Brooklyn Auto Insurance
Last Updated on September 30, 2026 by James Shaffer
Every car registered in Brooklyn has to carry New York’s minimum insurance: bodily injury liability of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, death liability of $50,000 per person and $100,000 for two or more people, $10,000 in property damage liability, $50,000 in no-fault benefits, and uninsured motorist coverage of $25,000/$50,000. The insurer must hold a New York license.
Brooklyn stands out in two sets of state figures. In 2024, insurers reported more suspected no-fault fraud in Kings County than in any other county in the state, and 4,525 vehicles were reported stolen there. That puts two parts of the policy in focus: no-fault injury benefits and comprehensive coverage. This page explains both, lists the borough’s DMV and traffic ticket offices, and includes local agencies whose contact details were checked in September 2026.
At a Glance
- What the law requires: Liability of $25,000/$50,000 for injuries and $50,000/$100,000 for deaths, $10,000 for property damage, plus $50,000 in no-fault and $25,000/$50,000 in uninsured motorist coverage.
- No-fault deadlines: Give the insurer written notice within 30 days of the crash. Medical bills and lost-wage claims have their own deadlines of 45 and 90 days.
- Stolen cars: Kings County recorded 4,525 vehicle thefts in 2024. Only comprehensive coverage pays when your own car is stolen or vandalized.
- Extra injury coverage: Basic no-fault replaces lost pay at 80%, capped at $2,000 a month. Additional PIP or OBEL can raise the total available if $50,000 looks thin for your household.
New York’s Minimum Coverage for Brooklyn Cars
These limits are the legal floor for every car registered in the state. Coverage has to stay in force for the whole registration period, including stretches when the car isn’t driven, and the name on the policy must match the name on the registration or the DMV may suspend both your license and your registration.
| Coverage | Minimum Limit |
|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability | $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident |
| Death liability | $50,000 per person / $100,000 for two or more people |
| Property damage liability | $10,000 per crash |
| No-fault (personal injury protection) | $50,000 per person |
| Uninsured motorist (UM) | $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident |
Liability pays for injuries and damage you cause to other people. No-fault pays certain injury costs no matter who caused the crash, and uninsured motorist coverage pays for your injuries when the driver at fault has no insurance. For the official wording, see the DMV’s insurance requirements page. Our guide to New York car insurance laws goes further into the statewide rules.
No-Fault Benefits and Claim Deadlines
Personal injury protection (PIP), usually called no-fault, covers certain economic losses from a crash whether or not you caused it. Basic coverage is capped at $50,000 per person and breaks down like this, according to the state’s no-fault cover letter (form NF-1A) that insurers send to injured applicants:
| Benefit | Basic No-Fault Limit |
|---|---|
| Medical and hospital bills | Necessary expenses, paid under state fee schedules |
| Lost earnings | 80% of lost pay, up to $2,000 a month for up to three years |
| Other reasonable and necessary expenses | Up to $25 a day for one year |
| Death benefit | $2,000, paid in addition to the $50,000 |
Example: if you earn $5,000 a month and a crash keeps you off work for six months, basic no-fault pays no more than $2,000 a month toward lost wages, or $12,000 in total. That money comes out of the same $50,000 that pays your medical bills, so a serious injury can use up basic benefits quickly.
Brooklyn also leads the state in suspected no-fault fraud. In 2024, insurers reported 15,003 suspected no-fault fraud incidents in Kings County to the DFS Insurance Frauds Bureau, the most of any county and out of 38,846 statewide, according to the Division of Criminal Justice Services’ 2024 motor vehicle theft and insurance fraud report. The state program behind that report is meant to lower the overall cost of auto insurance by targeting theft and fraud.
Steps After a Brooklyn Crash
- Send the no-fault insurer written notice of the claim within 30 days of the accident. Late notice needs a clear and reasonable justification.
- Make sure medical bills are submitted within 45 days and lost-wage claims within 90 days. The DFS no-fault FAQ lists all three deadlines.
- Keep copies of every form, bill, and letter, and note the date each one went out.
- Be wary of anyone who approaches you at the scene, or calls after an emergency room visit, to steer you to a particular clinic. DFS warns about these “runners” in its insurance fraud guidance and takes tips on its fraud hotline, 888-372-8369.
- If you need a copy of the crash report, the DMV explains how to order crash reports.
Suing for a Serious Injury
No-fault pays your basic losses, but suing the other driver has a threshold. DFS explains that a lawsuit against the driver who caused the accident is possible if you sustain a “serious injury,” a term defined in Section 5102(d) of the Insurance Law. Whether an injury meets that definition is a legal question, so a lawyer is the right person to ask about a specific case.
Coverage Worth Adding in Brooklyn
Comprehensive for Theft and Vandalism
According to the same DCJS report, Kings County recorded 4,525 vehicle thefts in 2024, up from 4,388 in 2023, even as thefts across New York fell 27%. Liability and no-fault don’t pay for damage to your own car. Comprehensive does, and DFS lists theft, vandalism, glass breakage, fire, flood, and windstorm among the losses it covers, along with transportation reimbursement if the car is stolen.
Collision is the other half of physical damage coverage. It pays for damage from hitting another car or object, or from overturning, whoever caused it. When a policy includes either one, New York requires the insurer to inspect and photograph the car at no cost to you, usually skipping the inspection for a brand-new vehicle, and physical damage coverage is suspended for as long as the car stays uninspected, according to DFS guidance on applying for auto insurance. Through October 1, 2027, state law also lets insurers waive inspections for some or all cars, so ask yours. Our guide to New York’s pre-insurance inspection has the details.
