The Charlotte Observer
State investigators are trying to stop a hot scam: New York and New Jersey drivers flocking to North Carolina for cheaper auto insurance.
The country's fifth-lowest insurance rates draw them here, and the state does not require an N.C. driver's license or proof of address to register vehicles and get tags.
State officials say this rapidly growing form of insurance fraud has prompted hundreds of complaints in recent months, mostly from residents in the Northeast tattling on their neighbors. Scammers are hard to find, and officials are launching a multistate task force.
"I'm flooded with them in my own town. I mean, flooded with North Carolina tags," said Douglas Fisher, a state legislator from Bridgeton, N.J., who has proposed tougher penalties for New Jersey residents with out-of-state license plates. "You can go sit on some streets and it appears that no one lives here."
Posted by tyne at October 29, 2006