Gov. Kathy Hochul is pitching a crackdown on phony car accidents and big payouts for crash injuries that she says have inflated New York’s auto insurance costs.
At a stop in New York City on Thursday, Jan. 22, Hochul promoted a set of proposals in her new budget that seek to bring down premiums that now average about $4,000 a year in New York, about $1,500 more than the national average. It’s even worse for Brooklyn drivers in particular, whose insurance rates hover at around $6,700.
“I don’t mind taking this on, because New Yorkers are paying far too much in car premiums,” Hochul said, standing in front of a junkyard of damaged cars. “And I’m willing to start that fight, starting right now.”
How Hochul plans to lower car insurance costs in NY
Lowering insurance costs is one part of the “affordability” strategy in the budget Hochul introduced Jan. 20, which focused largely on expanding free or low-cost child care. For car insurance, one leg of her approach is cutting down on fake accidents that are staged to collect big claims and that drive up rates for all drivers as a result…