How to Complete and Submit the NYC Vehicular Property Damage Claim Form

To file a vehicular property damage claim against New York City, complete the NYC Vehicular Property Damage Claim Form (NYC-COMPT-BLA-PD3-E2) and submit it to the Comptroller’s Office within 90 days of the incident. You can file electronically through the Comptroller’s eClaim system, by mail, or in person at 1 Centre Street, Room 1225, New York, NY 10007.¹ Miss the 90-day window and your claim is almost certainly dead.

What the Form Requires

General Municipal Law Section 50-e sets the minimum contents of any Notice of Claim: your name and mailing address, the nature of the claim, the time, place, and manner of the incident, and the items of damage described as specifically as you can at the time of filing.² The form must be sworn before a notary. An unsworn notice is defective and can be rejected before anyone reviews the merits.

Pin down the collision details first: the exact date, approximate time, and street location. If a city vehicle hit you, note the agency (NYPD, DSNY, FDNY, and so on), the plate or fleet number, and the driver’s name or badge number if you can get it. That information lets the Bureau of Law and Adjustment match your claim to the agency’s internal records.

Gather your supporting evidence before or shortly after filing:

Two or three written repair estimates, each breaking out parts and labor by damaged component.
Photographs of every angle of the damage, plus wider shots of the scene, any debris, and the city vehicle if it is still there.
The police or DMV crash report. Under Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 605, any crash causing more than $1,000 in property damage must be reported to the DMV on Form MV-104. You can request the police report from the precinct where the crash happened or get processed reports through the DMV.³
Your auto insurance policy details and any correspondence with your insurer about the collision.⁴

Completing the Vehicular Property Damage Claim Form

As of January 1, 2026, the Comptroller’s Office revised all electronic claim forms and no longer accepts older versions. Check the upper right corner of page one for the label NYC-COMPT-BLA-PD3-E2 before you enter anything.⁵ You must fill out the PDF in Adobe Reader. Forms completed inside a browser or in other PDF software will be rejected by the eClaim system.⁶

The form asks for your vehicle’s make, model, year, plate number, VIN, and mileage. It also contains an authorization for the city to inspect and appraise the vehicle, so expect that request. Fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory; the system rejects incomplete forms.

Writing the Incident Narrative

The section describing how the claim arose is where filers either write too little or wander into detail that hurts them. Stick to facts: what the city vehicle did, what happened to your car as a result, and what damage followed. Something like “A DSNY collection truck reversed into my parked 2021 Honda Civic at approximately 7:15 a.m. on March 12, 2026, at 45th Street and 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, crushing the rear bumper and taillight assembly” is the right level of specificity. Leave out opinions about fault. The adjusters draw their own conclusions.

Itemizing Your Damages

List each damaged component with the repair cost from your estimates. If your bumper replacement is quoted at $1,400 and your taillight at $350, those go as separate line items. Keep the total realistic; inflated numbers invite scrutiny and slow the process. When your estimates vary, using the midrange or lowest credible figure signals that you are not fishing for a windfall.

If repair costs approach or exceed the car’s value, the city may treat the loss as total. Then the relevant figure is the vehicle’s actual cash value immediately before the collision, based on year, mileage, condition, and any upgrades. Kelley Blue Book can help you establish a baseline, and a private appraisal (roughly $200 to $500) gives you independent documentation if you disagree with the city’s valuation.

How To Submit the Claim

You have two options. Email is not one of them. The Comptroller’s Office does not accept claims by email.⁴

Filing Online Through eClaim

The electronic filing process runs as follows:⁶

Right-click the Vehicular Property Damage Claim Form link and choose “Save link as” to save the PDF locally. Do not open it inside your browser.
Fill in every required field in Adobe Reader, save, and close.
Click “Begin eClaim Filing Process,” certify your information is true, and upload the completed form.
Once the form is accepted, upload photos, estimates, and crash reports as JPEG, TIFF, or PDF files. Each file must be under 20 MB; there is no cap on the number of attachments.
Click “File Claim,” then download or print the eClaim receipt for your records.

