Why is insurance so hard to get?

Not to be confused with the tyranny of the majority. Tocqueville, Publius, Thomas, dr. Brick and others.

Point was Minnesota has no paper plates that I am aware of. Just 21 day stickers. I suppose someone could print a fake one out with goldenrod paper but think it is pretty much a non issue here and no need for secret inscription.

A lot of things in life seem unfair. Some of them actually are unfair. Some are reasonable if all the circumstances are considered. For example, do you think this is fair? Homeowner’s without any kids pay exactly the same property tax to fund the local public schools as a homeowner sending a dozen kids to school.

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A little off topic as usual for you . But since you put this out here . Educated kids become better adults which benifits everyone . The property tax goes for more than just schools and the bond that are involved are usually passed by voters . We have no children and it does not bother us at all to support schools .

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Purchase of a service versus an assessment for the public are pretty unrelated. I’ve never called the fire department even though I pay for them.

I do believe though that drivers should pay according to their accident history not age. Lumping everyone together by age group is nice for the statisticians but bears no semblance to the actual risk of an individual in that group. State Farm at least did provide a good student discount which was a step in the right direction imho.

In the U.S. it’s not that hard. At 19, I was driving a car with 3.8L supercharged V6, and was paying around $1600 USD per year with a slightly less than pristine driving record. This was several decades ago though.

Oh cry me a river; I do not understand all the whining about the cost of auto insurance for teenage males… Thousand bucks here, $1,200 there, maybe even $1,500, and with minimum wage what it is today… Heck they have no problem paying that for a new phone, a new gaming laptop, and not to mention the cost of the streaming service charges for their game time…

I take you back to 1966 and a 16-year old male buys a 1954 Dodge with a flat head 6 and three-speed manual tranny… His parents say no way are you going on my insurance and that young male knows all too well why… But, he still goes to his parent’s insurance company, Liberty Mutual, and buys his own policy and it cost just over $1,200 a year, paid in advance, when minimum wage is $1.25 an hour and when the insurance policy arrives, it’s not for Liberty Mutual, it’s for Travelers. He calls the new agent and is told because of his age, he is put into the “Assigned Risk Pool” and all the major insurance companies have to take a fair share…

A year later, his grandmother says why don’t we put the car and insurance in her name and they do and they go to her insurance State Farm agent and he writes a new policy, with only $100 down. The balance would be due when the company writes the policy and would bill her…

Well, the grandmother gets the bill about a month later for $1,100, due in 30-days, and it’s for a policy with All State. She calls and finds out that since she does not have a driver’s license and that the now 17-year old was the primary driver; her policy was also put into the Assigned Risk Pool… Since the prorating for cancelling the policy was ridiculous, they left it in force. A year later, it went back the kid’s name…

That kid didn’t whine, he worked 5-days a week after school as a stock boy, Saturdays as kitchen help, and Sundays at a car wash… and he never drove without insurance… even though with every dollar he earned, more than half went just for insurance.

But take heart, I hear that Apple just released the iPhone 13 and it’s only $30 a month for 24-months, (plus a service contract at $65 a month with a 36-month contract…) Hey, what do you know, that’s almost $1,200 for the first year’s phone use…

So, what’s it going to be; New Phone or Car Insurance, Phone, Car, Phone, car, PHONE!!!

The OP claims $9,700, would you agree with that for one of your children?

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I do not agree, nor believe it is costing the OP $9,700.

I admit I do not have any direct knowledge of what a teenage male pays; but from my own experience, I have 5 vehicles, all with full coverage, with an attached umbrella policy, for a 2020 Honda Fit, a 2019 Toyota Corolla, a 2001 Dodge Ram, a 1985 Toyota Corolla, and a 1984 Harley Davidson Motorcycle, again ALL with full coverage, runs me just a tad over $1,600 a year with State Farm…

Now that’s with no-tickets and no-accidents; but the Comprehensive has bought two windshields and paid for the '85 to be towed to the dealer two times over the last two years. My wife has the tow company on speed-dial… (it’s her “baby”, first new car… and she’ll never sell nor trade it in…).

