Insurance is required for every driver in New York. This helps make sure that when there is an accident, there is insurance to cover it. But what happens when drivers either intentionally or unintentionally drive without the required insurance – or when their insurance is too low to cover the injuries they cause?
Because New York uses a no-fault insurance system, your own insurance covers your injuries regardless of who caused the accident. This means that innocent car accident victims usually get their damages covered by their own insurance first before they can ever go after the at-fault driver’s insurance. This reduces how many cases are affected by a lack of insurance, but an at-fault driver with no insurance can still make it hard to recover full damages if your injuries are serious enough to pursue a case against the at-fault driver.
For help with your injury case, contact our Westchester, NY car accident lawyers at The Martello Law Firm by calling (914) 685-6950 today.
How Driving Without Insurance Works in a No-Fault Insurance State Like New York
As mentioned, New York uses a no-fault insurance system. Before our Mount Vernon, NY car accident attorneys discuss how this system works when an at-fault driver has no insurance, it is important to understand how it works in a normal case where everyone is properly insured.
Insurance Minimums
New York law requires every driver to have at least $50,000 of PIP coverage. This “personal injury protection” coverage pays for damages for you and anyone else in your car, regardless of who caused the accident. PIP pays for most medical benefits and certain lost wages, up to a certain percentage of your total damages. This means that it will never cover 100% of your damages, and – along with a deductible payment – you will always have to pay something out of pocket with PIP insurance.
On top of this, every driver also needs at least $25,000 for injury per person, $50,000 for injury per accident, and $10,000 for property damage per accident in “liability insurance.” This is the insurance that covers the damages you cause to someone else when you are at fault. If the other driver doesn’t have this insurance, it will be harder to collect money from them. If this insurance is too low to cover your needs, it will also be hard to get full payment.
On top of this, you also have to have “uninsured motorist” coverage to protect you in case the other driver doesn’t have insurance. More on this later.
How Claims Work
Because NY uses no-fault rules, you file a claim with your own insurance first. This means paying a deductible and getting only partial coverage. It also means you cannot get pain and suffering damages – which could be a huge part of your case. However, if you meet the “serious injury” threshold from I.S.C. Law § 5102(d), you are permitted to file an insurance claim or lawsuit against the at-fault driver to get the rest of your damages covered, including pain and suffering.
Not every case is serious enough to qualify for this kind of claim, and many drivers will be limited to using their own insurance anyway. This “serious injury” threshold is only met in cases involving death or death of a fetus, lost body parts, permanent injuries, broken bones, and injuries that will be disabling for at least 90 of the following 180 days after the crash. Only then can you even sue the at-fault driver in the first place.
How a Driver’s Lack of Insurance Affects This
Because your claim is going to have to go through your own insurance first, you might get most damages paid that way, making a claim against the at-fault driver unnecessary, even if they have insurance. Additionally, because of the serious injury rules, you might not be able to sue the at-fault driver anyway, leaving you to collect only through your own insurance.
Because of this rule, there are only a limited number of cases where you could potentially sue the other driver or file a claim against their insurance anyway. If they don’t have insurance, but you can’t file a claim against them, that will not even affect your case. However, if you do need compensation from the at-fault driver and you do have serious injuries, there are still options for recovery.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage in NY State
As mentioned above, drivers are required to carry uninsured motorist coverage on their insurance. This provides additional first-party benefits to you to fill in the gaps that you would have gotten paid by the at-fault driver when they have no insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage is also typically available for similar coverage when the other driver has insurance but it is too low. Uninsured motorist coverage can also kick in in hit and run cases where you might not be able to find the driver who hit you, providing the coverage they would have been able to pay you.
If the other driver doesn’t have insurance, but you have a serious case that allows you to sue them, then you can make a claim against your uninsured motorist coverage instead and still get most or all of the money you would have gotten from the at-fault driver.
Suing an Uninsured Driver Directly in New York
Once you meet the serious injury threshold, you can actually file a lawsuit instead of filing a claim against the other driver’s insurance. If they had insurance, that would cover the damages in the lawsuit, but if they are paying out of pocket, their ability to pay will determine whether or not this lawsuit can actually get you any money.
Property Damages Only
All of these rules are for injuries. When you have property damage alone, we don’t use the no-fault system, and you usually file a claim directly against the at-fault driver’s property liability insurance. If they have no insurance, you would have to go after them directly in a lawsuit for property damage, even if you cannot sue for your injuries. Your potential success in this kind of case will ultimately depend on their ability to pay, as you cannot get money from someone who has no money, even with a court order. However, we may be able to attach property or wages to get the payments needed from them.
Call Our Car Accident Injury Lawyers in NY Today
Call The Martello Law Firm’s White Plains car accident lawyers at (914) 685-6950 for a free review of your injury case.
