NEW YORK, NY November 29, 2006 —The city comptroller released a report accusing the auto insurance industry of price-gouging.

REPORTER: Comptroller Bill Thompson says the car insurance industry has raised premiums between 2000 and 2005 by nearly 29-percent, raking in 10 and a half billion dollars from premiums in 2005 alone. He also found companies were decreasing payouts for claims by more than 20 percent.

Thompson's report says drivers in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens are especially hard hit. He says it's not just a matter of customers shopping around for lower rates.

THOMPSON: We still think there is room even in the lowest of those companies to reduce their rates further based on what's happened in the city and the state, based on the reduction of people filing no fault claims.

REPORTER: Thompson called on governor-elect Eliot Spitzer to create an Insurance Consumer Advocate office and called for the auto insurers to reduce their premiums by 15 percent or $1.5 billion a year.

Krista Conte, a spokeswoman for AllState Insurance Company in New York, said her company cut premiums statewide by three to five percent in 2005.