Quick tip: Shopping for a car? Look up the model in the DFS table of vehicle rating symbols before you buy. Collision and comprehensive premiums reflect these symbols, which account for a model’s price, repair cost, damageability, and theft record, and a higher symbol means a higher premium.
Additional PIP and OBEL
If $50,000 in basic no-fault looks thin next to your income or likely medical costs, two add-ons raise it. With additional PIP, the no-fault limit can go to $100,000 or beyond. OBEL, short for Optional Basic Economic Loss, is an extra $25,000 that starts once the basic $50,000 runs out, and the injured person decides whether it pays toward lost wages, rehabilitation, or any basic economic loss. DFS describes both on its optional coverage page, and our overview of insurance types explains the other add-ons.
Liability and SUM Limits
Damage to a newer car can exceed the $10,000 property damage minimum, and a serious injury claim can go past $25,000 quickly. If a claim goes beyond your limits, you may have to pay the difference yourself.
SUM, short for supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, works in the opposite direction. It pays you when the driver who injured you had no insurance or too little of it, and it applies to accidents outside New York, which basic uninsured motorist coverage doesn’t. SUM limits can’t exceed your own bodily injury limits, and the insurer reduces SUM payments by whatever you recover from the other driver’s auto insurance.
Driving for Hire
A car licensed by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission is insured differently from a personal car. Its owner has to carry liability insurance that meets TLC and state minimums and keep a for-hire insurance certificate on file with the TLC. Our TLC insurance guide walks through those requirements.
How Brooklyn Premiums Are Set
Each insurer sets its own Brooklyn prices. DFS explains that New York is split into rating territories, which individual insurers file to reflect differences in claim costs, and a car’s rating symbol affects what collision and comprehensive cost. A published borough average can’t tell you what your own quote will be.
The parts of the price you can influence:
- A DMV-approved Point and Insurance Reduction Program course, taken in a classroom or online, reduces liability and collision premiums by 10% each year for three years. Retaking it every 36 months keeps the reduction. The course can also lower your point total by up to 4 when the DMV calculates a suspension, although the violations remain on your driving record.
- Raising the collision or comprehensive deductible trims the premium, as long as you keep it at an amount you could pay out of pocket.
- Asking every insurer for the same liability, SUM, and deductible levels makes the quotes comparable.
Non-criminal traffic tickets written in Brooklyn, as anywhere in New York City, are decided by the DMV’s Traffic Violations Bureau. Our article on speeding tickets and car insurance in New York covers what a ticket can mean for your policy.
Price isn’t the only thing to compare. The DFS complaint ranking scores insurers by complaints DFS upheld relative to the premiums they wrote in New York over two years. Search for the exact company name on your quote, since some groups sell through several companies, and bear in mind that a small insurer’s rank can move on one or two complaints.
NYMI’s New York reviews cover Allstate, Amica, Erie, GEICO, Progressive, State Farm, Travelers, and USAA.
DMV and Traffic Ticket Offices in Brooklyn
Brooklyn’s two Traffic Violations Bureau offices share addresses with these DMV offices:
| DMV Office | Address | Also at This Address |
|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn Atlantic Center | 625 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 | Brooklyn North TVB |
| Brooklyn Coney Island | 2875 W. 8th St, Brooklyn, NY 11224 | Brooklyn South TVB |
Make a reservation before you go. The DMV strongly encourages one and, when waits are long, admits only people who have one. Its office locator finds other locations by city or ZIP code.
The DMV won’t register a car without a New York State Insurance ID Card, and you have 180 days from the card’s effective date to finish registering. You can look up your insurance status online, and if the DMV later asks you to prove you were covered, its proof of insurance page explains how.
Brooklyn Car Insurance Agencies
These Brooklyn offices sell car insurance. The Sells column shows whether an office quotes one insurer’s policies or several. We confirmed each address and phone number on the agency’s own website or its insurer’s agent directory in September 2026, and we haven’t rated or reviewed any of them.
| Agency | Address | Phone | Sells |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cook Insurance Services | 885 Grand St, 11211 | (718) 782-8802 | Multiple insurers (independent) |
| JDI Brokerage | 58 Walton St, Ste 901, 11206 | (718) 486-5051 | Multiple insurers (independent) |
| Lincoln Brokerage | 8114 3rd Ave, 2nd Fl, 11209 | (718) 836-1100 | Multiple insurers (independent) |
| Alan Wheeler | 483 Atlantic Ave, 11217 | (718) 488-7300 | State Farm |
| Steve Bernstein | 1301 Coney Island Ave, 11230 | (718) 692-2500 | State Farm |
| Nereyda Perez | 9411 5th Ave, 11209 | (718) 238-4020 | State Farm |
| Alex Ilyaev | 3087 Brighton 3rd St, 11235 | (718) 714-6660 | Allstate |
| Alina Mikhlin | 130 Highlawn Ave, 11223 | (718) 265-9100 | Allstate |
When you call, ask which company would issue the policy, how much SUM and additional PIP would add to the price, and whether the car needs a photo inspection before collision and comprehensive take effect.
Car insurance guides for nearby places: Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan and New York City. For every city and borough we cover, see New York car insurance by city.