So, I would be very interested in what others have to say who have actual experiences like the OP wrote…

That’s the converted amount to USD at the current exchange rate, For the same car Top Gear was quoted from £3,000-£8,000 per year to insure a £1,200 Suzuki Liana for a 17yr old driver. But that was filmed back in 2009.

I can attest to the iphone. I bought the new one for the wife and it was $900. Seems a little high though for 1966. My folks built a new house in 65 for $16.000. True if you are put in the risk pool though. Around here it was Dairyland that was the risk pool and the rate in 1972 to folks who had violations or three accidents was something like $2500. No way I could have paid rates like that and still save for school.

There you go again . Things are just not as simple as you seem to think in your narrow world. New driver insurance is expensive and can be a real financial burden for people . The original post was why the cost was so high for this 19 year old . Now why he could not have an agent explain it to him I don’t know .

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In the UK, it’s completely plausible. Automobile insurance over there is comparatively ridiculous (especially for younger drivers) vs. what we pay in the U.S.

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Like I wrote, I do not believe the price of the OP’s car insurance is in the $9,000 plus range, unless the OP’s not telling the whole story… Tickets, Accidents, Criminal Records, etc… all of which goes into determining the “Risk Factor…”

Recent studies of the price of Auto Insurance in the UK shows that Car Insurance rates for teens are easily in the range of £1,000 to £2,000 a year, or more; not the

Teenage drivers are the most risky age group, and therefore pay 2X to 3X what an experienced driver would pay for car insurance.

Average Cost of Car Insurance UK (November 2023) | NimbleFins.

Did you read the articles, it says, “£1,000 to £2,000 a year,” which equates to about $1,200 to $2,400, hardly near the £8,000 (approximately $10,000) the OP claimed.

So, “there I go again in my small world;” but in my world, I use facts to make a case, not smoke, dust, and fairy powder to make an argument…

Huh, I was kinda surprised at the average and range of insurance rates in the uk. They have crazy requirements there that might have more to do with the car selected. 8000 a year would be over four times the upper limit. I wonder what mo ped insurance would be? But it gets cold there any rainy and hard to date with one.

One more consideration is the price of gasoline in the UK… Forgetting that teenagers who are paying lot for insurance could even afford to buy gasoline for their autos. It’s over £6.72 a gallon ($8.12). We can get into the semantics of what “type” of gallon, Imperial or the US gallon, where the Imperial Gallon is 4.54 liters and the US Gallon is 3.785 liters… But the price is based on the US Gallon…

So, one has to ask themselves, even if they could afford a car and even if they could afford insurance, what’s left to buy gas?

It would be interesting to hear the insurance company’s perspective on why they charge such a high price. Is it simply they want to use the OP’s desire to drive as a way to boost profits? Thinking the OP will pay whatever they ask in order that the OP may take a gf out on a date? Or are there other reasons? Like perhaps the insurance company’s statistics imply the expected payout to the OP, given the OP’s info on the insurance application and the stats for the intended car, requires they charge that amount in order to still – on the average – make a small profit on the policy? It’s quite possible insurance companies in the UK have different limitations on how they can use the statistics compared to insurance companies in the USA. In other words the same driver, same car in the USA might have a considerably lower premium, just b/c theUSA laws limit how the company may calculate the premium. In the USA for example, by law the insurance company may not be able to hike the premium b/c the applicant is male. State & federal sexual discrimination statutes, etc.

Calif law limits how much an insurance company may hike the rates based on the driver’s address. Done to curb red-lining poorer neighborhoods.

If OP discovers the reason is the date thing, don’t allow them to bully you like that. Instead suggest to forget the car and take the gf on a date by walking, train, subway, etc. The money you save on insurance will pay off in spades in your favor if you spend it on the date instead.

$1200 in 1966 is equal to $10,900 today. Why was car insurance so expensive? Did the 1954 Dodge come with a wet bar?

You asked for it…

Are you suggesting that 140 horsepower was the reason for high insurance rates in 1966?