost wages are typically covered through the no-fault system before any lawsuit is filed. This reduces the economic damages component of most New York settlements compared to at-fault states, but pain and suffering damages — when threshold is met — can be substantial.
3. Medical bill admissibility. New York courts have held that the full billed amount of medical expenses is admissible as evidence of damages, not just the amount accepted by a health insurer as payment in full. This is favorable to plaintiffs and supports higher special damages bases in New York cases compared to states that limit admissibility to the paid amount.
⚠️ New York Serious Injury Threshold — 90/180 Rule Documentation Requirements
The 90/180 rule requires that your injury prevented you from performing substantially all of your customary daily activities for at least 90 of the first 180 days after the accident. Courts apply the standard from Toure v. Avis Rent A Car Systems, Inc., 98 N.Y.2d 345 (2002): "substantially all" means more than 90% of your customary activities. Contemporaneous physician documentation — created at the time of each visit, not retroactively — is required. Gaps in treatment are the most common reason courts dismiss 90/180 claims on summary judgment. If you believe you qualify under this rule, maintain consistent treatment and document your limitations at every physician visit.
| Injury Type | Threshold Status | Typical Range |
|---|---|---|
| Soft tissue — no threshold met | PIP only | No pain & suffering recovery — PIP covers medical bills and lost wages only |
| Soft tissue — 90/180 rule met | Threshold met | $15,000 – $55,000 |
| Fracture (per se serious injury) | Threshold met | $35,000 – $120,000 |
| Herniated disc — conservative treatment | Threshold met | $45,000 – $150,000 |
| Herniated disc — surgery required | Threshold met | $75,000 – $300,000+ |
| TBI / permanent disability | Threshold met | $250,000 – $1,000,000+ |
Ranges reflect attorney case data and verdict research. NYC boroughs and Nassau/Suffolk County consistently return higher values than upstate New York. All figures are pre-attorney-fee estimates.
Settlement values vary significantly by state — see our state-specific calculators for California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.
New York car accident settlements vary more widely than most states because the serious injury threshold (Insurance Law § 5104) creates a structural divide: claims that do not meet the threshold are limited to PIP benefits, while claims that do qualify can pursue full pain and suffering damages.
For soft tissue injuries that meet the threshold, settlements typically range from $15,000 to $55,000. Fractures — which are a per se serious injury under § 5102(d) — typically settle between $35,000 and $120,000. Herniated disc cases requiring surgery range from $75,000 to $300,000 or more. Traumatic brain injury and permanent disability cases can exceed $1,000,000. NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island) and Nassau/Suffolk County juries consistently return higher verdicts than upstate New York, a pattern well-documented in New York verdict research.
No public state agency publishes per-claim settlement averages for New York. The most reliable benchmark is the range for cases with facts similar to yours — use the calculator above.
New York is a no-fault state, which means your own PIP (Personal Injury Protection) coverage pays your medical bills and 80% of your lost wages — up to $2,000 per month for up to three years — regardless of who caused the accident. The mandatory PIP minimum in New York is $50,000 per person, the highest mandatory PIP minimum in the country (Insurance Law § 5102(a)).
Because PIP is the primary recovery vehicle, most New York car accident victims never sue the at-fault driver at all — their economic losses are handled through their own insurer. To sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering (non-economic loss), you must first meet the serious injury threshold under Insurance Law § 5104. This threshold is the central legal question in most New York car accident cases. If you do not meet it, your recovery is limited to PIP benefits. If you do meet it, you can pursue full damages — including pain and suffering — against the at-fault driver.
Under Insurance Law § 5102(d), a "serious injury" is a personal injury that results in one of nine specific outcomes: 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; significant limitation of use of a body function or system; or a medically determined injury that prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of their customary daily activities for not less than 90 days during the 180 days immediately following the accident — the "90/180 rule."
The 90/180 rule in practice: This is the most commonly litigated threshold category and the most commonly contested by insurers. To qualify, you must show that your injury — documented by a physician — prevented you from performing substantially all of your normal daily activities for at least 90 of the first 180 days after the accident. "Substantially all" means more than 90% of your customary activities, not a partial limitation — the standard established in Toure v. Avis Rent A Car Systems, Inc., 98 N.Y.2d 345 (2002).
