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ALBANY--- The State of New York Commission of Investigation has released a report: "Preliminary Report of An Investigation Into Rate Evasion Through the Use of Out-of-State License Plates."
Rate evasion, registering a vehicle in another state to take advantage of lower insurance rates, is becoming an increasingly large and costly problem for New York State, New York City and other municipalities, law enforcement officials, and New York's automobile insurance industry. Perhaps most importantly, law abiding New Yorkers pay higher automobile insurance premiums as a result of this fraudulent and illegal practice.
While the Commission has not concluded its investigation into this issue, the Commissioners felt it was important to issue this preliminary report, including three recommendations, to help educate the public and elected officials about the magnitude of the problem.
The Commission focused its investigation to date on vehicles registered in Pennsylvania and among its findings were:
-- 1,650 vehicles in New York registered to 14 Pennsylvania addresses an average of nearly 120 vehicles per address (largely one -- and two family residences);
-- Although 10 New York counties border Pennsylvania, one-quarter of all accidents involving Pennsylvania registered vehicles in 2004 occurred in Brooklyn;
--In 2005, nearly 300,000 New York city parking summonses were issued to cars registered in Pennsylvania, of which more than 150,000, valued at more than $14 million -- remain unpaid as of February 2006;
-- Between January and August 2006, more than 181,000 New York city parking summonses were issued to cars registered in Pennsylvania, of which more than 113,000, valued at more than $9 million, remain unpaid as of August 2006;
-- Insurance claims submitted in connection with accidents involving vehicles fraudulently registered in Pennsylvania (or any other state), as well as premiums not paid to insurance carriers in New York, cause increased insurance premiums to be paid by New York drivers.
"This growing problem hurts the pocketbooks of New York drivers, as well as the coffers of the State, New York City and other municipalities. It's a problem caused by fraudulent practices that should be investigated, prosecuted and stopped," said Alfred D. Lerner, chairman of the New York State Commission of Investigation. "We are going to continue this investigation but believe that our preliminary results needed to be reported so that the initial recommendations can be acted upon as quickly as possible."
The Commission made three recommendations:
-- New York State and New York City law enforcement agencies should investigate aggressively all allegations of rate evasion.
-- New York State and New York City should establish telephone hotlines and Internet websites where citizens may report rate evasion.
-- Establish a multi-state task force to work together to address the problems caused by rate evasion.
The bi-partisan State Investigation Commission has broad statutory powers to investigate "any matter concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice." Commissioners are appointed by the Governor, the State Senate Majority Leader, and the Speaker of the State Assembly.
Current members of the Commission are chairman Alfred D. Lerner, Henry J. Nahal, Vincent F. Nicolosi, Robert Price and George Friedman.
A copy of the full report can be found on the Commission's website www.sic.state.ny.us , or by linking to http://www.sic.state.ny.us/Docs/Public%20Reports/pdf/license.PDF 12-13-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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