CAR IN-$OAR-ANCE

As if sky-high gas prices aren’t bad enough, New Yorkers’ auto-insurance rates have soared nearly 7 percent in a year, The Post has learned, and they continue to pay the second highest fees in the country.
In 2003 — the latest year for which figures are available — vehicle owners in New York state shelled out an average $1,161 on insurance, up a hefty 6.8 percent over 2002, according to the annual report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

New York’s average rate is far above the $821 national average, which itself jumped by 5.7 percent between 2002 and 2003, the NAIC report shows.

Once again, New Jersey has the highest rates, with drivers in the Garden State having spent an average $1,188 on insurance, up 6.9 percent from 2002, according to the report.

North Dakota drivers paid the lowest rates — a relatively minuscule $536 a year.

“Particularly in urban areas, it costs almost as much to insure a car as to finance a car,” said John Corlett, director of government affairs for AAA.

“There’s no question people feel pain from the insurance costs, gas prices, MTA tolls. The list goes on,” he said.

State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills said he expects a better picture for New York in next year’s NAIC report.

While the ranking may or may not change, he said, the average premiums for the state should go down for the first time in years, as fraud has dropped and the Insurance Department last year began pushing companies to lower their rates.

“We’re heading in the right direction,” Mills said.

New York’s numbers are strongly skewed by New York City.

For years, the insurance industry blamed high incidences of fraud in New York City as a major reason rates are so high.

But things started improving last year when the number of suspected auto-insurance fraud cases dropped 17 percent statewide, while the average payout per auto-insurance injury claim fell below the national average for the first time in years.

The average cost of personal-injury claims in New York state was $5,867 last year, compared with the national average of $7,060 per claim, according to an Insurance Information Institute report.

A state crackdown on fraud that began in 2002 is being credited with not only the drop in cases but also a lowering of rates that began last year.