Raleigh, N.C. — People come from other states to take advantage of North Carolina’s deals on car insurance. Now, state officials are trying to stop fraud that costs every driver in the state.
Most license tags found in downtown Raleigh are North Carolina-issued. However, state insurance investigators are growing increasingly frustrated because more and more Tar Heel state tags are showing up illegally in northern states.
“Now, that's a problem because they don't actually live here,” said Chrissy Pearson with the state Department of Insurance. “They're paying much cheaper rates then they should be paying, and they go back up to New Jersey and have an accident and we're all ending up paying for it.”
Pearson said motorists flock to North Carolina from the most expensive car insurance states like New Jersey and New York. They give agents fake local addresses, get their insurance and tags and head back to their real homes up north.
“It could adversely affect all of us,” said Ray Evans, general manager of the North Carolina Rate Bureau. “If the differential is high enough, people will drive a long distance, I'm sure, to get any kind of goods more cheaply.”
Another concern is illegal immigrants. Investigators said they suspect van loads are coming into the state.
“They bring them down to an agent's office and they all buy insurance on the same day,” Pearson said. “Those are cases where we believe insurance agents themselves may be implicated.”
With insurance in hand, illegal immigrants could use other fraudulent documents to get drivers licenses.
Whether it's in residency or rates, regulators want lawmakers to close the loopholes.
“(We want this done) so that we can actually prosecute them and give them some hard time and some stiff penalties for this type of fraud,” Pearson said.
Out-of-State Drivers Flock to N.C. to Obtain Cheaper Tags, Insurance
- Reporter: Cullen Browder
- Photographer: Terry Cantrell
- Web Editor: Dana Franks
RELATED TOPICS: Raleigh
Copyright 2011 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
17 Comments
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March 13, 2007 4:22 p.m.
March 13, 2007 3:50 p.m.
March 13, 2007 3:33 p.m.
It's just like the traffic problems around here. It's so easy to get out of a speeding ticket in NC that I wonder why cops even stop people to write them.
Make it more harsh for offenders. Make the coddling stop. Speeding? $500 fine first offence. $5000 for the second. 50 days in jail plus a $10K for the third. When it HURTS to commit a crime, people tend to straighten up.
In this case, make some basic changes to the rules: 1: MUST show proof of residence (3 mo of utility bills) 2: Use "canary" cards to check for fake addresses. Basically a postcard to remind people to renew. Any that come back as "non existent address" flags that person requiring they renew in person, only to be arrested for fraud.
March 13, 2007 1:05 p.m.
March 13, 2007 12:46 p.m.