A fender-bender on the Belt Parkway or a sideswipe on a narrow Brooklyn side street rattles anyone. What you do in the first ten days matters more than most drivers realize — New York writes hard deadlines into its accident rules, and missing one can cost you a claim or even your license.
At the scene
Move to safety if the vehicles are drivable, put on hazards, and call 911 if anyone is hurt or traffic is blocked. Exchange license, registration, and insurance details with every driver involved. Photograph all four corners of each vehicle, the plates, the street signs, the traffic controls, and the wider scene. Get names and numbers from witnesses — they scatter fast.
The NYPD collision report
If police respond, the officer files a report (form MV-104AN). You can pull a copy from the NYPD’s Collision Report Retrieval Portal at collisionreport.nypdonline.org; allow up to seven business days after the crash for it to appear. Requests go through the NYPD for the first 30 days. After that the report sits with the state DMV, and you request it using form MV-198C.
Your own MV-104: 10 days
This is the one drivers miss. If anyone was injured or killed, or property damage to any one person’s property tops $1,000 — which today covers nearly any real contact — the driver must file form MV-104 with the DMV within 10 days. It is your obligation, not the officer’s, and the police report does not replace it. Failing to file is a misdemeanor, and the DMV can suspend your license or registration until the form is in.
Tell your insurer: 30 days
New York’s no-fault system pays medical bills regardless of who caused the crash, but only if your insurer gets written notice within 30 days of the accident. Medical bills then have to be submitted within 45 days of treatment. Both deadlines are enforced strictly.
One NYC wrinkle: 90 days
If the other vehicle belongs to the city — an MTA bus, a sanitation truck, an NYPD car — the ordinary timeline shrinks. A notice of claim generally has to be served within 90 days of the crash before any lawsuit can move forward. If a municipal vehicle was involved, talk to a lawyer early rather than at your leisure.
Choosing where the car gets fixed
Your insurer can recommend a shop. It cannot require one. That choice is yours and it is worth using, because insurers routinely push body shops toward aftermarket parts to hold costs down. Plaza Body Shop, a Brooklyn body shop that’s been at it for 50 years at 2699 Nostrand Avenue, guarantees OEM parts on every repair even when the insurance company is paying, and negotiates the claim on your behalf. Free 24/7 towing anywhere in the five boroughs, a free loaner with most repairs, free estimates, and a single point of contact handling your file start to finish.
Handle the paperwork on time and hand the car to someone who repairs it back to factory specification, and a bad day stays just a bad day.
