New York Insurance

Car bumper harvest insurance premiums rising profits in New York City, even when they pay less in law, because the authorities did not properly monitor the industry, according to a report published yesterday by City Comptroller.

Groups of industry and the national regulator of insurance beginning disputed the conclusions and recommendations of the Comptroller, William C. Thompson, Jr., but she had no objections to some of the main demands of the report that the industry has made huge profits since 2003 and that the costs of insurance has been a burden for homeowners cars.

The auto insurance is “the conduct of many New York in a financial gap, Mr. Thompson said at a press conference at the municipal buildings.

He described “the premium increases the size exceeds the rate of inflation, especially in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and criticized” a branch of insurance, preparation for the main pockets of New York “.

Thompson, he said in a letter to a governor chosen yesterday Eliot Spitzer and asked to “closely review the pricing policy of the methods of insurance companies, New York, as well as the activities of the division of insurance. ”

The State has the power to regulate insurance rates, because motorists are required to have insurance. Some legislators have proposed that localities, some say, in the process of fixing a power they do not currently have.

From 2000 to 2005, according to the report, car insurance premiums in the state, grew by 28.8 percent to 10.5 billion dollars per year, while gains or losses on loans, fell of 20.5 percent over 5, $ 1 billion. The difference between premiums and losses - $ 5.4 billion in the years 2004 and 2005 - was the highest since 1990, the report found.

The industry’s profitability can be measured also in other respects. According to the report, trafficking of persons deprived of auto insurance loss report - from the various Premium dollars, which is debt to pay - fell to 48.4 percent in 2005, 78, 3 percent in 2000 and is exceptionally low by national standards.

The Return on net worth, an indicator of the profitability of insurers, reached a record level of 18.6 per cent in 2004, in the state, compared to the national average of 13.2 per cent report.

Thompson has invited the regulatory authorities to reduce all national insurance premiums of $ 1.5 billion per year. He also asked local officials to Albany the power to petition for rate cuts. Finally, he invited the Division of Insurance to improve their consumers’ Guide for self-insurance and consumers to create a lawyer at the office of rate review applications by insurers.

Howard Mills, Superintendent of the department, said in a statement that its employees have helped reduce the losses because insurance fraud, and a portion of these savings are passed on to consumers. Since late 2004, he said that the department has already reduced premiums for drivers over $ 500 million per year. For some of the biggest companies, the increase in premiums seems leveling off

“Given that the industry transition in the recipient area, we have worked to reduce working hours to reduce rates,” said Mills. “Thirty companies have files registration reductions this year, and we are in ongoing discussions with other companies to reduce premiums.

David F. Snyder, a lawyer for the American Insurance Association, a major industrial group, challenged Thompson’s assertion that insurers have been extravagant profits. “The data in the report itself is not to conclude that prices are far from being justified in terms of the underlying changes in the market,” he said.

If Thompson’s state officials to follow advice, insurance costs would be even more, “said Snyder. “Instead of more bureaucracy, as the report suggests, they should free travel at more competitive prices and faster,” he said.

He added: “In the long term, you do not have a model of consistency or another type in New York. Gains are going up and down. Losses are going up and down. Finally, market adjusts.