The three-digit numbers on a New York police accident report are insurance company codes, and each one identifies the carrier for a specific vehicle in the crash. Insurers use those codes to confirm coverage, route the claim to the right company, and start processing benefits. When a code is wrong or missing, the claim can stall before anyone opens a file, so knowing how to read New York police report insurance codes, verify them, and correct them puts you in a much stronger position from day one.
Where the Code Appears on the Report
The three-digit insurance code sits in the registration section for each vehicle, on the fifth line of the “Unit” registration block near the vehicle type field.1NY DMV. Sample Police Crash (Accident) Report Every vehicle in the crash gets its own code, so a two-car accident lists at least two.
The code itself is just an identifier. It tells you which insurance company covers the vehicle, but not the policy limits or the type of coverage on its own. A claims adjuster or attorney uses the code to pull the actual policy details. Officers select codes from a standardized list maintained by the New York State Department of Financial Services in cooperation with the DMV.2Department of Financial Services. DMV Codes and Contact Information
If you picked up the report from the precinct, the code is on the printed form. If the DMV processed it electronically, the same code appears in the digital record you can request through the DMV’s crash report system.3NY DMV. Get Insurance Information After a Crash (Accident)
How to Look Up a Code
The Department of Financial Services publishes a searchable list matching each three-digit code to its insurance company name and contact information.2Department of Financial Services. DMV Codes and Contact Information You can search by number to find the carrier, or by carrier name to find the number. That is the tool to use when you are looking at “247” on a report and have no idea which insurer that represents.
Cross-check the code against the insurance card. If they do not match, treat that as a red flag. Officers sometimes transpose digits or pick the wrong entry from a dropdown, especially at chaotic scenes. Your own insurance company can confirm its correct three-digit code by phone.
What the Code Tells You About Coverage
The type of code entered signals what coverage the carrier is on the hook for. New York policies carry several coverages at once, and different codes point adjusters toward different claim tracks.
Liability
A liability code confirms the driver carried at least the state minimum bodily injury and property damage coverage every registered vehicle must have:
- Bodily injury: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident
- Death: $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident
- Property damage: $10,000 per accident
Those figures come from state law.4New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. New York State Insurance Requirements Many drivers carry more, but the code does not reveal the actual limits. It just tells the other party’s insurer which company to contact for a third-party claim.
The liability code does not decide fault. New York uses pure comparative negligence, so your recovery is reduced by your share of fault rather than cut off entirely.5New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 1411 – Damages Recoverable When Contributory Negligence or Assumption of Risk Is Established Even a partly responsible driver can recover from the other side’s liability insurer.
No-Fault (PIP)
New York is a no-fault state. Every auto policy must include Personal Injury Protection covering your own medical bills, lost wages, and related expenses regardless of who caused the crash, with a minimum of $50,000 per person.6Department of Financial Services. How Much Auto Insurance Must I Carry? A no-fault code on the report confirms PIP is in place and tells the insurer to start processing first-party benefits under the policyholder’s own carrier.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist
Every New York auto policy also has to include uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. Minimum limits are $25,000 per person for injury and $50,000 per person for death in a single accident, with aggregate limits of $50,000 for injury and $100,000 for death when multiple people are hurt or killed.7Justia Law. New York Insurance Law 3420 – Liability Insurance; Standard Provisions This coverage is not optional.
Insurers must also offer supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage at higher limits, up to $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident.8Department of Financial Services. OGC Opinion No. 04-04-28 – Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (SUM) Coverage Drivers can decline SUM, but the insurer has to document the offer. A UM or SUM code on the report signals protection if the at-fault party has no coverage or too little, which matters most in hit-and-run situations and crashes with minimally insured drivers.
Collision and Comprehensive
Some reports also carry codes for collision or comprehensive coverage. Collision pays to repair or replace your vehicle after a crash regardless of fault. Comprehensive handles non-crash damage like theft, vandalism, hail, or animal strikes. Neither is required by state law, but lenders and lessors almost always require both. These codes matter mainly for your own carrier’s handling of your vehicle damage claim, not the exchange between two drivers’ insurers.
The Deadlines a No-Fault Code Triggers
Once a no-fault code identifies the correct insurer, the clock starts. The deadlines are tight, and missing them can forfeit benefits:
- Written notice to your insurer: within 30 days of the accident
- Medical bills: submitted within 45 days of the date services are provided
- Lost wage claims: submitted within 90 days of the lost income
These windows were shortened under the revised Regulation 68, from 90 to 30 days for notice and from 180 to 45 days for medical bills.9Department of Financial Services. Consumer FAQs About No-Fault Insurance Late submissions can be excused with written proof of a clear and reasonable justification, but not knowing the deadline rarely qualifies. Getting the report quickly matters partly because it confirms which insurer to notify while the 30-day window is already running.
How a Wrong or Missing Code Slows a Claim
Adjusters treat the police report as the first document in the file, and the codes are among the first things they check. The three-digit code lets an adjuster verify which company insures each vehicle and begin confirming coverage. In a multi-vehicle crash, getting this right decides which carriers are brought in and how fast each one responds.
Under comparative negligence, each driver’s insurer may owe a proportional share of the damages.5New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 1411 – Damages Recoverable When Contributory Negligence or Assumption of Risk Is Established The codes route the conversation to the right desks. If a code is wrong, one insurer may never be contacted while another spends weeks investigating a claim that is not theirs.
Codes also affect timing across coverage types. A no-fault claim against your own insurer moves on a different track than a liability claim against the other driver’s carrier. When both codes are present and correct, parallel processing can start right away.
Fixing a Wrong Code
Wrong codes are more common than most people expect. Officers fill out reports under pressure, sometimes working from damaged or expired insurance cards, and a single transposed digit can send the claim to the wrong company.
Start by getting your copy of the report from the responding precinct or, once it is filed, through the DMV.10NY DMV. File a Motorist Crash (Accident) Report Compare the three-digit code against the DFS lookup tool and your insurance card. If they do not match, you have confirmed the error.
Contact the precinct that filed the report and ask about its correction procedure. Most require a written request with supporting documents: your insurance card, the declarations page from your policy, or a letter from your insurer confirming coverage on the date of the accident. Some precincts let the original officer make the fix, while others require a formal amendment that can take several weeks.
If the precinct will not amend the report, you can file an MV-104 form with the DMV to create a separate record of the accident from your perspective.3NY DMV. Get Insurance Information After a Crash (Accident) That does not change the police report itself, but it gives your insurer an official document with the correct information. In practice, most insurers care more about your actual policy records than the code on the report, so sending your declarations page straight to the claims adjuster often resolves the problem faster than waiting for a formal correction.
When the Other Driver’s Code Is Blank
A blank insurance field usually means one of two things: the officer could not get insurance information at the scene, or the driver did not have coverage. If your own code is missing, providing your insurance card and policy number to the adjuster is straightforward. The harder problem is a blank on the other driver’s side.
Driving without insurance in New York carries a fine of $150 to $1,500, up to 15 days in jail, and a separate $750 civil penalty payable to the DMV for a first offense.11New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 319 – Penalties For you as the injured party, though, the immediate question is how you get paid.
That is where your own UM coverage becomes critical. If the at-fault driver truly has no insurance, your uninsured motorist benefits cover your losses up to your policy limits. This is exactly the scenario UM is built for, and it is why verifying your own UM code on the report matters as much as checking the other driver’s.
You can also ask the DMV to investigate the other driver’s insurance status. Submitting a copy of the police report along with a request lets the DMV determine whether a New York-registered vehicle had active coverage on the date of the crash.3NY DMV. Get Insurance Information After a Crash (Accident)
Out-of-State Vehicles
The three-digit code system is specific to insurers authorized to write policies in New York. If a crash involves a vehicle registered and insured in another state, the officer may have no matching code to enter. The report often shows the out-of-state carrier’s name without a New York code, or leaves the code field blank with the insurance information noted elsewhere.
That does not mean the other driver is uninsured. It just means the normal code-based lookup will not work. The adjuster will contact the out-of-state insurer directly using the company name and policy number from the report or the other driver’s card. If that information was not captured at the scene, the DMV’s verification process can help for vehicles registered in New York, but its reach is limited for out-of-state registrations.