INTRODUCTION TO UNINSURED MOTORISTS PROTECTION
In New York State if you are involved in a automobile accident you are entitled to personal injury protection (PIP) regardless of who may be at fault due to the state’s No-Fault law. In instances when another individual’s negligence was the cause of the accident you can make a bodily injury claim through the at-fault vehicle’s insurance to be compensated for your liability claim. There are times, however, when one may be struck by an individual with insufficient coverage. Read on to see the options available to you if ever faced with this scenario.
UNINSURED COVERAGE (UM)
All drivers in New York State are required to purchase liability insurance that meet the following standards:
- Bodily Injury minimum: Minimum $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident
- Property Damage minimum: Minimum $10,000 (does not apply to your own vehicle)
- Uninsured/Underinsured Bodily Injury minimum: Minimum $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident (cannot exceed your BI liability limits)
- Basic Personal Injury Protection minimum: Minimum $50,000
Despite these requirements there are about 5.3% of drivers in New York who operate their vehicles without insurance. Though this places NY as 3rd lowest state (behind Massachusetts and Maine) with uninsured motorists, this still means that there are thousands of drivers out there with inadequate coverage.
The UM coverage helps you if you do not have access to an adverse vehicle’s liability insurance due to an accident caused by:
- Unidentified hit and run driver
- Uninsured out-of-state motor vehicle
- Uninsured NY motor vehicle
- Stolen motor vehicle
- Motor vehicle operated without the consent of the owner
- Unregistered motor vehicle
The Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) while also providing protection in accidents involving uninsured motorists, only steps in as the last resort.
UNDERINSURED COVERAGE (UIM)
Unlike uninsured motorist BI coverage, underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) is not required by New York State. It provides coverage if the at-fault driver in an accident has insufficient liability coverage to fully compensate you.
In both UM and UIM cases a claim has to be filed against your own insurance to process bodily injury claims. UIM claims come into effect after the at-fault driver’s liability has been exhausted. If you find yourself seriously injured by an underinsured motorist, you may have a UIM claim if the injuries you sustain surpass the limits of the negligent driver’s policy.
SEEK A NYC UNINSURED MOTORISTS ATTORNEY WITH EXPERIENCE
Although most insurance companies will acknowledge and honor the UM/UIM provisions of your policy, there are some who may try to reject your UM/UIM claim or offer you very little compensation. It is thus very important to reach out to a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. At Wittenstein & Wittenstein we can help investigate your claim and ensure that you receive fair recovery. We have over 60 years of experience with settling cases involving uninsured and underinsured motorists in New York. Call NYC Uninsured Motorist Attorney today to schedule a free consultation.
NYC UNINSURED MOTORISTS ATTORNEY
The Resistance Is Open Source
Every successful movement for justice has learned the same lesson the hard way: no single group gets to win alone — and no single group gets to control the win. understood this deeply. He did not build the civil-rights movement by consolidating power, branding ownership, or guarding access. He built it by insisting on coalition — across churches, synagogues, mosques, labor, students, artists, and neighborhood leaders — and by reminding people that moral authority collapses when ego [...]
What to Do When You See an ICE Rumor Online
What to Do When You See an ICE Rumor Online Rumors about ICE raids and immigration enforcement can spread quickly online and cause unnecessary fear, missed work or school, and real harm to families and neighborhoods. In moments of uncertainty, sharing unverified information can escalate panic rather than protect people. This guide explains how to slow the spread of rumors, verify claims responsibly, and document observed activity safely—so communities stay informed without creating fear. Why ICE Rumors [...]
Reject the Evidence of Your Eyes and Ears: Orwell’s 1984, Trump, ICE, and the Loyalty Test of Fascism
George Orwell’s 1984 warned that authoritarian power ultimately demands one thing above all else: loyalty proven by denying reality itself. That warning is no longer abstract. From January 6 to the killing of Nicole Good by ICE, Americans are being asked to reject what they can plainly see and hear—and to treat that denial as a civic duty. “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential [...]
Queens Says No Kings: The Making of a Queens-Wide Resistance Coalition
Queens Says No Kings is a Queens-based activist coalition formed in late 2024 in direct response to the reelection of Donald Trump. From the beginning, it brought together leaders of existing Queens activist groups who understood that the political moment demanded coordination across neighborhoods and organizations, not isolated actions. What followed was not a smooth or linear process, but a sequence of actions, leadership transitions, and creative breakthroughs that reshaped how large-scale resistance organizing took form in [...]
Community Is Not a Brand — It’s a Practice
Community doesn’t appear fully formed. It’s built through repetition, trust, and showing up when it would be easier not to. In Queens, community work rarely announces itself as something grand. It looks like folding tables carried out early in the morning. It looks like hand-lettered signs drying on the floor. It looks like people learning each other’s names slowly, sometimes awkwardly, over weeks and months. It looks like neighbors deciding that the conditions they’re living under are [...]
What Is an Art Build?
How Art Builds Strengthen Protest Movements Through Visual Language An art build is a gathering that happens before a protest, march, or rally to create large-scale, coordinated visual elements that will be deployed together in public space. Rather than focusing on a single object, an art build brings people together to construct a shared visual language—one that can hold across streets, crowds, architecture, and cameras. Some kinds of political expression can’t be made by one person, at [...]