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The province is in good shape when it comes to auto insurance, says the Office of the Consumer Advocate for Insurance.

"We are back to normal for the good, clean driver," Ronald Godin said.

Premiums came down 13.5 per cent on average in 2007, as per the agreement the provincial government negotiated with the insurance industry, said Godin, who released his annual report Thursday.

That brings premiums back to the 2000 level, he said.

Godin said there are 44 insurance companies in the province and there is competition.

The number of people in the Facilities Association - the insurer of last resort - is between 7,000 and 8,000, or about 1.8 per cent of drivers, which is normal, said Godin.

That is down from 27,000 at the peak of the auto insurance crisis in the early 2000s, he said.

The total number of files handled by Godin's office in 2007 was 1,739, down from 1,848 in 2006.

Complaints and questions about premiums represented 708, or 40.7 per cent, of those files, he said.

The Fredericton area represented less than 10 per cent of the files handled by the consumer advocate for insurance.

There were 125 files from York County and 17 files from Sunbury County.

That compares to 529 files from Gloucester County, which includes Bathurst and the Acadian Peninsula.

Bill Adams, acting vice president Atlantic Canada for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, agreed with Godin.

"By any measure, I would say the reforms have been a success," Adams said.

New Brunswick has one of most highly competitive markets and has some of the lowest premiums in the country, he said.

Godin said the issue he will be watching is the impact of the 11 new territories, up from four, that are used by the insurance industry to set rates.

"It is safe to state that this is one of the major changes in the industry's history of doing business in this province," he said.