The Transport Committee of the New York City Council heard the testimony on Monday on a proposal to reduce the requirement of personal injury protection insurance (PIP) for rental drivers from $ 200,000 to $ 50,000 per person, aligning it with the state requirement for all other drivers.

Although the member of the sponsoring council of the proposal, Carmen de la Rosa, believes that the change would help reduce premiums for drivers up to $ 600 per year, the head of the Taxi and Limuse Commission of the city (TLC) questioned If the drivers would benefit.

“It is not clear the premiums would diminish, since insurers can maintain any savings and not go to drivers,” said TLC Commissioner David do to the Committee.

The de la Rosa bill has the support of the new coalition, Citizens forquible insurance (Cair) and for most of the 51 members of the City Council, according to a press release issued by Cair. With a substantial support of Uber Technologies, falling advocates by legislation and regulations that will reduce insurance costs throughout the state, including reforms aimed at fraud of insurance and unnecessary litigation. The group began a media campaign last week, asking legislators in Albany to act.

“New York city rental drivers are paying some of the highest nation’s high insurance rates due to an outdated and unfair system,” said De la Rosa, who wants the City Council and FTA to also act.

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Rental drivers in New York City must maintain $ 200,000 in PIP insurance coverage per person, four times the requirement of $ 50,000 per person for similar drivers throughout the rest of the state.

Rent vehicle drivers, including Uber, Lyft, Yellow Taxi and Liverry, are also covered by additional benefits through the black car fund and workers’ compensation by yellow taxi drivers, which argues from the rose Such a height PIP requirement. These benefits, which include coverage of medical expenses, lost wages and death benefits, also overlap with the PIP coverage, which makes the current threshold of $ 200,000 “redundant and unnecessary”, according to Cair and De la Rosa .

De la Rosa and Cair also maintain the lower PIP mandate could help reduce fraud incentive. According to a report by the Department of Financial Services of the State of New York, the alleged reports of insurance fraud without problems represented 75% of all fraud reports that the department received in 2023.

Uber Technologies Inc. has filed a demand for extortion against a group of law firms, doctors and pain management clinics, says they organized false car accidents and conducted unnecessary surgeries to take advantage of the insurance system without blame of New York.

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But FTA questioned whether the lowest PIP benefit would reduce fraud, referring to informing that he said that suggested scammers “would simply cause more accidents to reach the profit margins they need.”

According to De la Rosa, the highest PIP mandate is an unfair and unnecessary load because TLC data shows that the serious accident rate is “extremely low” for rental vehicles drivers.

The sponsors of the Rose bill are attracting more insurers to the city’s rent . Atic has also affirmed, has been the victim of system fraud without guilt.

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Do pointed out that the State, not the city, regulates insurance, although FTA is responsible for raising the PIP requirement to $ 200,000 in 1998. TLC also recently withdrew a rule change that would have required that all insurers were “solvents” What could have limited the market in the light of the financial problems facing Atic.

It says the multiple sources of insurance ensure that everyone is protected and compensated and defended the high PIP requirements as appropriate because New York City is a “completely different creature” with professional drivers who work full time, not part -time as is the case. elsewhere.

De la Rosa said there are “broad shock absorbers” to ensure that everyone is compensated.

De la Rosa acknowledged that his invoice not alone the problem of the high costs of insurance. “It is not a magical remedy, but it is a tool,” he offered.

TLC License and regulates the yellow taxis of New York City, rental vehicles (community -based liver, black cars and luxury limousines), van of vicinity and paratranic vehicles. There are more than 200,000 TLC graduates.

Topics New York Personal Trends