If you get injured in a car crash, you are going to need to file a claim with your insurance company to provide coverage. Your insurance company, however, is probably not just going to go along with it and hand you free money. Instead, they are likely going to ask for evidence, such as a police report.
Police reports are not required to file car insurance claims in New York. However, it is still a good idea to try to obtain one. Police reports are invaluable resources that contain a great deal of information relevant to your claim and provide good evidence to insurance companies. Additionally, if you are planning on filing a lawsuit, police reports can be used in a variety of ways to support your claim, so it is beneficial to already have it rather than spending time tracking down the report later on.
For a free review of your case, call The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083 and talk to our New York car accident lawyers today.
Are Police Reports Required to File a Car Insurance Claim in NY?
Although police reports are incredibly useful, they are not required to file car insurance claims in New York. There is no law mandating that you seek out a police report for an insurance claim. However, that does not mean that doing so is not useful. In fact, it is a very good idea to obtain a police report about your crash as soon as you can because it can be used for so many things besides supporting your insurance claim. If you ever want to take a case to court, it is an invaluable source of information.
Information in police reports includes names of drivers involved in the accident, contact info for witnesses, the location of the accident, the officer’s impression of road conditions, sides of the story from various parties, and more. All of that information can be used to help improve your insurance claim and, later, a lawsuit if need be. Therefore, we recommend making an effort to obtain the police report for your car crash, even though you are not required to do so by law.
Where Can I Get Police Reports in New York?
If you are looking to use a police report in an insurance claim, you need to know where to find it. To get your crash report, you can navigate to the NYPD website and click “request a collision report,” which will then take you to a new web page where you can fill out information relating to your collision. Our Brooklyn car accident attorneys can help you with that process if you have questions or concerns.
Alternatively, you may be able to request the report by calling the police precinct that dispatched officers to your accident. This request must be made within 30 days of when the report was filed, so you must act fairly quickly. After those 30 days, the report is held by the NYDMV, not a police station, so you will have to go there to obtain it.
Other things that can Support Information in Police Reports When Filing a New York Car Insurance Claim?
While New York does not require people to use police reports for car insurance claims, it is still incredibly helpful to have something alongside your claim that acts as evidence and supports it. It is also good practice to submit other evidence alongside a police report to support and expand on what is said therein. At the end of the day, you need to prove to the insurance company that they are supposed to provide coverage, so anything you can use to help that assertion is useful to your claim. If you use the police report in combination with any of the things listed below, you will have incredibly strong support to back up your claims to insurance companies, and they will be hard-pressed to challenge your claims.
Video Footage
If you have your own personal video of the accident or shortly after it, you can use that to support insurance claims like car damage, injuries, and who is at fault for the accident.
Even if you do not have personal video footage, you still may be able to obtain video from surveillance cameras, dashboard cams, or other sources – if you can track them down.
Photo Evidence
If you have any photographs of the accident, they can be worked into your claim in lieu of a police report. Photographs can show road conditions, property damage, and injury to your person. Additionally, if you are able to have an expert opine on the photos, you can use that testimony in conjunction with the photographs to bolster your insurance claim.
Another important thing to remember is that the photographs do not need to be yours. Our attorneys can look to see if anyone who saw the accident took photos and request them to use in your case.
Medical Records
Medical can be used either by themselves or in conjunction with police reports to help bolster your car insurance claim. If you have charts or other records from any emergency treatment you received after the car crash, that can be shown to the insurance company to sway them to provide coverage.
Expert Testimony
If you have already retained counsel and deposed an expert witness, you may be able to submit their opinion on a certain aspect of the car crash to your insurance provider to support an insurance claim.
Our New York Car Accident Lawyers Can Help You Today
The Carrion Law Firm’s Staten Island car accident lawyers are just a phone call away when you dial our office at (718) 841-0083.