Guide to PIP Insurance in New York

The required car insurance in New York includes PIP insurance in the amounts of $50,000 for the death/injury of one person and $100,000 for the deaths/injuries of two or more people in an accident. PIP covers both economic and, in cases of serious injury, non-economic damages, regardless of who caused an accident.

What is covered by PIP Insurance in New York?

Economic damages include: 

• Medical expenses such as:
  • Ambulance
  • Dental
  • Hospital medical bills
  • Nursing
  • Occupational therapy
  • Physical therapy
  • Prescription drugs
  • Professional health services
  • Prosthetics
  • Psychiatry
  • Rehabilitation
  • Surgery
  • X-rays
• Non-medical remedial care in accordance with a religious method of healing
• Lost wages up to $2,000 per month for a maximum of three years following the date of the car accident
• Reasonable and necessary expenses, including:
  • Household help
  • Transportation to medical providers for a driver, passenger, or pedestrian injured in an accident
  • All other expenses up to $25 per day for up to one year from date of injury
• $2,000 death benefit

Non-economic losses apply only if you were “seriously injured” in an accident. New York insurance law defines a serious injury as one that results in:

• Death
• Dismemberment
• Fracture
• Loss of fetus
• Permanent consequential limitation of use of a body system or function
• Permanent loss of use of a body organ, function, system, or member
• Significant disfigurement
• Medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature that prevents someone from performing substantially all of their usual and customary daily activities for at least 90 days following the 180 days after the injury or impairment¹

If these conditions apply, you can file a PIP claim and recover money for your pain and suffering.

PIP Limitations

PIP does not pay for any car repairs or accidents that occur outside of the U.S. It generally covers only the driver, their passengers, and any pedestrians involved, not anyone in another vehicle. However, the following circumstances make a collision ineligible for PIP benefits:

• Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, except for emergency medical services, but the insurer can later recover these amounts
• Committing a felony
• Driving an uninsured vehicle
• Driving a vehicle known to be stolen
• Intentional injuries
• Driving an ATV or motorcycle²

New York is a no-fault state, which means that the at-fault party is responsible for paying for the other party’s property damages under their liability coverage, and each party pays for its own medical expenses under PIP.

How No-Fault Claims Work

If you caused a car accident, you’d file a first-party claim with your insurance provider to pay for your damages (collision coverage) and injuries (PIP). Then, the not-at-fault party would file a third-party claim with your insurer for liability coverage. You’d have to pay your collision deductible, but after that, your insurance company would pay for your losses up to your limits.

Negligence Laws

New York has pure comparative negligence laws, which means that victims of a car accident can recover money no matter how negligent or at fault they were. However, their compensation will be reduced by their percentage of fault.⁴

New York requires the following insurance coverages and limits:

• Bodily injury liability per person: $25,000
• Bodily injury liability per accident: $50,000
• Property damage liability: $10,000
• Uninsured motorist coverage per person: $25,000
• Uninsured motorist coverage per accident: $50,000
• Personal injury protection (PIP): $50,000 for the death of one person in an accident or $100,000 for the death of two or more people in an accident⁵

Want to find cheap New York car insurance? Ask your insurance agent what discounts apply to you, as every company offers different ways to save. Here are some common examples:

• Accident-free: Get a discount if you aren’t involved in an accident for a certain period of time.
• Good student: A student in your family with good grades can save you money on car insurance.
• Bundle: Lower the costs of multiple policies at once by bundling home and auto insurance, to name one example.
• Point and Insurance Reduction Program: Aside from insurance company discounts, New York has a program called the Point and Insurance Reduction Program for people with 11 or more points on their driving record. If you take a course, you can save 10 percent on your collision and liability insurance premium for three years. Find a course either in person or online:
  • In person: https://dmv.ny.gov/pirp/classroom
  • Online: https://dmv.ny.gov/pirp/online

As of 2020, the most recent data available from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the average cost of car insurance in New York was $1,436 per year, the second-highest rate in the country after Louisiana. That number breaks down into:

• Liability: $923, the third highest in the nation after Louisiana and Florida
• Collision: $455, the fifth highest in the nation after D.C., California, Rhode Island, and Michigan
• Comprehensive: $177, about the same as the national average of $174⁶

The exact cost of car insurance will differ based on many factors, including your driving history and ZIP code. If you have had any traffic violations, like having to pay fines for texting and driving in New York, your rates will be higher compared to someone with a clean driving record. Costs will be higher in cities like New York, Albany, and Rochester, and lower in suburban and rural areas upstate.

You must get insurance before registering a vehicle in New York. But where to look?

Based on our proprietary data, these companies are the best New York has to offer:

• State Farm 
• Allstate
• USAA
• Farmers

Having PIP required means fewer car accident lawsuits in New York, making insurance premiums lower for everybody. That being said, any extra coverage makes insurance more expensive, so for the absolute lowest prices, stick with minimum car insurance coverage.