By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York regulator on Tuesday fined Geico $910,000 for violating state insurance laws by failing to timely report new business and other vehicle registration information to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
The fine was part of a consent order between New York’s Department of Financial Services and Geico, a unit of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
It arose from a review of auto insurers’ practices after the DMV found in late 2017 that the industry was slow to report information to a database for monitoring the insurance status of vehicles registered in New York.
According to the consent order, timely filings are “vital” to law enforcement and public safety because they help police officers identify and remove uninsured vehicles from the road.
Geico’s late reporting occurred throughout 2018, and the auto insurer agreed to take necessary steps to avoid a recurrence, the order said.
The Chevy Chase, Maryland-based company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Berkshire, based in Omaha, Nebraska, has owned all of Geico since 1996.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
