By Isha Marathe

Feb 26 - (The Insurer) - New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris fined 37 auto insurers a total of $20.4 million for failing to report insured vehicle information to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in a timely manner.

Some of the insurers fined include Kemper Corp Group, Starr Indemnity and Liability, WR Berkley, Preferred Mutual, Munich Re, CNA, Hanover and New York Central Mutual, among others. The fines were result of a multi-year investigation into insurers' reporting timelines, and range from January, all the way back to 2018, according to the DFS insurance actions listed on its website.

"Accurate and timely reporting by insurers is critical to protecting New Yorkers on the road, ensuring compliance with state laws, and maintaining the integrity of our enforcement systems,” Harris said.

“These actions demonstrate DFS’s unwavering commitment to holding insurers accountable and safeguarding consumers.”

Under the terms of the enforcement orders, the insurers are required to implement comprehensive remediation plans subject to DMV approval to correct deficiencies in their reporting processes.

New York law mandates insurers to report newly insured vehicles to the DMV’s Insurance Information & Enforcement System (IIES) within seven days of the policy's effective date. They must also report most termination or suspension of insurance must be reported within thirty days of the policy’s termination or suspension.

"These requirements are vital to ensuring law enforcement can identify uninsured vehicles, maintaining accurate DMV records, and protecting New Yorkers in the event of an accident," the agency said.

In November 2024, Harris' office fined Geico and Travelers Indemnity Company $9.75 million and $1.55 million, respectively, for lax data security practices that led to the exposure of 120,000 New Yorkers’ personal information that hackers used to file fraudulent unemployment claims in the COVID-19 pandemic.