New York City Councilman Yusef Salaam has been facing heat for a traffic stop that revealed he was driving a car with out-of-state plates — highlighting an issue that’s reached crisis levels across the Empire State.
State data reviewed by The Post revealed that 18,753 drivers “misrepresented” the location of their vehicles in 2022, the most recent year numbers were available.
That means the cars were insured out-of-state or in another county within the state, not where the driver resides or parks the vehicle — as was the case with Salaam , whose car had Georgia plates.
Many motorists intentionally register and insure their cars in other states to snag premiums considerably lower than New York, which has among the highest rates in the country.
Flouting the law by insuring the car elsewhere hurts New York drivers who play by the rules. A small insurance pool contributes to higher rates, consumer advocates say.
But only rarely is alleged insurance fraud investigated, let alone prosecuted — though a Staten Island high school principal pled guilty to car insurance fraud in 2018 for registering cars at a Pennsylvania address.