Uninsured Motorist Settlement Amounts in New York (2024–2026)

Getting hit by an uninsured driver is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to a New York accident victim. The car that hit you is registered to no one you can find, or the driver admits having no insurance, and you wonder whether there is any way to be paid. There usually is, but the route is different from an ordinary car accident claim.

New York has three ways to protect people hurt by a driver without insurance: your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC), and a lawsuit against the uninsured driver personally. How each works, and how they fit together, decides what you can recover on Long Island, in the five boroughs, or anywhere else in New York State. For a table of which coverage pays in each situation, see our uninsured driver accident practice.

How Much Do Uninsured Motorist Claims Settle For in New York?

This article does not publish settlement ranges; a number detached from a case’s records misleads more than it helps. What can be stated is the ceiling. A UM or underinsured motorist claim is valued like any car accident claim, by the injuries and the proof, but the most it can pay is the limit of the coverage that applies:

• Mandatory UM coverage on a New York policy: $25,000 for injury to one person and $50,000 for injury to more than one person; $50,000 for the death of one person and $100,000 for the deaths of more than one (Insurance Law § 3420(f)(1)).
• Supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage, if you bought it: up to the limit on your policy (Insurance Law § 3420(f)(2), (2-a)).
• MVAIC, if you have no policy of your own: the same $25,000/$50,000 limits for injury and $50,000/$100,000 for death (Insurance Law § 5210(a)), reduced by any collectible insurance or assets of the uninsured motorist and any payment from others liable (§ 5210(b)).

If you carry only the $25,000 minimum and suffer a serious injury, that limit, not the injury, will usually decide the recovery from your own insurer. The way to change that is to buy SUM coverage before a crash.

What Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage and How Does It Work?

Insurance Law § 3420(f)(1) requires every New York auto liability policy to include uninsured motorist coverage. It pays what the insured “shall be entitled to recover as damages” from the owner or operator of, among others, “an uninsured motor vehicle, unidentified motor vehicle which leaves the scene of an accident,” a stolen vehicle, a vehicle used without the owner’s permission, an unregistered vehicle, or “an insured motor vehicle where the insurer disclaims liability or denies coverage.” The limits are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for injury.

For an unidentified driver, there is a condition. Insurance Law § 3420(f)(3) provides that the coverage “shall not apply” to a claim against a person whose identity is unascertainable “unless the bodily injury to the insured person arose out of physical contact of the motor vehicle causing the injury with the insured person or with a motor vehicle which the insured person was occupying.” A driver who runs you off the road without touching you or your car does not trigger it.

The process: notify your insurer of the crash and the other driver’s lack of insurance, give the insurer the medical records and proof of lost earnings it asks for, and either settle or go to arbitration if the policy provides for it. Read the notice conditions in your policy and give written notice right away.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage: When the At-Fault Driver Has Some Insurance but Not Enough

SUM coverage also covers the underinsured driver. It “shall provide coverage, in any state or Canadian province, if the limits of liability under all bodily injury liability bonds and insurance policies of another motor vehicle liable for damages are in a lesser amount than the bodily injury liability insurance limits of coverage provided by such policy” (Insurance Law § 3420(f)(2)(A)).

Three rules in the statute shape these claims:

• Exhaustion: “As a condition precedent to the obligation of the insurer to pay,” the other driver’s liability limits “shall be exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements.”
• Disclosure: on written request, the other driver’s insurer must disclose its bodily injury limits “within forty-five days of the request.”
• Tolling: the time to make the SUM claim “shall be tolled” while that insurer fails to disclose its coverage.

How amounts recovered from the at-fault driver are credited is set by the SUM endorsement prescribed in 11 NYCRR 60-2.3: the insurer’s “maximum payment under this SUM endorsement shall be the difference between: (1) the SUM limits; and (2) the motor vehicle bodily injury liability insurance or bond payments received by the insured” (Condition 5(b)). With $100,000 of SUM and $25,000 paid by the at-fault driver’s insurer, the most SUM pays is $75,000. Limits for two or more vehicles “shall never be added together or combined” (Condition 6), so policies do not stack. And SUM does not apply if you settle with the at-fault driver “without our written consent” (Exclusion 1); the endorsement lets you sign the release 30 days after your insurer receives written notice of a limits settlement, unless it agrees to advance the amount (Condition 9(a)). Send that notice before you sign anything.

MVAIC: The Insurer of Last Resort

The Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation pays claims for people injured by uninsured or unidentified drivers who have no insurance of their own to turn to.

Who qualifies

MVAIC protects a “qualified person.” Insurance Law § 5202(b) defines that as “a resident of this state, other than an insured or the owner of an uninsured motor vehicle and his spouse when a passenger in such vehicle,” or a resident of another state or country that gives New York residents similar protection. The accident must occur in New York (§ 5208(a)). If you have a policy with UM coverage, that policy is where the claim goes.

Hit-and-run requires physical contact

Insurance Law § 5217 provides that MVAIC’s protection “shall not apply” to a claim against a person whose identity is unascertainable “unless the bodily injury to the qualified person arose out of physical contact of the motor vehicle causing the injury with the qualified person or with a motor vehicle which the qualified person was occupying (meaning in or upon or entering into or alighting from) at the time of the accident.” For a hit-and-run, the claimant asks a court for an order permitting an action against MVAIC (§ 5218(a)) and must show, among other things, that “all reasonable efforts have been made to ascertain the identity” of the vehicle and its owner and operator (§ 5218(b)(5)).

