New York state is attempting to tackle the high cost of car insurance.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul highlighted proposals to bring down costs of vehicle insurance rates and tackle fraudulent claims across New York State. Hochul said she is taking common-sense steps to battle fraud, limit damages paid out to bad actors and ensure that consumers, not insurance companies, are prioritized. These proposals build on Governor Hochul’s ongoing efforts to make the state more affordable and put money back into the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers.

“New Yorkers know all too well that the cost of car insurance is just way too high, and for most, having a car is a daily necessity whether you’re required to travel for work or to run errands,” Governor Hochul said. “These common-sense proposals will not only crack down on fraudulent claims that drive up the cost of car insurance, they’ll put money back into the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers, allowing them a sense of relief.”

New Yorkers pay some of the highest car insurance rates in the nation — totaling just over $4,000 annually on average, nearly $1,500 above the national average. Car insurance rates are driven up by a combination of fraud, litigation, legal loopholes, and enforcement gaps, with staged crashes and associated insurance fraud inflating everyone’s premiums by as much as $300 per year on average according to some estimates.

Increasingly sophisticated actors stage elaborate accidents, designed to allow for “jackpot” payouts from insurance companies or jury awards, and these scams are becoming more prevalent. In 2023, there were 1,729 staged crashes in New York State, which ranks second highest in the nation for incidents of staged fraud. In total, insurance carriers reported 43,811 incidents of suspected motor vehicle insurance fraud to the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Insurance Frauds Bureau in 2025. This is up from 24,238 incidents of suspected motor vehicle insurance fraud from 2020, an 80 percent increase in three years.

To combat these organized criminal efforts, Hochul is taking a whole-of-government approach to cracking down on auto insurance fraud, including:

— Reinvigorating the State’s Motor Vehicle Theft and Insurance Fraud Prevention Board, empowering it to better support the ability to investigate and prosecute insurance fraud across the state.

— Legislation to ensure prosecutors can seek criminal penalties against any individual responsible for organizing a staged accident, not just the particular individual behind the wheel

Partnering with District Attorneys across New York to help build cases that put an end to the organized fraud that’s robbing New Yorkers via elevated insurance rates.

— Strengthening efforts to take on medical providers who participate in fraud by signing off on phony medical diagnoses that result in enormous payouts.

— Taking action when New York drivers illegally register their vehicles in other states, which artificially decreases their coverage and raises costs for law-abiding New York drivers.