In New York, there’s an automatic add-on that makes car insurance more expensive: a $10 annual fee collected by New York State. For most drivers, it goes unnoticed.
It is supposed to cover an effort to fight car thefts and automobile insurance fraud. But a recent audit by the state comptroller’s office found that the program had been poorly administered.
The audit comes against a backdrop of soaring premiums, which are often cited as one element of the broader economy that has kept inflation from cooling down. The price of motor vehicle insurance rose by more than 22 percent in the 12 months ending in April, the fastest since the 1970s, according to a report that the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued last week.
That followed estimates by the comparison-shopping website Insurify, which calculated in January that auto insurance premiums in New York State were 67 percent higher than the national average in 2023.
Insurify also found that New York drivers spent, on average, 4.3 percent of their income on car insurance, the same as drivers in Florida and the most of any state except Louisiana, where 4.7 percent of motorists’ income goes for car insurance.
Just over 32,700 cars were stolen in New York State last year, 15 percent more than in 2022, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, an industry group that tracks insurance claims.
In New York City, car thefts rose as the coronavirus pandemic receded, even as the rates of other major crimes declined. Just under 16,800 cars were stolen in the city last year, up 12 percent from the year before, according to the insurance crime bureau.
Data from the Police Department shows that car thefts are down 11 percent this year, through May 12, compared with the same period last year. In September, the department announced a citywide program to combat car theft, designating one patrol car in each precinct to trace stolen vehicles. Officials blamed TikTok videos showing how to steal Kias and Hyundais for the increase in car thefts last summer.
But the $10 fee for the theft and fraud prevention program did not go to the insurance companies. It went to a state agency, the Division of Criminal Justice Services, which was assigned to award grants to county-level law enforcement agencies.
The audit, which covered the years from 2018 to 2021, found gaps in “program governance” that affected the criminal justice agency’s “ability to conduct program business.” Some $13.9 million was paid out in grants during those years, but $7.9 million was returned, unspent, to the state’s general fund.
The audit said that a 12-person board responsible for overseeing the program had met only three times in 2019, not four, as required — and not at all in 2020 and 2021. As a result, the audit said, the agency paid out the same amounts each year based on outdated crime data.
The Queens district attorney’s office received the same $560,625 each year, even when car theft and fraud claims climbed 43 percent in 2019-20, according to the audit. The Bronx district attorney’s office received $329,991 a year. Car thefts in the Bronx rose 41.3 percent from the year before.
Similarly, the grant totals remained unchanged in 2020-21, when claims rose another 7.8 percent in Queens and 8.3 percent in the Bronx — but were up almost 59 percent on Staten Island, which had an increase of only 6.3 percent in 2019-20.
Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, said by email that the auto crimes unit in her office investigated and prosecuted car thefts, “including those perpetrated by organized rings” that resell vehicles for parts or scrap. She said that the state program funded the work of prosecutors who handle auto theft cases, and paid for equipment used in investigations and training for assistant district attorneys.
In the Bronx, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said that detectives and prosecutors had worked with police precincts with the most car thefts. She said detectives and prosecutors had also targeted thefts of catalytic converters and tires. In 2023, she said, 264 stolen cars worth $7 million were recovered.
The criminal justice agency said it had no comment beyond a response included with the audit, which said that it could begin using more current data if a quorum was present when meetings of the 12-person board resumed.
Weather
Expect sunny skies with temperatures peaking in the upper 80s. In the evening, temperatures will drop to the mid-60s.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until May 27 (Memorial Day).
The latest New York news
Criticizing the mayor’s management
With Mayor Eric Adams facing a federal investigation into campaign fund-raising and struggling with low approval ratings, prominent Democrats have increasingly taken aim at him and his policies. Over the weekend, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, weighed in.
Cuomo, who spoke at the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, criticized the city for its “incompetence” in managing the Jacob Riis public housing complex in Lower Manhattan, where there have been concerns about arsenic poisoning. But Cuomo, who has been friendly in the past with Adams, a fellow Democrat, did not mention the mayor by name.
Williams called the mayor’s response to the Israel-Hamas war “shameful and dangerous” and argued that the police had used too much force against protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Cuomo and Williams have not said whether they intend to run for mayor next year. My colleague Emma G. Fitzsimmons says their candidacies seem more likely if an indictment against Adams is handed up. Two Democrats who have announced forming exploratory campaigns for mayor — Zellnor Myrie, a state senator, and Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller — have also been critical of Adams’s stewardship of the city.
Adams, his allies and his aides have been quick to push back. A spokeswoman for the New York City Housing Authority, which runs the Jacob Riis complex, attacked Cuomo on social media, and the mayor’s former chief of staff, Frank Carone, responded to Williams: “What is shocking is your latent bias against Israel and incapability to call out antisemitism.”
METROPOLITAN diary
A sister’s gift
Dear Diary:
It sat silent and broken in my jewelry box for 40 years: a stunning Swiss watch that my sister had bought for me on a high school trip to Italy 55 years ago.
I looked at it often with fondness but had never taken time out of my busy life to get it fixed.
One day, a colleague asked me to accompany her on a trip to have her watch repaired. Before heading out, I decided to retrieve mine.
After making our way to an old basement repair shop in Borough Park, Brooklyn, we handed our watches to the older man there, and he disappeared into the back.
He returned after a brief time and handed my watch back to me.
Heartbroken, I figured it was beyond repair. Then the man smiled at me.
“My dear,” he said, “all you had to do was wind it.”
— Mary Ann Radioli Samaha
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.
