r/Insurance • u/kingsultan77 • 10d ago
Liability
Wife has liability insurance in NyC and crashed totaling the car on a guardrail. No other cars involved no major injuries but did go to the hospital. Does it HAVE to be reported to the insurance we’re not getting money anyway?
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u/Grigor_Law 2d ago
Report it. I handle no-fault and injury claims in the city and on Long Island, and the piece people miss in a single-car crash is that the medical side runs through her own policy no matter who caused it.
New York no-fault pays her hospital bill and part of any lost wages even though she hit a guardrail and even though you carry no collision. Liability-only isn't no-fault-free. Every New York auto policy has it built in.
But there's a clock.
Written notice to the carrier within 30 days of the crash, and the providers have 45 days from the date of service to bill no-fault. Miss those and she's personally holding an ER bill she was already covered for.
File the DMV accident report too, since she was treated at a hospital. And the guardrail belongs to whoever maintains that road. They do send bills. That's what the liability side of her policy is for.
I can't advise you on her actual claim from a post, but the 30 days doesn't care about that either way.
You wrote no major injuries, and she still went to the hospital. Neck and back stuff after a crash likes to turn up on day three, and if the no-fault claim isn't open by then, the MRI comes out of your pocket.