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New York State Department of Insurance and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz Establish the Brooklyn Automobile Insurance Task Force

Brooklyn's State Legislators Join in New Effort to Reduce Brooklyn's Skyrocketing Premiums

At a meeting held today at Brooklyn Borough Hall, Borough President Marty Markowitz and New York State Superintendent of Insurance Greg Serio agreed to establish a new Brooklyn Automobile Insurance Task Force that will explore and advance innovative ways to reduce the borough's extraordinary auto insurance premiums.

Seth Cummins, General Counsel to the Borough President, will head the Task Force. Deputy Superintendent Louis PietroLuongo will be in charge of the Task Force for the Insurance Department. Key Insurance Department staff from the department's Consumer Services Division, Property Bureau, and anti-fraud offices will participate.

The meeting was also attended by members of Brooklyn's delegation to the State Legislature, including Assemb. Clarence Norman, Assemb. N. Nick Perry, and Assemb. Felix Ortiz and Senator Seymour Lachman. The Task Force will include Brooklyn State legislators.

By a substantial margin, Brooklyn now has the highest automobile insurance premiums in New York State. For instance, the annual premium just for required coverage -- the barest legal coverage -- in the assigned risk plan is $2,665, more than $1,000 above Nassau County and tk above the Bronx. And premiums are rising fast. In the voluntary market, Allstate, for instance, recently raised rates in Brooklyn rating territories by 12.0% to 14.4%. The Department blames no-fault insurance fraud for much of the increase and estimates that one-out-of-five no-fault claims has an element of fraud.

The Task Force will explore innovative ways to attack insurance fraud and examine the potential for establishing a special new Brooklyn good-driver insurance risk group that would end the penalty good drivers pay just because they live in Brooklyn.

Driving safety groups, consumer advocacy organizations, the automobile insurance industry and other stakeholders will be invited to make presentations to the Task Force.

Borough President Markowitz concluded, "My ultimate aim is to reduce prmiusm by encouraging real, vigorous competition in the Brooklyn auto insurance market. I'd like to see insurers wooing Brooklyn motorists, with lower rates as a result."