One technical trap: your browser must allow third-party cookies or the upload will fail. Chrome’s incognito mode blocks them by default, as do some Edge configurations.⁵

Filing by Mail or in Person

Send or bring paper filings to:

Office of the New York City Comptroller
1 Centre Street, Room 1225
New York, NY 10007¹

If you mail it, use certified or registered mail and keep the return receipt. That receipt is your proof of the filing date. If you deliver it in person, have the clerk stamp your copy at the intake window. Filing date matters because of the 90-day deadline, and you do not want a later fight about when the office actually received your paperwork.

The 90-Day Deadline

Property damage tort claims must be filed within 90 days of the incident.¹ This is a statutory cutoff under General Municipal Law Section 50-e, and the Comptroller’s Office cannot waive it.

If you miss the deadline, your only path is a court application for permission to file late. A judge weighs several factors, especially whether the city already had actual knowledge of the facts of your claim within the 90-day window or shortly after.² Even if the court grants leave, you remain bound by the overall statute of limitations of one year and 90 days from the incident.

What Happens After You File

The Comptroller’s Bureau of Law and Adjustment investigates. The BLA gathers information from you, the involved city agency, and other sources to decide whether the city bears responsibility.⁷ There is no fixed timeline; the office says each investigation is specific to its facts and depends on how quickly outside sources respond.⁸

The 50-h Hearing

Under General Municipal Law Section 50-h, the city can require you to appear for an examination under oath about the incident and your damages.⁹ The demand must be served on you or your attorney within 90 days of your Notice of Claim and must state the time, place, and subject matter. It is essentially a recorded interview. You answer questions about what happened, and the city uses your testimony to evaluate the claim. You may bring your own attorney and a relative or other person of your choosing.

Complying is not optional if the city demands the hearing. You cannot file a lawsuit until at least 30 days after your Notice of Claim and until you have satisfied any 50-h demand.⁸

Settlement Offers

If the BLA determines the city may be responsible, you will get a settlement offer by letter along with a release, a legal document in which you agree to drop the claim in exchange for the offered amount. You have 30 days to sign and return the release, and payment is mailed to you afterward.⁸ If the offer seems too low, call the examiner assigned to your claim, whose contact information appears in the letter, to discuss it or ask for more time.

Offers are typically based on the repair costs your documentation supports. The city will not pay more than your estimates and evidence justify, which is why thorough documentation up front matters so much.

If the Claim Is Not Resolved

Sometimes the city denies liability. Sometimes the investigation drags on. Either way, the Comptroller’s Office cannot settle any claim after one year and 90 days from the date of the incident.⁸ That same date is the statute of limitations for suing the city under General Municipal Law Section 50-i.¹⁰

If you have not received a satisfactory offer and that deadline is approaching, you need to file suit or lose the right permanently. A lawsuit can be filed once 30 days have passed since your Notice of Claim and you have complied with any 50-h demand. At that point the matter leaves the Comptroller’s administrative process and moves into court, where you will almost certainly want an attorney.

Insurance and Double Recovery

If you filed a collision claim with your own auto insurer and it already paid for repairs, your insurer likely has a subrogation right, meaning it, not you, may be the one pursuing the city for reimbursement of what it paid. Filing your own claim against the city for those same repairs is double recovery, and the city will catch it and reject it.

Where you personally have a claim is the gap: your deductible, rental car costs, and other out-of-pocket amounts your insurer did not cover. Those belong to you. On the form, include your insurance information and specify that you are claiming only the unreimbursed portion. The Comptroller’s property damage FAQ asks for insurance details as part of supporting documentation for exactly this reason.⁴

Where To Call With Questions

For general questions about filing, call the Comptroller’s Community Action Center at (212) 669-3916. For technical problems with the eClaim system, call (212) 669-4118.⁴

1
Office of the New York City Comptroller. General Claim Filing FAQs
2
New York State Senate. General Municipal Law 50-E – Notice of Claim
3
NY DMV. File a Motorist Crash (Accident) Report
4
Office of the New York City Comptroller. Property Damage Claim FAQs
5
NYC Comptroller. NYC Comptroller – eClaim
6
Office of the New York City Comptroller. eClaim Filing
7
Office of the New York City Comptroller. Mission & Office Overview
8
NYC Comptroller. Filing A Claim – NYC Comptroller’s Office
9
New York State Senate. General Municipal Law 50-H – Examination of Claims
10
New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law – GMU 50-i