New York Department of Insurance
National Association of Insurance Commisioner’s
Auto Insurance Rates News Release: 1/17/2005
Category: Auto Insurance Rate Enforcement

Washington, DC – A federal judge today ruled in favor of the National Association of Insurance Commisioners and its efforts to recoup more than $100 million for auto insurance consumers nation wide, an amount which the agency contends that a select few insurance companies may have overcharged auto insurance consumers by inflating New York auto insurance prices and New York auto insurance quotes.

The federal judicial panel and courts actions allows the NAIC to help reduce New York auto insurance rates. The objective of NAIC staff throughout this action has been to provide auto insurance rate relief for auto insurance consumer policyholders who have been charged excessive auto insurance rates. 

NAIC staff, using authority granted by the federal judicial panel’s decision, ordered auto insurance companies to reduce its auto owners rates by 12 percent in September 2004. New York auto insurance companies appealed the reduction in district court, claiming that the they had been denied due process in ordering the rate reduction. 

“NAIC staff’s latest action, based on a different law was designed to address the court’s concerns regarding due process,” said NAIC’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy. “Despite the insurance companies objections, the courts have allowed the debate based on the facts to move forward. In the end we believe the facts will show that their rates can be reduced.” 

NAIC staff contends that auto insurance companies have been overcharging its policyholders since June 11, 2003, the effective date of Senate Bill 14. NAIC is seeking a refund of the excessive premium plus 10 percent interest. The total amount will be calculated from June 11, 2003, to present.

More Facts about New York: In 1624 the first permanent Dutch settlement was established at Fort Orange (now Albany). One year later Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for trinkets worth about 60 Dutch guilders and founded the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (now New York City), which was surrendered to the English in 1664. New York's extremely rapid commercial growth may be partly attributed to Gov. De Witt Clinton, who pushed through the construction of the Erie Canal (Buffalo to Albany), which was opened in 1825. Today, the 641-mile Gov. Thomas E. Dewey Thruway connects New York City with Buffalo and with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania express highways. Two toll-free superhighways, the Adirondack Northway (linking Albany with the Canadian border) and the North-South Expressway (crossing central New York from the Pennsylvania border to the Thousand Islands), have been opened. The great metropolis of New York City is the nerve center of the nation. It is a leader in manufacturing, foreign trade, commerce and banking, book and magazine publishing, and theatrical production. A leading seaport, its John F. Kennedy International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. New York is also home to the New York Stock Exchange, the largest in the world. The printing and publishing industry is the city's largest manufacturing employer, with the apparel industry second. Nearly all the rest of the state's manufacturing is done on Long Island, along the Hudson River north to Albany, and through the Mohawk Valley, Central New York, and Southern Tier regions to Buffalo. The St. Lawrence Seaway and power projects have opened the North Country to industrial expansion and have given the state a second seacoast. The state ranks seventh in the nation in manufacturing, with 805,200 employees in 2002. The principal industries are printing and publishing, industrial machinery and equipment, electronic equipment, and instruments. The convention and tourist business is also an important source of income. New York farms produce cattle and calves, corn and poultry, and vegetables and fruits. The state is a leading wine producer. Major points of interest are Castle Clinton, Fort Stanwix, and Statue of Liberty National Monuments; Niagara Falls; U.S. Military Academy at West Point; National Historic Sites that include homes of Franklin D. Roosevelt at Hyde Park and Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay and New York City; the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls; National Memorials, including Grant's Tomb and Federal Hall in New York City; Fort Ticonderoga; the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown; and the United Nations, skyscrapers, museums, theaters, and parks in New York City. Empire State In honor of the Duke of York 

The ten largest cities in New York are: New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, Syracuse, Albany, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Schenectady, and Utica.