How a $10 Fee on Your Car Insurance Bill Is Actually Spent

Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll find out about a $10 annual fee that’s added in every car insurance policy in New York State. We’ll also see what former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, said when they criticized Mayor Eric Adams.

Credit…Karsten Moran for The New York Times

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.