New York tends to have some of the highest car insurance rates in the nation. If you just moved there or are just shopping for New York car insurance, you may be surprised. Why is it so high?

One of the reasons has been the high incidences of auto insurance fraud in New York. Especially just a few years ago. "Staged" crashes were common. These would lead to lawsuits and a high rate of claims. Additionally, according to the Insurance Information Institute, New Yorkers don't experience any higher rates of bodily injury than other states. However, costs of claims for medical care are a lot more expensive -- indicating fraud at the clinic-level. Insurers compensate for this fraud by raising rates. Everybody pays for the actions of criminals.

New York is one of the states that has a no-fault auto insurance law. This means that if a motorist wants to sue for injuries or pain and suffering, there are certain thresholds that need to be met. This law is designed to help keep the costs of claims down.

New York continues to work on reducing the opportunities for insurance fraud in the state. Additional legislation aimed at curbing fraud at medical clinics has reduced the overall losses to insurers in recent years in New York. Consequently, New York car insurance rates have dropped slightly in the last couple of years.

This is good news for New York drivers. Hopefully the amount of fraud will continue to decrease and car insurance companies will continue to drop their rates.

You can help by reporting any incidents of insurance fraud to the New York State Insurance Department. You can help yourself save on your New York car insurance by shopping around. You should get at least three comparison quotes, and make sure you're comparing identical coverages.