For all you New Yorkers who have the misfortune of owning a car, here’s another reason why it sucks to be you. Don’t let that Gecko fool you: Those car insurance folks are all scammers—allegedly. New York City Comptroller William Thompson said last Wednesday that car insurance companies are charging New York drivers higher rates despite the fact that the amount of money they are paying out in claims in the state has dropped. According to a report issued by his office, auto insurers earned $10.5 billion in premiums in New York in 2005, up nearly 29 percent from $8.2 billion in 2000. Yet during that same period, insurers’ losses dropped by more than 20 percent, from $6.4   billion to $5.1 billion. The numbers from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners reveal that while premiums in New York did not climb as high as they did nationally (28.8 versus a 33.8 percent increase), the losses sustained by car insurers also dropped more significantly in New York than they did nationally (20.5 versus a 12.9 percent decrease). So, to put it simply, car insurers are making a pre-tty hefty profit by raising rates and somehow insidiously preventing you from enjoying reckless car-driving fun.