Another true story:
about 2 years ago I had an old jeep cherokee that the tags were about to expire on.I planned on junking it when the tags expired.On the day the tag expired I cancelled the insurance on it and had it hauled away to the junkyard.I gave the expired tags to my daughter to return to the DMV.She didn`t get around to returning them until over a week later.
I get a bill in the mail from the DMV for over $300 for not having insurance on the jeep.
I called the DMV and explained to them that the tags were expired at the time I cancelled the insurance and the vehicle was sent to the junkyard the same day. They basically said āsucks to be youā give us our money.
How did that make society safer?
Apparently, in Maryland at least, you have to have insurance on a vehicle with expired tags and is sitting in the junkyard.
If insurance is deemed to be of such a great benefit to society in general that the government feels compelled to mandate it`s use then society in general should subsidize insurance through increased taxes so that the government can subsidize insurance for safe drivers.
There are too many variables used to determine how much each person has to pay for insurance above and beyond a persons driving record.Things such as, make model and year of the vehicle, your age, where you live,your credit score,etc, etc.
None of those things have a dang thing to do with keeping society safe from bad drivers, all of those things have to do with padding the insurance companies bottom line and the government is mandating that we all have to pitch in to make the insurance companies richer.
mandating insurance does little to keep bad drivers off the road,bad drivers still drive and have insurance they just pay more for their insurance.Rich people can drive as poorly as they want because they have the money to hire expensive lawyers to help them keep their license and money to pay the ever increasing insurance premiums.
I dunno but it seemed like car liability insurance was a lot more affordable before it became mandatory. I remember something like $130/year for my '64 Nova that I drove during the 1970ās. Of course there has been inflation since then.
I believe other factors may just be the fact that cars are just more expensive to repair today, even if the only damage is that the airbags went off. The insurance companies pushed for 5mph bumpers to lower car repair costs. The unintended consequence it that 10 mph collisions became more costly, also, it turned out that most ofl those ā5mphā collisions were actually 10 to 15 mph collisions.
It would have been better if cars had sacrificial and inexpensively replaced front and rear crush zones instead. Styrofoam covered in vinyl or something.
āā¦we have electric co ops that are not government run. they seem to do fine and have lower prices.ā
Iām on an electric coop and have the privilege of paying significantly more per kWh than the Duke Power customers a mile away. Ohio passed a law requiring competition for the source of power for investor-owned electric companies, but the coop lobbyists got the coops exempted from this law.
I believe the opposite is true here. the major utilities have fought tooth and nail to sink a wind farm planned for the Delaware coast. Blue water, I believe was the name.
representatives can be bought and sold depending on which way the windblows it seems
but laws not being applied equally is one of my pet peeves, so I feel for you
In a co-OP you pay what they tell you to pay. And depending on the size of the co-OP, they just might buy group insurance if it is available. It seems to me that the co-OP would need to have about 10,000 members to be worthwhile. There are some counties that donāt have that many residents.
@B.L.E. Thats an excellent observation,thats why one of the variables in determining how much insurance you pay is based on the year,model and brand of car you drive and not strictly on how good of a driver you are. Even minor accidents can total a lot of these newer plastic,aluminium,and styrofoam cars that they have been making.
I miss the days of sheet metal bodies and steel chrome bumpers.I had a 68 Firebird with that big chrome nose, on a sunny day you could see that thing coming from a mile away and it could take a beating and keep on going.
A few years ago my daughter hit a deer with her nissan,she braked in time so it didnt do much damage.When she got home I noticed a white spot on her bumper where the plastic had broken away,so I asked what it was, she said she didnt know.I went out and looked closer at it and it was STYROFOAM!
The backing of the plastic bumper was made of 2 inch thick styrofoam running the entire length of the bumper.
Disposable cars is what keeps the car companies in business now days.
Here in Wisconsin we have had manditory insurance for quite a few years now, and yet I would need both hands to count the people I know that would have been financially ruined if they didnāt have uninsured motorist coverage.
