TALLAHASSEE —
Florida’s epidemic of car insurance fraud is getting worse even though the total number of crashes in the state is declining.

The result: what amount to statewide premium increases of more than $900 million since 2008, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty told Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet Tuesday.

“That’s just like having a tax increase,” Scott said.

Neither Scott nor any Cabinet member called for outright repeal of the state’s 1972 no-fault auto insurance law that requires every driver to carry a minimum of $10,000 of personal injury protection, or PIP. But they agreed changes, perhaps even dramatic ones, must happen.

Florida is one of 10 so-called no-fault accident states. Most other states, 38 in all, have what is known as a tort system, which requires motorists to purchase bodily insurance coverage. A tort system holds at-fault drivers liable for the economic and non-economic damages they inflict on others.

Scott said he wants McCarty to consult with key lawmakers and push for reforms to be taken up in the next legislative session that begins in January. But by then, McCarty said, more premium increases are likely.

“The commissioner has been here a long time. He knows how to fix this,” Scott said. “I think he needs to sit down with the Legislature and come back with something that we can get passed and get it fixed.”

All of this has to be done through the Legislature, Scott said.

More than a decade after a scathing grand jury report exposed the extent of car insurance fraud in Florida, McCarty acknowledged that a series of minor tweaks by legislators have failed to combat the problem.

By staging accidents, ordering needless medical tests and other abuses, McCarty said, scammers have driven up car insurance premiums for everyone.

“There’s a group

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