Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights Proposals to Bring Down Costs of Vehicle Insurance Rates and Tackle Fraudulent Claims

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul highlighted her proposals to bring down costs of vehicle insurance rates and tackle fraudulent claims across New York State. The Governor 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.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr will have photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

 Good morning, everyone. Enjoy the balmy weather today because it's not going to last — more on that later. First of all, I want to recognize our Superintendent of Police — our Superintendent of State Police I should say — Superintendent James, who's joined us here today. The Acting Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services is Kaitlin Asrow, I want to thank her for her service as well. Assemblymember David Weprin has joined us. Members of the rest of my cabinet. As well as I know we had Manhattan Borough President — had to leave very quickly, but he was here — Brad Hoylman-Sigal, David Weprin, as I mentioned, and Gil Cygler from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

We're here to continue our journey to drive down costs for New Yorkers — it's been a long journey. I've made affordability the cornerstone of my agenda since I first became Governor, and we've tried to take on the high cost of rent, the high cost of childcare. The high cost of utilities, but when New Yorkers are paying their bills, there's yet another bill that keeps going up and up, and that is the cost of their car insurance.

Now we have delivered real relief over $5,000 for many families between last year and this [year] when we have the largest middle class tax rate cut in 70 years. We have a child tax credit. We had our inflation rebate. We have many more opportunities to help New Yorkers. But I told my team, keep digging and find solutions to why the bills are so damn high and they've been successful.

And I came here today because there's been a problem that has gone unspoken about for many years, I don't know why. When I see a problem, I have no problem raising it to the surface and finding solutions. And that certainly must be known as the sky high cost of car insurance. So I came to this site today, kind of a graveyard of vehicles, many damaged by accidents. And some accidents are truly that — just accidents — things happen. But others are the result of a system that's riddled with bad actors and fraud and excessive greed that's rewarding criminal and bad actors behaviors. And who loses out? New Yorkers.

And for millions of New Yorkers, owning a vehicle is not a luxury, it's a necessity. And we are blessed here in the City of New York and Downstate to have a world-class public transit system. And you know, I've invested more in public transit more than any other Governor — and I'll continue to do so. But there are millions of New Yorkers outside the region who do not have the benefit of a public transit system — their car is everything. Now they're not necessarily 2027, 2026 brand new models. You go to where I come from, we used to register cars as my job as a county clerk. There are many — 5, 7,10,15-year-old vehicles and despite their age, they're still essential to getting to a job or getting to a hospital.

So I understand this. I understand how essential — but even in New York City — how do you think the delivery trucks get around? They have to have car insurance or our taxi cabs and our for-hire rides. All of them are bearing a cost that is being pushed onto you, the rate payers here in the State. And what's very alarming when this came to light, I said we have to do something. New York has the highest insurance rates in the nation, average about $4,000 a year. That's $1,500 more than the national average. As you go down to Brooklyn, where half the households rely on cars, it's actually about $6,700 a year on average.

That's a lot of money out of people's pockets, so it doesn't happen because New Yorkers are doing something wrong. They exist because as I said of rampant fraud and runaway litigation costs and prices being jacked up. Now, I wanted some more numbers on this. New York has the second highest number of staged accidents in the U.S. A number that has gone up 34 percent just since 2021.

Staged accidents, not real victims — people trying to defraud the system. Uninsured drivers, scofflaw motorists, drunk drivers are distorting our risk pool. And our no fault fraud reports of accidents constitute about 75 percent of all fraud reports that go to the Department of Financial Services. So many people are collecting outsized payouts, costs that get passed on to law abiding motorists in the form of higher monthly bills.

Now, the stories are legendary and many others can tell you that, but I'll just give you a few examples. Last summer two men were caught fleecing drivers with a complicated scheme on the belt parkway, and they literally were putting lives at risk in so doing. Speeding along that highway, they would pinpoint their victims and then abruptly swerve to cut them off, making it almost impossible to avoid a violent collision.

In one of these staged accidents when their victim did manage to evade this maneuver, they then — because they still wanted to victimize this individual and profit off of them. They then rammed the person in reverse and pretended they were the ones who were injured and this is what's happening on our streets.

In another, they fled in the getaway car before filing over almost $80,000 in personal injury claims that were false. Now these criminals are facing up to 15 years in prison and there's many more like them. So again, who gets shafted in this? New York motorists, whether it's parents with kids in the backseat or a senior citizen trying to get to a doctor appointment, it's wrong and it's dangerous. New Yorkers should not have to pay any more than standard coverage as they do in other states. And for those driving without a license, those who are driving drunk or committing a felony at the time of the crash, they should not get a payout for their behavior. So this year we're hitting the brakes on fraud, putting an end to a system that rewards dangerous behavior and delivers relief for millions of drivers across the State. Let's start by reforming our tort laws. Now we want to protect the people who play by the rules and insulate the personal injury system from abuse. I know how we can do this effectively.

Florida took this issue on, they implemented similar changes and their auto insurance rates did plummet. Upwards of 20 percent over a couple years these savings can really make a difference. We've also managed to talk about how we can enforce the law better. I'm adding $2 million to our State Police and more resources to our Department of Financial Services for investigations to crack down on the scammers.

And we'll partner with careful law-abiding motorists to incentivize safe driving, because we know affordable auto insurance is an essential staple of our society. We have to be able to move goods and get people where they need to go. It determines not just the wellbeing of our families, but also the wellbeing of our economy.

And by tackling the underlying issues that are driving up costs, we can make our streets safer, drive up economic growth, and help our families thrive. And as you know, as Governor there's nothing more important to me than keeping New Yorkers safe. I want to make sure that we have prosperity for our communities, safe roads, and keeping individuals secure as they are on the roads.

And also, I don't mind taking on entrenched interests. You stand in our way of fighting fraud and excessive payouts, you’ve got to come through us. Because we are standing up on behalf of every day of New Yorkers who are looking for relief. No one has done this before, it's been too controversial, but I don't mind taking this on.

Because New Yorkers are paying far too much in car premiums, and I'm willing to start that fight starting right now.

Thank you and let me turn it over to our Superintendent of the [State] Police, Steven James.