ALBANY – As several major auto insurers voluntarily scale back rates in New York, the state’s top insurance regulator says anti-fraud efforts are starting to pay off in the way that matters most – lower premiums for motorists.

MetLife Auto & Home’s announcement last week that it will reduce premiums for the 275,000 passenger vehicles it insures in New York by nearly 6% overall by spring 2005 was the latest in a series of similar reduction decisions by major auto policy writers. Since November, the state Insurance Department has been reviewing insurance costs in New York and urging companies to reduce premiums.

In mid-December, Geico announced rate reductions that will average about 6% for the nearly 1 million private passenger vehicle policyholders it has in New York. Geico’s lower rates will go into effect starting January 1 for new customers and February 15 for current customers who are renewing policies.

Earlier this year, State Farm announced premium reductions of up to 9% and Progressive Northeastern of 4%.The state’s assigned risk pool, where high-risk drivers must seek coverage denied them by commercial insurers, is lowering premium costs by about 2%.

State Insurance Superintendent Gregory Serio referred to rollbacks as an “anti-fraud dividend” and said they are directly related to heightened efforts to root out phony damage and medical claims and other aspects of what the superintendent once estimated as a $1 billion-a-year auto fraud industry.

The 15 companies that write about two-thirds of the passenger vehicle insurance policies in the state have been contacted by Mr. Serio’s office, as have the next 20 largest underwriters. In his letters, Mr. Serio tells insurance executives that industry statistics “appear to indicate that downward rate adjustments might now be appropriate” and asks for meetings to discuss discounts.

The overall loss ratio in the private passenger market in New York was 0.86 for the year 2002. That means that 86 cents out of every dollar collected in premiums had to be set aside by insurers to pay claims. As of June 30, 2004, the loss ratio had fallen to 61 cents per premium dollar.

The eight straight quarters that have passed with reductions in the overall loss ratio are unprecedented in New York auto insurance industry history, Mr. Serio said.

“This is the most dramatic and sustainable loss decrease ever,” he said. “I am very confident that this will hold.”

Following an extended legal battle that was decided by the state’s highest court in 2003, regulations issued by the Insurance Department to combat fraud were upheld. They reduced from 90 days to 30 days the time limit for consumers to file a no-fault claim with an insurer, and from 180 days to 45 days the time consumers have to submit claims for medical expenses.

Both were designed to limit the time that scammers had to execute frauds while still giving people involved in legitimate accidents time to make claims.

In addition, Governor Pataki signed an executive order in 2001 establishing an auto fraud unit in state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office that has since been responsible for more than 200 arrests of suspected insurance scammers.

Steven Nachman, head of the auto fraud unit, said yesterday fraud rings are becoming more sophisticated in light of heightened enforcement from his office, the state Insurance Department, and local prosecutors. Scammers are staging or faking accidents less and resorting to more subtle frauds that sometimes involve enlisting people who were involved in actual accidents to overstate injuries to generate more claim money from insurance companies, Mr. Nachman said.

“I have seen an evolution in the fraud,” Mr. Nachman said. “I think it’s still expansive. I think some people have gotten out of the business and others have stayed and those who have stayed are constantly trying to devise ways to outsmart us.”

A spokesman for the industry-supported Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, James Quiggle, said insurance companies’ return on investments and the economy also affect the cost of premiums.

“Exactly how much the industry’s success in fighting auto insurance fraud is driving down insurance rates is unclear,” Mr. Quiggle said. “But without question, putting a dent in the swindles is one of the factors that is influencing lower rates for policyholders.”