# Hello all! Quick intro and question for you! **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065 "2021-10-18T19:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pyrolord314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@pyrolord314](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pyrolord314)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/41 "2021-10-21T20:58:06Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > But I think you are right if you mean that many fatalities occur at under 40 MPH. No, I meant what I said: > [@pyrolord314](#): > > the VAST majority of **accidents** happen at 40 MPH or less. _**(bolded by me for emphasis)**_ > [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > But this statistic likely includes non belted occupants, as such statistics usually do. What value does this statistic have to someone who does use a seat belt? Again, I don’t have the statistics handy, though they’re probably easily accessible via Google search (or even searched on this forum. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has posted them in the past). I’m sure the statistics compare restrained vs unrestrained drivers. Most, if not all, ECUs take driver and passenger belted vs unbelted status into account in an accident when they determine whether to fire the airbags or not. > [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > I would imagine that it also becomes quite costly to make a car perform well above 40 MPH, and there are probably certain compact cars that can’t really ever achieve it. What compact care can’t achieve speeds higher than 40 mph for crash testing if they would do higher speed testing??? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/42 "2021-10-21T22:18:06Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > So, are you a vampire or a zombie now? Your pick. Computers are never wrong you know. Now as far as people programming them . . . ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 11:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/43 "2021-10-22T11:40:47Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > Not a decent chance of dying – you will die statistically with a probability of 1 on average. Yeah. On average. So not guaranteed, but a decent chance. That’s how statistics work. In short, you’re worried about something that is incredibly unlikely to happen to you, or anyone else. It’d be much more rational to worry about decidedly more emergent dangers, such as the epidemic of red light running and street racing. ---
**Author:** ![william969](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@william969](https://community.cartalk.com/u/william969)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/44 "2021-10-23T14:12:31Z")
Greetings, Julie ``` I wish you all success. I'm not well-informed on the history of the website, but a professional woman's perspective is always an asset. ``` ---
**Author:** ![william969](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@william969](https://community.cartalk.com/u/william969)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/45 "2021-10-23T14:17:49Z")
I too have Geico, but do everything online and by phone. My friend is using a local agent and he’s paying about 10% more. I don’t begrudge the agents as they do have to make a living but I’ve yet to need an agent having not had any accidents. Just my experience. No judgement either way. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/46 "2021-10-23T14:25:58Z")
> [@william969](#): > > . My friend is using a local agent and he’s paying about 10% more That 10 % could be many things such as- Annual driving miles - rate for vehcle - age of home - even distance to fire hydrant - credit rating - paying by month or in full at renewal - unless you are comparing apples to apples you just can’t say it is the agent. ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/47 "2021-10-23T14:31:34Z")
> [@william969](#): > > I’ve yet to need an agent having not had any accidents. When you have a wreck, the person you deal with is the claims adjuster. You usually only get your agent involved when the claims adjuster is being a jerk about it. ---
**Author:** ![william969](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@william969](https://community.cartalk.com/u/william969)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/48 "2021-10-23T14:34:20Z")
When he told me what he was paying, I went online and found a 10% price cut bypassing the agent. ---
**Author:** ![william969](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@william969](https://community.cartalk.com/u/william969)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/49 "2021-10-23T14:36:08Z")
Never had an accident, car stolen, nor any reason to deal with my insurance company rather than making payment. ---
