2023 New York Laws › ISC - Insurance › Article 34 - Insurance Contracts-Property/casualty › 3412 - Automobile Physical Damage Insurance Covering Private Passenger Automobiles; Salvage; Total Losses; Thefts; Duties of Insurers.

§   3412.   Automobile  physical  damage  insurance  covering  private
passenger  automobiles;  salvage;  total  losses;  thefts;   duties   of
insurers.  (a)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the
provisions of this section shall be applicable to  all  physical  damage
losses  incurred  on  policies  covering  private  passenger automobiles
registered in this state for model year nineteen  hundred  seventy-three
or later.
(b)  In  accordance  with  regulations  of the superintendent insurers
shall, except where the insured is permitted to retain the automobile as
part of the claim settlement, take possession of  any  salvage  and  the
certificate  of  title, properly endorsed to them of private automobiles
whenever a loss is determined by the insurer to be a  total  loss  or  a
constructive  total  loss.  Insurers, in disposing of the salvage, shall
fully comply with the requirements of section four  hundred  twenty-nine
of  the  vehicle  and traffic law. An insurer shall also have the right,
where a claim is filed for the replacement of an inflated  and  deployed
or   stolen  inflatable  restraint  system  (air  bag),  as  defined  in
subparagraph (b) of S 4.1.5.1 of standard 208 of part 571 of title 49 of
the code of federal regulations, to inspect the vehicle  for  which  the
claim  is  being filed to verify that the air bag did inflate and deploy
or was stolen. The insurer shall also have the right to take  possession
of a deployed airbag.
(c)  Except  with respect to vehicles recovered after a theft loss has
been paid and which meet the criteria set forth in  subdivision  two  of
section  four  hundred  thirty  of the vehicle and traffic law, insurers
shall not, directly or indirectly, transfer within or without this state
any vehicle for salvage, except to a governmental agency, an  automobile
dealer,  a vehicle dismantler, or a scrap processor licensed, registered
or certified in accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  vehicle  and
traffic  law,  or  any  such  person  meeting licensing, registration or
certification requirements of  the  state  in  which  such  person  does
business.  An  insurer or its agents shall not purchase salvage vehicles
or used major component parts of motor vehicles except from a registered
vehicle dismantler or an automobile dealer.
(d) Insurers shall report private passenger  automobiles  involved  in
total losses, including the vehicle identification number and such other
information  as  may  be  required, to a central organization engaged in
automobile loss prevention  as  designated  by  the  superintendent,  in
accordance   with   regulations   of  the  superintendent.  The  central
organization shall also be responsible for recording any special vehicle
identification number issued  by  the  commissioner  of  motor  vehicles
pursuant  to  subdivision  two of section four hundred thirty-one of the
vehicle and traffic law  and  in  accordance  with  regulations  of  the
superintendent.
(e)  Prior  to the payment of total losses, insurers shall comply with
verification  procedures  in  accordance   with   regulations   of   the
superintendent.
(f)  Police  and  other  law  enforcement  agencies  charged  with the
investigation of automobile thefts shall promptly report to the owner of
the  automobile  and  the  central  organization   designated   by   the
superintendent,  all locations of private passenger automobiles reported
stolen or found to be abandoned. In accordance with regulations  of  the
superintendent,  the  central  organization  shall  be  responsible  for
receiving and recording such reports, and shall promptly  transmit  such
information to the insurer of the automobile physical damage coverage.
(g)  All  policies providing automobile physical damage coverage shall
include a provision authorizing the insurer to take  the  insured  motor

vehicle  into  custody  for  safekeeping,  when  notified that the motor
vehicle reported stolen or found to be abandoned has been located.
(h)  (1) The central organization designated by the superintendent and
each insurer authorized  to  issue  automobile  comprehensive  insurance
policies  covering  losses  incurred to private passenger vehicles shall
upon request of any appropriate  law  enforcement  agency  or  insurance
organization  engaged  in automobile loss prevention release information
in its possession  resulting  from  an  investigation  conducted  by  it
pertaining  to  such  comprehensive  loss, including information as such
agency or organization deems related  to  its  investigation.  Should  a
central  organization or the insurer be of the opinion that the loss was
caused by any criminal or fraudulent act of any person or  organization,
or  that  an  improper action occurred in the disposition of automobiles
subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  section,  it  shall  notify  the
appropriate  law enforcement agency or insurance organization engaged in
automobile loss prevention of that opinion,  and  it  shall  notify  the
department  of financial services or department of motor vehicles of any
improper action of their respective licensees or registrants.
(2) Any information or evidence furnished pursuant to this  subsection
shall  be  held  in  confidence  by  the appropriate agency or insurance
organization  engaged  in  automobile  loss   prevention,   until   such
information   is   required  to  be  released  pursuant  to  a  criminal
proceeding, or if such agency or organization shall be served a  summons
or  subpoena  to  testify  as  to  any  information  or  evidence in its
possession regarding such automobile comprehensive  loss  in  any  civil
action  where  an  insured  or  other person is seeking recovery under a
policy against an insurer for such loss.