Courts require contemporaneous medical documentation — records created at the time of treatment, not retroactive physician affidavits. Gaps in treatment are the most common reason courts dismiss 90/180 claims on summary judgment. If you stopped treating because you felt better, an insurer will argue you were not actually prevented from your activities for 90 days. If you believe you qualify under the 90/180 rule, maintain consistent medical treatment, document your limitations in writing with your physician at every visit, and consult an attorney before your treatment ends.
For most car accident personal injury claims, New York's statute of limitations is three years from the date of the accident under CPLR § 214(5). This is longer than Texas (2 years), Florida (2 years post-HB 837), and Illinois (2 years). For wrongful death claims, the deadline is two years from the date of death under EPTL § 5-4.1.
Government entity claims — 90-day Notice of Claim: If your accident involved an MTA/NYC Transit bus, NYCDOT vehicle, NYSDOT vehicle, city or county vehicle, park district vehicle, or any other public entity, you must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the accident under General Municipal Law § 50-e. This is the shortest government entity deadline of any state we cover — shorter than California (6 months), Illinois (1 year), and Texas (6 months for TxDOT). The 90-day clock runs from the accident date, not from when you discover that a government entity was involved. Missing this deadline can permanently bar your claim against the government entity — if you are past 90 days, consult an attorney immediately.
Minors: The statute of limitations is tolled until the minor turns 18. A child injured in a car accident generally has until their 21st birthday to file.
New York requires all registered vehicles to carry bodily injury liability coverage of at least $25,000/$50,000 (Insurance Law § 5103). Despite this, the Insurance Research Council estimates approximately 6.1% of New York drivers are uninsured — lower than the national average of approximately 14%, but still a meaningful risk in a state with over 12 million registered vehicles.
If you are hit by an uninsured driver, your primary recovery options are: (1) your own PIP coverage for medical bills and lost wages; (2) your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage for pain and suffering damages if you meet the serious injury threshold; and (3) the New York Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) — a state fund that provides compensation for victims of uninsured and hit-and-run drivers who have no other coverage available. MVAIC claims have specific filing requirements and deadlines; an attorney can help navigate the process.
Yes. New York requires all auto policies to include uninsured motorist (UM) coverage at minimum limits of $25,000/$50,000 under Insurance Law § 3420(f)(1). This means every New York driver automatically has UM coverage.
New York also offers supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage, which can be purchased at higher limits and covers you when the at-fault driver's policy limits are insufficient to compensate your injuries. SUM coverage is optional but strongly recommended, particularly in New York where serious injury claims can reach six or seven figures. If you are injured by an underinsured driver — one who has coverage but not enough — your SUM coverage fills the gap up to your SUM policy limit.
For soft tissue claims that do not meet the serious injury threshold, most claimants handle their PIP claims directly with their own insurer — an attorney is rarely necessary. For claims that do meet the threshold and involve a lawsuit against the at-fault driver, representation makes a significant difference. A 2023 Martindale-Nolo reader survey found that represented claimants received an average of $77,600 in total compensation, compared to $17,600 for unrepresented claimants — approximately 3.5 times more before attorney fees.
In New York specifically, the serious injury threshold creates an additional layer of complexity: insurers routinely move for summary judgment arguing the plaintiff's injuries do not qualify, and defending those motions requires medical evidence and legal strategy that most claimants cannot manage alone. Use the free consultation form on this page to request a case evaluation — most New York personal injury attorneys offer free initial consultations with no obligation.
Settlement timelines in New York vary significantly based on injury severity, whether the serious injury threshold is disputed, and venue. Minor injuries where PIP covers all economic losses typically resolve within 2 to 4 months through the no-fault system without any lawsuit. Moderate injuries that meet the serious injury threshold typically settle within 6 to 18 months, often before trial. Serious injuries involving surgery, permanent disability, or significant disfigurement frequently take 18 months to 3 years.
Cases that go to trial in Manhattan or Brooklyn can take 3 to 5 years from accident to verdict due to heavily congested court dockets. The most significant factor extending timelines is the serious injury threshold dispute: if the insurer contests whether your injuries qualify, the case cannot settle until that legal question is resolved, which typically requires expert medical testimony and often a summary judgment motion. Reaching maximum medical improvement before settling is essential — do not accept a settlement offer until your treating physician has determined that your condition has stabilized.
Related State Calculators