MVAIC limits

A judgment MVAIC pays “exclusive of interest and costs shall not exceed” $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 for injury to more than one person in one accident, $50,000 for the death of one person, and $100,000 for the deaths of more than one person (Insurance Law § 5210(a)). The limit is reduced by any collectible insurance or assets of the uninsured motorist and by payments from anyone else liable (§ 5210(b)). There is no recovery from MVAIC for non-economic loss without a serious injury (§ 5210(a)).

The filing deadlines

Filing the affidavit with MVAIC on time is a condition precedent to the claim. Insurance Law § 5208(a) sets three deadlines:

Situation	Deadline to file the affidavit with MVAIC
Identified uninsured vehicle	180 days from accrual of the cause of action (§ 5208(a)(1))
Hit-and-run (unidentified driver)	90 days from accrual, and the accident must be reported to the police within 24 hours (§ 5208(a)(2)(A))
The other driver’s insurer disclaimed or denied coverage	180 days from receipt of notice of the disclaimer or denial (§ 5208(a)(3)(B))

A late report to the police does not defeat the claim “if it is shown that it was not reasonably possible to make such a report or that it was made as soon as was reasonably possible” (§ 5208(a)(2)(B)). A late affidavit can sometimes be accepted by MVAIC or allowed by a court on proof that it was not reasonably possible to file on time (§ 5208(b)), but do not count on it. If you were hurt by an uninsured or unidentified driver in Nassau County, Suffolk County or the five boroughs, file within the shorter deadline that could apply.

Factors That Affect the Value of Your UM or MVAIC Claim

Injury severity and medical documentation

Better-documented injuries support higher values. MRI findings, operative reports, neuropsychological testing for a traumatic brain injury, and consistent treatment records all matter. Gaps in treatment are what insurers, including your own, point to when they contest a claim.

Your policy limits

A $25,000 UM limit means $25,000 is the most that coverage pays, however serious the injury.

Whether the at-fault driver is identified

An identified uninsured driver can be sued personally, which a hit-and-run does not allow. It also decides which MVAIC deadline applies.

The gap between the at-fault driver’s coverage and your damages

The bigger the gap, the more your own SUM limit matters.

Fault

In a lawsuit, CPLR 1411(a) reduces damages in proportion to the claimant’s share of fault. For actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, CPLR 1411(b) bars recovery in a motor-vehicle action subject to article 51 of the Insurance Law when the claimant’s culpable conduct “is greater than the culpable conduct of the person against whom recovery is sought or is greater than the combined culpable conduct of the persons against whom recovery is sought.” We have not found an appellate decision on whether 1411(b) applies in a UM arbitration.

The Serious Injury Threshold Still Applies

New York’s serious injury threshold applies to UM and MVAIC claims, not only to lawsuits. Insurance Law § 3420(f)(1) provides that “no payment for non-economic loss shall be made under such policy provision to a covered person unless such person has incurred a serious injury,” and § 5210(a) says the same for MVAIC.

For actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, Insurance Law § 5102(d), as amended by Part EE of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, defines serious injury as one that results in “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; or significant limitation of use of a body function or system.” The former category for an injury that prevented substantially all daily activities for 90 of the 180 days after the accident applies only to actions commenced before May 26, 2026. A disc herniation is a diagnosis, not a category; it qualifies only if the proof fits one of the categories, usually a permanent consequential or significant limitation.

Your insurer is both your UM carrier and your opponent on this question. Expect an independent medical examination by a doctor the insurer chooses, and make sure your treating doctors document the limitation and its cause.

UM Arbitration and Lawsuits: How Disputes Are Resolved

Under the prescribed SUM endorsement, a disagreement about entitlement or amount goes to arbitration “at the option and upon written demand of such insured” (11 NYCRR 60-2.3, Condition 11(a)); either side can demand it when the SUM limit is only the mandatory minimum (Condition 11(b)). Coverage questions, such as whether the other vehicle was a motor vehicle or whether it was uninsured, are often decided in court first when the insurer petitions under CPLR article 75 to stay the arbitration. In Matter of Government Employees Insurance Co. v Bermeo, 230 AD3d 1141 (2d Dept 2024), the insurer obtained a permanent stay because the claimant was struck by an e-bike, which is not a motor vehicle, so there was no uninsured motor vehicle claim to arbitrate.

MVAIC claims follow the statute. For an identified uninsured driver, the claimant sues the driver and, after judgment, applies to the court for an order directing MVAIC to pay the unpaid amount within its limits (Insurance Law § 5210(a)). For a hit-and-run, the claimant applies to the court for leave to sue MVAIC directly (§ 5218(a)).

When Your Own Insurer Is the Adversary

In a UM claim, the company you have paid premiums to is on the other side. Expect it to ask for proof that the other vehicle was uninsured (such as the other insurer’s written disclaimer), to schedule medical examinations, to contest whether the injury meets § 5102(d), to raise late notice if any deadline slipped, and, in a hit-and-run, to dispute physical contact. Document everything, meet every notice condition, and get a lawyer involved early.

Speak With a New York Uninsured Motorist Attorney

Being hit by an uninsured driver on the Long Island Expressway, the Belt Parkway, the Grand Central Parkway, or any street in Nassau County, Suffolk County, or the five boroughs does not leave you without options. It does require moving quickly, because the MVAIC affidavit can be due in as little as 90 days, and treating the claim as the adversarial proceeding it is.

The Law Office of Jason Tenenbaum handles UM and SUM claims, MVAIC claims and UM arbitrations throughout Long Island and New York City.

If you were injured by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver, contact our office for a free consultation. Learn more about how we handle Long Island car accident cases and what we can do to protect your rights when the at-fault driver has no insurance.