For the New York Personal Lines exam, auto insurance is unlike almost any other state because New York is a No-Fault state with its own statutory benefits, its own minimum limits, and a unique extra layer called SUM. This standalone guide covers the national fundamentals of the personal auto policy briefly, then makes New York law the spine: No-Fault/PIP, financial responsibility limits, required coverages, and the consumer-protection rules on cancellation and nonrenewal you must know for the exam.

The national foundation (quick version)

Across the country, a personal auto policy is built from familiar parts: liability (bodily injury and property damage you are legally responsible for), medical payments, uninsured/underinsured motorists, and physical damage (collision and other-than-collision). New York rides on that same skeleton, but the state rewrites several pieces and bolts on coverages you will not see in a generic national policy. When a New York exam question conflicts with the "general" answer, the New York rule wins.

New York is a No-Fault state

New York's auto system comes from the Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance Reparations Act (Insurance Law Article 51), almost always called No-Fault. The idea: after a crash, your own insurer pays your basic medical and economic losses regardless of who caused the accident, so most minor injury claims never go to court.

• The No-Fault benefit is officially first-party benefits for basic economic loss, commonly called PIP (Personal Injury Protection).
• Basic economic loss covers medical/health expenses, lost earnings, and other reasonable necessary expenses, plus a death benefit, up to the statutory amount of $50,000 per person.
• Because care is paid regardless of fault, the tradeoff is a limited right to sue. You may pursue a liability lawsuit for pain and suffering only if the injury meets the "serious injury" verbal threshold (death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, permanent loss of a body organ/function, and similar categories). This threshold is a favorite exam topic.

What No-Fault does NOT do

No-Fault pays your injuries. It does not pay for property damage to your own car (that's physical damage coverage) and it does not replace liability coverage for the bodily injury or property damage you cause to others. Students often confuse "No-Fault pays everything" — it doesn't.

Mandatory coverages on a New York auto policy

New York requires every registered vehicle to carry a package that is broader than the bare liability most states demand:

• Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability at the state minimums (below).
• No-Fault / PIP (basic economic loss) of $50,000.
• Uninsured Motorists (UM) coverage for bodily injury.

On top of those mandatory pieces, New York drivers can — and very commonly do — add SUM coverage, described next.

Financial responsibility limits (the New York minimums)

New York's compulsory liability minimums are set by the Vehicle and Traffic Law. Memorize them as a split limit:

• $25,000 bodily injury per person
• $50,000 bodily injury per accident
• $10,000 property damage per accident

That's the familiar 25 / 50 / 10. New York adds a wrinkle most states don't: higher limits that apply in the event of death — commonly stated as $50,000 per person / $100,000 per accident (50/100) for death claims. So you may see New York described as 25/50/10 with a 50/100 death overlay.

SUM coverage: New York's signature add-on

SUM stands for Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists coverage, and it is one of the most New-York-specific items on the exam.

• UM protects you when the at-fault driver has no insurance or is a hit-and-run.
• SUM (the underinsured piece) protects you when the at-fault driver has insurance but not enough to cover your injuries; your SUM coverage fills the gap up to your own SUM limit.
• SUM is optional but routinely offered, and insurers must offer it up to the insured's own bodily injury liability limits.

When the at-fault driver is uninsured, untraceable, or the vehicle is unidentified and the injured person has no applicable coverage, the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) can step in as a payer of last resort.

The residual market: NYAIP

Drivers who can't buy coverage in the regular ("voluntary") market get it through the New York Automobile Insurance Plan (NYAIP) — the state's assigned-risk plan. The NYAIP guarantees that even high-risk drivers can satisfy the state's mandatory insurance requirement.

Cancellation and nonrenewal: strong consumer protections

New York tightly limits when an insurer can cancel a personal auto policy, and the rules reward the policyholder once a policy has been in force for a while.

• During the first 60 days a new policy is in effect, the insurer has broad latitude to cancel for underwriting reasons (this is the initial review window).
• After 60 days (and for renewal policies), the insurer may cancel only for limited statutory reasons, primarily nonpayment of premium, suspension/revocation of the driver's license or registration of the named insured or a regular operator, or fraud/material misrepresentation.
• Cancellation requires advance written notice. The notice period is short for nonpayment (about 15 days) and longer for other allowed reasons (commonly 20 days); confirm the exact figure for your exam, but the key concept is that some advance written notice is always required.
• Nonrenewal and conditional renewal require advance written notice as well — New York's standard window is between 45 and 60 days before the policy expires — so the insured has time to shop for replacement coverage.

The exam-worthy takeaway: New York protects drivers from sudden mid-term cancellation; after the early review period, an insurer essentially needs nonpayment, a licensing problem, or fraud to cancel.

Key New York numbers to memorize

Common exam traps

• Calling New York an at-fault/tort state. It is No-Fault with a serious-injury threshold for lawsuits.
• Forgetting PIP is $50,000. Basic economic loss is $50,000 per person, not a national figure you remember from elsewhere.
• Thinking No-Fault pays your car damage. It pays injuries/economic loss, not your vehicle — that's collision/comprehensive.
• Skipping the death overlay. Minimums are 25/50/10, with 50/100 applying to death.
• Confusing UM with SUM. UM = no insurance/hit-and-run; SUM adds the underinsured gap-filler and is New York's signature coverage.
• Assuming cancellation is easy. After 60 days, the insurer needs nonpayment, a license/registration suspension, or fraud.
• Writing "Commissioner." New York's regulator is the Superintendent of DFS.

Quick recap

New York auto insurance sits on the standard liability/med/UM/physical-damage skeleton but is governed by the No-Fault Reparations Act. Your own insurer pays basic economic loss (PIP) up to $50,000 regardless of fault, and you can sue for pain and suffering only when the injury crosses the serious-injury threshold. Every vehicle must carry liability at 25/50/10 (with a 50/100 death overlay), No-Fault, and Uninsured Motorists, and most drivers add SUM to cover underinsured at-fault drivers. The MVAIC backstops uninsured/hit-and-run victims, and the NYAIP is the assigned-risk market. Finally, New York's consumer rules limit mid-term cancellation after 60 days to nonpayment, license/registration suspension, or fraud, and require advance notice for nonrenewal — all enforced by DFS under the Superintendent.