It’s about to get a lot harder for New Jersey residents to lieabout where they garage their cars.
|The New Jersey legislature has approved a bill that will levystiff new penalties for anyone who lies about where they garage anddrive their cars in order to obtain lower insurance premiums.
|“Turning premium dodging into an insurance crime would addenforcement teeth to New Jersey’s efforts to clamp down on rateevasion,” said Howard Goldblatt, director of government affairs forthe Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (The Coalition). “Thestronger likelihood of a criminal investigation also could helpdeter others from making the mistake of defrauding their autoinsurer.”
|Premium dodging is more likely in areas where vehicle ownerswill pay higher insurance premiums than drivers in adjoininglocales. According to The Coalition, New Jersey drivers have thehighest auto premiums in the U.S., paying $1,219 annually onaverage. In order to obtain lower rates, some vehicle owners willregister their vehicles in states like Pennsylvania or NorthCarolina. This means that honest policyholders end up subsidizingthe fraudsters.
|The Coalition played an instrumental role in helping to draftthe New Jersey legislation, testified before a key legislativecommittee in support of the bill, and played an active role in agrassroots letter writing campaign.
|Under the legislation, convicted drivers could receive fines upto $150,000 and face as much as 10 years in state prison ifconvicted.
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