**Author:** ![strickerj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@strickerj](https://community.cartalk.com/u/strickerj)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/50 "2021-10-26T17:17:31Z")
> [@shadowfax](#): > > Your odds of dying in a shark attack are 1 in 3.7 million. Your odds of dying of the flu are 1 in 63. You sure about the flu statistic? That’s a fatality rate of 1.5%, assuming that’s just those who contract the flu. If you mean the odds of anyone contracting and dying of the flu, it’s more on the order of a dozen per 100,000 people. Agreed on the rest though. I’ve complained about feature creep on modern cars, and I’ve received responses along the lines of “if one life is saved, it’s worth it”. That sounds good, but it isn’t really a reasonable position - there’s no such thing as eliminating risk, so what remains is reasonable precautions to mitigate risk. Loading cars with more and more technology to reduce the last little sliver of risk at the cost of making new cars unaffordable to the masses is, IMHO, not worth it - because it would end up forcing most people into older cars that don’t have those features anyway. Maybe this would be a good topic? ---
**Author:** ![Managing-Editor-Julie](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/managing-editor-julie/32/26448_2.png) [@Managing-Editor-Julie](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Managing-Editor-Julie)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/51 "2021-10-26T17:28:25Z")
@strickerj I think there is considerable merit in this topic. Many of the newest cars have so many facets that make them more expensive. I do see each manufacturer trying to also offer excellent safety features in this baseline models, but top-of-the-line is called that for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Managing-Editor-Julie](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/managing-editor-julie/32/26448_2.png) [@Managing-Editor-Julie](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Managing-Editor-Julie)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/52 "2021-10-26T17:29:34Z")
@william969 Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![william969](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@william969](https://community.cartalk.com/u/william969)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/53 "2021-10-26T17:30:58Z")
My Pleasure. William Cole ---
**Author:** ![Renegade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Renegade](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Renegade)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/54 "2021-10-26T17:49:30Z")
> [@strickerj](#): > > with more and more technology to reduce the last little sliver of risk at the cost of making new cars unaffordable to the masses is, IMHO, not worth it Agree no matter how much the risk is reduced there will always be STUPID people that can be counted on to do the wrong thing. [quote=“strickerj, post:50, topic:180065”] last little sliver of risk at the cost of making new cars unaffordable to the masses is, IMHO, not worth it - because it would end up forcing most people into older cars that don’t have those features anyway Also agree, > [@strickerj](#): > > Maybe this would be a good topic? Also agree. ---
**Author:** ![Champ31957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@Champ31957](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Champ31957)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/55 "2021-10-26T22:51:31Z")
Geico does that. Had a minor accident a few years ago (after 25 years with them). Rates went up when the other party sued and Geico was not even interested in defending themselves (me) in court. “Cheaper to just pay” they said. Sure enough, next renewal, they raised the rates. Left them for another carrier. Told them I was leaving. They didn’t care. After I left, the phone calls, text messages, emails and snail mail messages started. Got a quote. Lower than before the accident. Went back. No further incidents. Next renewal, back up again. Stopped playing games. Now I won’t go back if they paid me. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/56 "2021-10-29T14:19:35Z")
> [@Champ31957](#): > > Rates went up when the other party sued and Geico was not even interested in defending themselves (me) in court. “Cheaper to just pay” they said. If you didn’t think you were responsible then there are ways to appeal this to your states insurance board. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065/57 "2021-10-29T14:41:41Z")
> [@Managing-Editor-Julie](#): > > Many of the newest cars have so many facets that make them more expensive. Just a little perspective… if we compare car prices and value from 1970 to 2020 (to avoid the Covid inflated car prices) we have… Average car price 1970, $3542 (inflation adjusted price of $24,894 in 2020 dollars), the lifespan of which is 100,000 miles, that shows rust holes in 3 years, requiring at least 3x the maintenance cost of a modern car with crank windows, manual locks, manual seats, no AC, no cruise control and a mono-AM/FM radio likely getting about 13 MPGs spewing unbreathable gasses out the tailpipe. Average car price in 2020, $38723, the lifespan of which is at least 150,000 miles, doesn’t show body rust for 10-15 years, requiring less maintenance, equipped with AC, power locks, windows, seats, cruise, AC, stereo w Bluetooth, airbags, TPMS, ABS, Stability Control, Traction Control, getting 28 MPGs, blowing 0.5% or less of the pollutants of the 1970 vehicle. In summation… For 59% more money, we get _at least_ 50% more life (if not _ **far** _ more) out of a far nicer, far safer, more economical and far cleaner car. I can accept that. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hello-all-quick-intro-and-question-for-you/180065.md?page=2)