State regulators said yesterday they have ordered auto insurance companies to factor in a decline in driving by New Yorkers because of high gasoline prices before requesting rate increases.

In response to the order, Geico, which collects about 20 percent of the state's $10 billion in annual auto premiums, agreed to forgo pending increases for most of its New York customers and reduce requested rate hikes for others, state insurance officials said.

"Paying more to gas up your car may mean paying less to insure it," State Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo said in a statement. "Higher gas prices lead to less driving, and as New Yorkers drive less, the number of accidents should go down."

New Yorkers drove 4 percent less in May than in the same month last year, a reduction of 500 million vehicle-miles (one vehicle driven one mile), according to federal transportation officials. State insurance officials said that should save insurance companies between $120 million and $420 million a year in claims.

Dinallo said in an interview that he expects most of the 48 rate increase requests pending before the department to be modified or withdrawn. The requests average about 7 percent.

Neither the state nor Geico would disclose how big its increases would have been. In a statement, Seth Ingall, regional vice president in Geico's regional office in Woodbury, said: "Our rates in New York are lower today than they were three years ago and we are constantly reviewing trends and rate adequacy."

A spokesman for State Farm, another major provider of insurance in the state, said that when setting rates it routinely takes into account reduced driving, including because of rising gasoline prices. "We're looking for any evidence we can find that our costs are going to go up or go down," said the spokesman, Dick Luedke. He said State Farm does not have rate increases pending before the state.

Auto insurance rates are climbing nationally because of rising medical costs and the rising cost of repairing increasingly complex autos, Dinallo said.

A few insurance companies, including Progressive and GMAC, have begun experimenting with plans to grant discounts for low-mileage drivers. Progressive's plan isn't available yet in New York. GMAC's is offered here and in 33 other states, a spokeswoman said, for motorists who drive less than 15,000 miles a year and have cars equipped with OnStar vehicle locating systems so miles driven can be verified.

At least one local driver wasn't impressed by the state's announcement. "Instead the state should be looking into the amount of money the oil and insurance companies are making already," Charles Riehm, 46, of Ronkonkoma, whose two cars are insured by Geico, wrote in an e-mail. "They are the only ones not losing money in this hard time."

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BY TOM INCANTALUPO

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