The NF-2 No-Fault Application in New York

The NF-2 is New York's Application for Motor Vehicle No-Fault Benefits, the sworn form a driver, passenger, or pedestrian files to get medical bills and lost wages paid after a crash.

The deadline that decides most claims is written notice to the insurer within 30 days of the accident.

If nothing has been sent to the insurer in writing yet, the NF-2 is that notice, and it has to go out inside those 30 days.

Medical bills are due within 45 days of each treatment, and proof of lost wages within 90 days of the loss.

No-fault pays up to $50,000 no matter who caused the crash.

If no one has put your claim in writing, call (888) 713-6653 before day 30. The review is free.

The insurer is supposed to mail you the NF-2 with an NF-1 cover letter within five business days of learning about the claim, unless it plans to pay what was submitted.^[1] The form asks how the accident happened, what injuries you have, where you were treated, and whether you lost time from work.

It is signed and affirmed as true under the penalties of perjury. A parent or guardian signs for a child. The form also carries two authorizations, one releasing your health information and one releasing wage and loss information, and you sign those as well.^[2]

• List every injury, including the ones that seem minor. A neck or back complaint left off the form invites an argument later that it came from somewhere else.
• Name every provider you have seen so far. The emergency room, the urgent care, and the first doctor all belong on it.
• Describe the accident the way the police report does, and say so if you think the report got something wrong.
• Keep a copy and proof of mailing. The 30-day clock is measured by when you sent the notice, so the receipt is your evidence.

The form asks you to describe a crash you may barely remember. Most people get the NF-2 in a hospital bed or find it in a stack of mail weeks later. We fill it out with them line by line. Because every answer on a sworn form can be read back to you. We would rather you write that you do not know than guess.

If you are not sure whether the crash qualifies at all, our page answering whether a crash falls under New York no-fault covers who it pays and for what.

Three deadlines bind you and three bind the insurer.

The 30-day rule attaches to written notice, not to the NF-2 as a form. The Department of Financial Services told insurers in 2009 that the regulation sets no separate deadline for returning an NF-2 once timely written notice was given another way.^[3] A police accident report showing injuries also counts as written notice when the insurer receives it, but waiting to see whether a report arrived is a gamble with no upside.

The deadlines do not rescue each other. The Court of Appeals has held that a medical bill submitted on time does not cure a notice of claim that came late, because each is a separate condition of coverage.^[4]

Count the 30 days from the day after the crash and send the notice early, with proof of the date you mailed it, because that date is the one that counts.

Missing day 30 does not end the claim automatically. The regulation excuses late notice where the injured person submits written proof giving a clear and reasonable justification for the delay.

The excuse is weighed by the same insurer that issued the denial, so a written justification sent with the late notice holds up better than one assembled after the denial arrives.

The insurer's clock starts when it has complete proof of claim, including any verification it asked for. It can ask for additional verification within 15 business days of receiving the prescribed forms, and it has to pay the parts of a claim it does not dispute.

• Interest on late payments. Overdue benefits earn 2 percent a month, and the claimant is entitled to a reasonable attorney's fee under Insurance Law § 5106(a).^[5]
• Examinations you cannot skip. The insurer can require a medical examination by a doctor it chooses, and an examination under oath where it has an objective reason. Missing a scheduled medical exam has been held to let an insurer deny every claim back to the date of the accident.^[6]
• The 120-day rule. If the insurer asks for verification and warns you, it can deny when nothing, and no written reason, arrives within 120 calendar days.
• The new denial form. Denials issued on or after August 15, 2026 use the revised NF-10, which lists your options in plain terms.^[7]

Arbitration through the American Arbitration Association costs $40, refunded if you win in whole or in part, and a lawsuit against an insurer over unpaid benefits can be filed for six years. Keep every letter the insurer sends, because the dates on them decide whether its denial came on time.

Not owning a car does not mean you have no no-fault coverage.

• A passenger. The insurer of the vehicle you were riding in, in most cases.
• A pedestrian or cyclist struck by a car. The insurer of the vehicle that hit you.
• A bus passenger. Your own or your household's auto insurer first, and the bus company's insurer only if there is none.
• Hit by an uninsured or unidentified driver. Your household's auto policy if there is one, and the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation if there is not.

MVAIC runs on its own notice rules. A claim involving an identified but uninsured vehicle needs a notice of intention within 180 days, and a hit-and-run with an unknown driver needs one within 90 days plus a police report within 24 hours.^[8] Our page on hit-and-run and MVAIC claims covers that filing.

Motorcycle riders are outside no-fault entirely, so a rider's medical bills come from health insurance and the liability claim instead.

No-fault caps out at $50,000 in basic economic loss and pays nothing for pain and suffering.^[9] Everything beyond it comes from a claim against the driver who caused the crash, which in New York requires an injury that fits one of the eight serious injury categories.