Liability Insurance Coverage in New York State

For drivers living within the state of New York, the prospect of securing motor vehicular insurance coverage is a little more complex than for drivers elsewhere in the country. The reason for this is the simple fact that New York State is what one might call a ‘no-fault’ state. This means that in the event of an accident, fault is generally not accorded to any party, as it relates to the handling of expenses that may arise as a result of the accident. As such, when drivers within New York State have the misfortune of being involved in an accident, they have to rely on their own insurance companies to ‘foot their bills’, even if they were not the offending party.

This has quite a number of implications for New York insurance requirements, as cars registered in the state are mandated by state law to have liability insurance coverage. This coverage must supply between twenty-five and fifty thousand dollars for injury, between fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dollars for death, and no less than ten thousand dollars to cover damages to property. Additionally, the figures quoted are per accident.

Other implications include the fact that liability insurance can only be secured from an instate provider, who has been approved and licensed by the New York State Insurance Department. If drivers attempt to secure insurance from out-of-state providers, they will find themselves in trouble, as they will be regarded as having no insurance coverage. Moreover, your insurance coverage must be issued in the name of the person to whom the vehicle is registered, and any change in registrant name will result in a lapse of coverage and a suspension of the registration and driver’s license of the original registrant.

In order to have your vehicle newly registered, or to renew the registration, you will need to provide proof of your liability insurance. This proof comes in the form of a New York State Insurance I.D. card, as well as an electronic notice from the insurance provider.

Finally, it is important for drivers to know that even in the event that they move out of the state of New York they cannot switch their coverage to an out-of-state provider, as long as their vehicles are still registered in New York. If you do this, then your insurance coverage lapses and your registration and license will be suspended.

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