Hit From the Left on a Green Light in New York — With No Collision Coverage

Attorney Answer

Without collision coverage on your own policy, the money to repair your car has to come from the other driver's liability insurance — which means this claim now rises or falls on proving that he was at fault. Collision coverage is the coverage that pays for your own vehicle no matter who caused the crash. A driver who does not carry it is not without a remedy; the claim simply runs against the driver who hit him, under the liability coverage that driver was required to carry.

That puts the green light at the center of the case. You were going straight on a green signal and the other car crossed into your path from the left. Which driver had the right of way at that moment is the fact an adjuster will decide this claim on. If the other car was turning left across your path, Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1141 puts the duty on the turning driver: "The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right of way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close as to constitute an immediate hazard." If instead that car came out of a cross street, the section that controls depends on how the intersection was signed or signaled — a detail your message does not contain and one an attorney would pull from the police report and the intersection itself.

Being assigned part of the blame does not end a New York claim for damage to a car. CPLR 1411(a) provides: "Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, in any action to recover damages for personal injury, injury to property, or wrongful death, the culpable conduct attributable to the claimant or to the decedent, including contributory negligence or assumption of risk, shall not bar recovery. The amount of damages otherwise recoverable shall be diminished in the proportion which the culpable conduct attributable to the claimant or decedent bears to the culpable conduct which caused the damages." This is not a personal injury action arising out of the use of a motor vehicle, so pure comparative fault is the rule that governs it: a share of the blame reduces what you collect in proportion to that share, and it does not bar you.

If the other driver's insurer refuses to pay, Insurance Law § 3420 is worth knowing about. It sets out the provisions every liability policy issued or delivered in New York must contain, among them a provision allowing an action directly against the insurer by someone holding a judgment against its insured that is still unsatisfied thirty days after notice of entry of that judgment has been served. That is a route, not a shortcut, and whether it fits your situation is a question for a lawyer who has read the policy and the file.

What you can do

1. Open a property damage claim in writing with the other driver's liability insurer, and keep the claim number and the adjuster's name.

2. Photograph the damage from several angles before any repair work is started, and keep the car available for the insurer's appraiser.

3. Get two written repair estimates from shops you choose.

4. Request the police accident report if officers responded, and write down the name and number of anyone who saw which direction had the green.

5. Ask your own insurer, in writing, for a list of the coverages actually on your policy — some pay towing or a rental car even where collision was declined.

6. Do not sign a release or cash a final payment until a New York attorney has told you what it gives up.

⏱ Time limits apply. An action to recover damages for an injury to property must be commenced within three years under CPLR 214(4), and an action for a personal injury within three years under CPLR 214(5) — "an action to recover damages for a personal injury except as provided in sections 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215." Both periods run from the date of this collision, not from the day an insurer denies you, and negotiating with an adjuster does not extend either one. Which period governs your claim, and whether anything in your facts shortens it, depends on details this page cannot see — have a New York attorney fix your dates rather than relying on an estimate.