Auto insurance in New York

Bodily injury liability of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident ($50,000/$100,000 for death), property damage liability of $10,000, $50,000 of no-fault Personal Injury Protection, and uninsured motorist coverage of $25,000/$50,000. Coverage must be from a company licensed in New York and must be continuous while the vehicle is registered.

The law doesn't require it. New York requires liability, no-fault and uninsured motorist coverage at the minimums in the answer above; collision and comprehensive, the two coverages people mean by "full coverage", are optional. If the car is financed or leased, the loan or lease contract will require both. On a car you own outright, I weigh the yearly cost of the two coverages and the deductible against what the car is worth; on an older, low-value car they often aren't worth it.

No agent can honestly name one company as the best for everyone. The right one prices your drivers, cars and ZIP code well, pays claims fairly and is financially sound. Three checks you can make yourself: the NY DFS auto insurance complaint ranking, which lists insurers by upheld complaints per million dollars of premium; the DFS insurance company search, to confirm the company is licensed in New York; and a financial strength rating from an independent rating agency. Price is the part only a quote answers, which is why I compare several carriers for identical coverage.

Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage pays for your injuries when the driver who hit you has no insurance or too little. Since 2018 New York policies include SUM at your own bodily-injury liability limits unless you decline it in writing. Keep it. It's the coverage that protects your family from other people's bad decisions, and it's inexpensive.

Under Insurance Law §3420(g), a New York auto policy doesn't cover your liability for injuring your own spouse unless it expressly includes that coverage, called supplemental spousal liability (SSL). Since March 26, 2025, a personal auto policy whose first named insured lists a spouse includes SSL unless that person declines it in writing on the form the Department of Financial Services created; DFS Circular Letter No. 2 (2025) says the insurer must charge a premium for it, show it in bold on the premium notice, and lower the premium if you decline. A declination stays in effect until you take it back in writing, insurers don't add or drop SSL by themselves when you marry or divorce, and it covers spouses only, not domestic or civil-union partners. My advice is to keep it: without it, a crash in which your spouse is hurt in your car can leave your liability coverage out of the picture.

Comprehensive. The Department of Financial Services describes comprehensive as paying, regardless of fault, for damage to your car from causes other than collision, and lists hitting or being hit by an animal among them, along with theft, fire, flood and falling objects. The comprehensive deductible applies, and if you carry only liability, nothing pays for your own car. Auto policies define collision as your car striking another vehicle or an object, so if you swerve to miss the deer and hit a guardrail or a tree instead, that usually becomes a collision claim under the collision deductible.

New York's no-fault law means your own auto policy pays your medical bills and part of lost wages after a crash, regardless of fault, up to $50,000 basic PIP. Health insurance is secondary to no-fault for car accidents, so PIP is mandatory. Optional additional PIP raises the limit, which matters for people whose income is higher than the basic wage benefit.

Sometimes. New York's Regulation 79 requires a photo inspection within 14 days for collision and comprehensive coverage, or that coverage is suspended. Since May 2024 insurers can waive the inspection for some or all vehicles, and many have. I'll tell you whether your carrier requires it and where to go.

Not by a standard personal policy while you're logged in to the app. The platform's coverage has gaps, particularly between rides. Most carriers offer a rideshare or delivery endorsement for a modest premium. Tell me, because a claim discovered at the worst moment is the alternative. Period-by-period detail, with what New York law makes the platform carry, is in the rideshare and delivery guide.

In the U.S. and Canada, mostly yes. Your liability and no-fault coverage go with you into a rental car, and New York Insurance Law §3440 requires personal auto policies to cover damage to or loss of a private passenger car you rent for 30 continuous days or less in the United States, its territories or Canada. That's why many New York drivers can decline the rental counter's damage waiver. The requirement doesn't reach rentals in other countries or longer rentals, so check your policy, or ask me, before you travel.

It's expensive and slow to undo. You can be ticketed or arrested and the car impounded, and the NY DMV says the traffic court fine can be as much as $1,500. If you're in a crash without insurance, DMV revokes your license and registration for at least one year, and you pay a $750 civil penalty to get the license back. Even a lapse without driving counts: DMV can suspend the registration, and the license too once the lapse reaches 91 days or more. If your policy is about to cancel, call me before it does.

Not while the car is still registered. The NY DMV says to surrender the registration and plates to DMV before your New York coverage ends for any reason, because any time a vehicle is registered but not insured can count as a lapse, driven or not. For a lapse of 90 days or less you can pay a civil penalty instead of surrendering the plates and serving a registration suspension as long as the lapse: $8 a day for days 1 to 30, $10 a day for days 31 to 60 and $12 a day for days 61 to 90, which DMV totals at $900 for a full 90 days. You can't pay it if you've paid one in the past 36 months or the lapse is 91 days or more, and at 91 days the driver license is suspended too.

30 days from the accident for the written notice of claim, under the mandatory no-fault endorsement in the Department of Financial Services' Regulation 68. After that, medical bills are due within 45 days of the date of treatment and lost-wage claims within 90 days of the lost work; a late filing is accepted only with written proof of a clear and reasonable justification. The same endorsement excludes anyone riding a motorcycle, and the motorcycle no-fault endorsement pays only people the bike injures who aren't on a motorcycle or in a vehicle, such as pedestrians, so no-fault doesn't pay a rider's or passenger's own medical bills.

Usually, yes, though carriers handle it differently. The NY DMV lets visitors drive here on a valid license from another country, but once you become a New York resident you need a New York license, which for a foreign license holder means a written test, a five-hour pre-licensing course and a road test. If your license isn't in English, DMV asks for an International Driving Permit or a certified translation at the road test. Some insurers quote on a foreign license and some want the New York license first; without U.S. driving history the first years usually cost more, so comparing carriers matters.

Generally yes: in New York the insurance follows the car. A DFS legal opinion says a licensed driver using your car with your permission is covered under your policy even if not named on it, as long as the use stays within the permission you gave. Under Vehicle and Traffic Law §388 you, as the owner, are also liable for injuries and damage they cause, so the claim lands on your policy. Someone in your household who drives the car regularly should be listed; the insurer can charge for a household driver who should have been.