A guy gets a DWI . Big fine, losses license, and maybe even jail time.
Now because he has so many bills with this, he drives uninsured and no license so he can get to work. Then he gets bold and starts to do errands too, and the next thing is heās back at the bar drinking and driving home with no license and no insurance.
I even know a fellow who parked his car at a friends house. He would be left out of the Huber facility for work, walk the two blocks, get in his uninsured carā¦with a suspended license and drive to work.
I know a young guy who got his license back, but was restricted to drive only to and from work, with the breathalizer.
He had to have proof of insurance to get the restricted driving permit. When the insurance was due he didnāt pay it. A few months went by and he pulled out in front of an oncoming vehicle and totaled his car and did major damage to the other car. There may be something ion place where the insurance is supposed to contact the state and the loan company to inform them that the car is not insured, but if that is the case, it took so long that he could have easily killed somebody.
We cannot install some Sci Fi pellet into his brain that would zap him if the person touches an ignition key. Even the guys with the breathalizer sometimes will use a car registered to a brother, sister, mom, or dad.
We cannot guarentee that these people will stay off the road without insurance. Itās impossible!!!
So in all reality there is no way to be sure that everyone out on the road has insurance.
This is why it is important to have "uninsured Motorist insurance.
Interesting corollary experience, WI wants to force Amish to have smoke detectors to prevent fire damage to neighbors, now why are they going into houses looking for smoke detectors in the first place, never happened to me, but the Amish shun things like electricity.
"The families ā two from the town of Bridge Creek and two from the town of Fairchild ā could face eviction or be forced to pay $52,000 in accumulated fines if the court rules against them.
County officials say they donāt want to see that happen, but that they are required to enforce housing codes uniformly.
āUnless the courts or the law tells us differently, we enforce it equally on everybody to the best of our ability,ā said James Erickson, the director of the countyās planning and development department.
In response to the stalemate, state Rep. Kathy Bernier, R-Lake Hallie, has introduced a bill that would exempt one- and two-family homes with no electricity from laws requiring smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Bernier said she hopes the bill will pass in the next session early enough to prevent the families from being evicted or fined."
Why is insurance any different than, say, food? Or other things we must have? Why does anyone has a right to make a profit when they sell their house? Or a ton of wheat?
Wes, you are welcome to set up a co-op of you like. See how many people you can get and set up a cost system based on whatever you like. Since everyone is insured, Delaware might accept your set-up. But it will be difficult to set up a system that will last if you donāt have information about accident rates for each vehicle and each class of people in your group. And unless you get thousands of people, a couple of high payouts will run your fund out of money.
scratch florida, they now require ins. new hampshire requires none, but you are responsible for your mistakes (live free or die), Virginia allows you to drive without insurance for 500 bucks a year which covers your financial responsibility. a couple other states let you go without if you put 30-60 grand in escrow. I know California used to be optional but it has changed.
so it s Virginia for me and I can stay on th eastern shore! (Delmarva peninsula)
they already have the type of co op I envisioned @jtsanders
Requiring liability insurance to drive seems comparable to posting a bond when handling other peoples money. The annual cost for $250,000 liability on my 2 trucks is $285. Thatās a lot of bang for the buck and there is a great deal of comfort in knowing a sewer(sic) canāt cut me off and jamb on the brakes, then take my house in a law suit.
Speed limits, lane restrictions, licenses that require testing and registering cars seem to be logical to protect sensible people from the irresponsible and the crooks. Likewise, insurance seems somewhat logical.
Re: Amish in WI exempted from smoke/CO detectors because no electricity? Last I knew you couldnāt survive anywhere in WI without heat for winter. Wood stoves burn down more homes than electrical faults. And wood stoves can produce CO. No home in WI should be exempt. That is perhaps the most ignorant reason I have ever heard are these people that clueless?
NH requires insurance after your first at fault accident. My insurance co will not provide homeowners or any other type of insurance if you do not insure cars you own.