Hundreds of Thousands of New Yorkers Registering
Cars Out of State to Cheat Taxes and Fees: Group
New York–June 11…New York State is losing tens of millions of dollars in lost taxes and fees each year from auto registration fraud — money the state could use — because hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are illegally registering vehicles in other states, or in areas of New York with lower insurance premiums, to save money, the driver’s rights group New Yorkers Stand Against Insurance Fraud (NYSAIF) said at an Albany news conference Tuesday.
NYSAIF made its point in the hallways of the state legislature by passing out “video books” designed to look like license plates from Pennsylvania, the state most often used by New Yorkers committing fraud. The books play a video about the registration fraud issue when opened.
“It seems crazy that New York is forgoing tens of millions of dollars in revenues it is legally entitled to year in and year out because no one is cracking down on fraud,” said NYSAIF spokesman David Schwartz. “Fraud is also taking money directly from the pockets of law-abiding New Yorkers who are forced to pay more to offset insurance company losses. Other states, including New Jersey and Oklahoma, are addressing this issue; why isn’t New York?”
New York State has not made a serious attempt to crack down on vehicle registration fraud in more than 35 years. A 1987 analysis of New York city license plates estimated that approximately 10% of city vehicles were illegally registered in other states, in places as far away as Alaska.
Senator Jeff Klein has submitted a bill in Albany to crack down on auto registration fraud, but it has not yet gone to the floor for a vote.
