No-Fault Auto Insurance Fraud in New York State: Trends, Challenges and Costs

This testimony, delivered by Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, before the New York State Senate Insurance Committee, addresses the problem of rapidly escalating no-fault auto insurance claim costs in New York State. Hartwig focus on the following three issues: the magnitude of the problem; drivers of claim costs in the system; and the history of no-fault fraud and abuse in the state. The testimony concludes that New York’s large and competitive auto insurance market is threatened by rampant fraud and abuse. No-fault fraud and abuse has cost New York’s drivers and their insurers at least $813 million since 2005, including approximately $204 million in 2010, the second consecutive year in which costs exceeded $200 million. Solutions for containing the emerging crisis must necessarily focus on cost drivers. But because the state has the highest no-fault dollar threshold in the country, it remains attractive to those who perpetrate fraud based on the perception that the insurers who pay the bills are a “deep pocket.” The testimony is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation.