is it fair to pay for a mistake that has not been made yet?
Is it fair to operate a vehicle without the means to compensate others for damage that you do to them and to their property?
by that logic you should buy insurance to play catch with a baseball. insurance to own a gun? insurance to own a lawn mower? insurance to own a rose bush?
like anything else you should be responsible for your errors and pay for them when and if they happen.
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“you should be responsible for your errors and pay for them when and if they happen.”
That’s fine if you have extremely deep pockets.
Do you?
Most people do not, and so state governments tend to mandate at least a minimum level of liability coverage so that somebody is not likely to be financially ruined if you do harm to them and/or their property.
If you seriously think that the level of potential damage from throwing a baseball, or running a lawn mower, or touching a rose bush is equivalent to the potential damage that can–and does–result from misuse of a 2 ton vehicle, then I guess there is nothing to discuss with you.
As to mandating insurance for gun owners, that might not be a bad idea.
Let the flame wars begin!
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well, like every other debt that people have pay and can t afford, their wages would be attached until it was paid.
lets use another example.
should you have insurance to have a campfire? the potential damage from an out of control fire is much greater than that of a car wreck. the examples are endless.
and don t change the subject to guns to start a flame war.
do you work for the insurance industry?
Whats even worse is forcing people who cant drive to buy insurance.
True Story:
My wife is legally blind its a permanent condition that has gradually worsened over the last 10 years ,she collects disability for it but the insurance company which weve had for 12 years wont let me take her off the policy even though she doesnt even have a license anymore.
The insurance company says that anyone over the age of 18 who is living in the house has to be on the policy even if they dont have a license and even if they are physically unable to drive. so, Im paying insurance for someone who hasnt driven in over 3 years,doesnt have a license and will never be able to drive again.THAT`S legal extortion.
Whats really criminal about state mandated insurance is that all insurance companies charge you an uninsured motorist fee, wait! what? yep thats right even in states that mandate that every driver has to be insuranced the insurance companies are collecting fees to cover you if you are hit by a driver who has no insurance, but wait, there shouldnt be any uninsured drivers if it is state mandated that all drivers have insurance.Basically the insurance companies are collecting fees for something which they will never have to pay out for. So now we are legally mandated to buy insurance to cover us against people who break the law? I guess its only a matter of time before we are forced to pay extra on our life insurance and health insurance policies to cover us in case we are injured or killed by someone in the commission of a crime.
Maybe the insurance companies should sell crime victim insurance and the state can mandate that everyone has to buy it?
I don`t think any government should be in the business of forcing people to buy certain products, if the government wants everyone to have auto insurance then the government should provide the insurance either for free or at a reasonable cost.
You suggest that people should have their wages garnished to pay several hundred thousand dollars? That’s essentially a mortgage for 30 years. Even small medical expenses will run into the tens of thousands. Making all drivers have insurance as a part of licensing a car keeps rates lower than they might be if insurance was optional. The cost to insure all the state’s drivers is the same. The question is how large the pool of drivers is that pays for it. If everyone pays for it, the cost per person is lower.
how do the states that don t mandate insurance function?
at the least, cut out the middleman. insurance companies reap huge profits from the misfortune of others. if it was run as a non profit entity I would not have a problem with it. I have a problem with the state mandating that we buy a product from a company
The insurance companies spend a great deal of money supporting candidates,@wesw. And those insurance companies expect a return on their investment. Look at Medicare Part B. It’s quite a gravy train.
My state’s insurance commissioner would seem to be working for the benefit of the insurance companies and not the people who elected him. The fine for driving without a valid insurance card in your possession is $1,000 in Mississippi.
IIRC, you live in Northeast MD. If you don’t like that MD makes you get insurance, you could move to PA, DE, or NJ. Maybe one of them doesn’t force their drivers to all have insurance. But PA will force you to get a safety inspection annually, but you don’t have to do that in MD. And it would not surprise me if your have to pay more if insurance is voluntary.
I don t know what IIRC means and I don t live in northeast MD. in any case I would rather elect people who would change the law than move. if insurance was voluntary I would not have to pay more
the fine for an unregistered vehicle is around 100 bucks, an uninsured vehicle is over 1000 for the first day and added to daily
The logic for mandated insurance is that it saves YOU from the irresponsible drivers, @wesw. RESPONSIBLE people would choose to have insurance while those IRRESPONSIBLE drivers who are causing all the problems wouldn’t be insured. Doesn’t that make you feel much better.
Maybe we should all drink as much as we want before we drive , speed as much as we want, disobey whatever traffic control devices we want and forget the insurance.
Simply do whatever we want, Whenever we want.
I am so tired of getting up everyday to go to work, my back hurts most days, Im simply “tired”.
I will quit paying my taxes, quit buying plates, any sort of insurance, and go to the store and take whatever I need.
I am going to start living at my “natural speed” This sounds like a great plan.
oh, If I Recall Correctly, stupid acronyms. 
I live in lower Delaware. in fact so low that I can spuck a bottle cap into md from my porch. igrew up in md tho and don t miss it. there are too many rules. its similar to Massachusetts, you need a permit to scratch your butt
way to take a serious discussion and make a mockery of it rick
by that logic you should buy insurance to play catch with a baseball. insurance to own a gun? insurance to own a lawn mower? insurance to own a rose bush?like anything else you should be responsible for your errors and pay for them when and if they happen.
@wesw‌
Many of us already do,
I think its a law here in the US you HAVE to have health insurance, regardless of what the law is or what i think of it, I do have health insurance so if I hurt myself catching a ball Im covered. I have insurance on my guns and any liability that may arise from using them improperly or what someone may deem improperly. I have insurance on my lawnmower, if I shoot a rock out and blow out a window a person can make a claim on my homeowners insurance, same with the rose bush.
When I flew RC airplanes, I had an insurance policy for that as well.
The difference is on the road you are taking on a huge liability just by getting in your car, no one “makes” you buy car insurance, if you do not own a car you need not have car insurance.
rick, as I said, I would not have a problem if insurance was run as a cooperative, that makes sense. forcing people to buy a product that enriches private parties does not
way to take a serious discussion and make a mockery of it rick
I didn’t mean to make a mockery of anything, My point was we have laws and rules for a reason.
You have some points I suppose, maybe we should not be required to have car insurance. If you feel this way you should write your lawmakers.
There are some people who feel that you should not need a license to drive a car, or have plates on a car, Maybe they are right, maybe they are wrong, but they are in the minority either way.