Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill • Hacker News Board

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#31

Post by RIMR » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:55 PM UTC

scottLobster wrote: post #17

toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disincentives a suboptimal transportation option. Price signals are important, just like making it expensive to own property where the risk is too high. Automotive ownership and transportation is likely to never be as inexpensive as it previously was. You will either need to pay the cost or live somewhere you don’t need a car.

Yeah, as one of the vast majority of Americans who live in a car-dependent area and aren't made of money, have fun trying to force that on everyone. Also "suboptimal" is a matter of opinion.

Personal automobiles are suboptimal in every measurable metric aside from your subjective "but I like owning a car" opinion.

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#32

Post by PreInternet01 » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:56 PM UTC

baggy_trough wrote: post #19

toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disincentives a suboptimal transportation option. Price signals are important, just like making it expensive to own property where the risk is too high. Automotive ownership and transportation is likely to never be as inexpensive as it previously was. You will either need to pay the cost or live somewhere you don’t need a car.

The proposed price signal is "the more expensive, the better". So forbidding car ownership, in other words. A deeply destructive point of view.

Nah, not destructive, if I say so myself. More like: disruptive. Which should be a pretty popular concept around here?

To elaborate, maybe: I would fully support a robo-taxi scheme to ferry people to and from their job, shopping, or whatever. Where I live, shared e-vehicles are as good as it gets right now, but that's definitely a promising step already.

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#33

Post by lovich » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:57 PM UTC

PreInternet01 wrote: post #20

baggy_trough wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds terrible, why would you be against that?

'cause privately-owned cars are a significant contributor to mortality, and take up, like, 99% more space than is warranted? I mean, everyone (well mostly everyone) is absolutely mortified by commercial aviation, which, like, commits literally 0.01% of those sins on a global scale?

I don’t agree with you on aviation, but on the car front you should also consider that they are an underutilized asset that sits idle for the vast majority of their existence.

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#34

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:58 PM UTC

scottLobster wrote: post #17

toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disincentives a suboptimal transportation option. Price signals are important, just like making it expensive to own property where the risk is too high. Automotive ownership and transportation is likely to never be as inexpensive as it previously was. You will either need to pay the cost or live somewhere you don’t need a car.

Yeah, as one of the vast majority of Americans who live in a car-dependent area and aren't made of money, have fun trying to force that on everyone. Also "suboptimal" is a matter of opinion.

[deleted]

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#35

Post by maxwellg » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:58 PM UTC

baggy_trough wrote: post #8

PreInternet01 wrote: post #7

Well, the more expensive driving a car is, the better! That being said, I'm pretty sure that liability insurance for a family is not USD 20K, unless your idea of 'family' is, well, pretty extensive? Collision insurance? Sure, with EVs becoming more popular, that will only go up. But, yeah, omelettes, eggs, blah...

> Well, the more expensive driving a car is, the better! What an astonishing statement.

Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#36

Post by otterley » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:59 PM UTC

baggy_trough wrote: post #19

toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disincentives a suboptimal transportation option. Price signals are important, just like making it expensive to own property where the risk is too high. Automotive ownership and transportation is likely to never be as inexpensive as it previously was. You will either need to pay the cost or live somewhere you don’t need a car.

The proposed price signal is "the more expensive, the better". So forbidding car ownership, in other words. A deeply destructive point of view.

> forbidding car ownership

No need to be dramatic here. First, it's not "forbidden," just expensive. And the cost reflects the level of risk. Insurance companies aren't charities, and the marketplace is competitive, at least.

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#37

Post by kccqzy » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 6:00 PM UTC

legitster wrote: post #3

This article isn't very useful because it doesn't distinguish between liability and collision coverage. It doesn't matter how young the driver is, if you put them in a cheap small used car, you only need liability coverage which is pretty cheap.

Is it legal to put a young driver on their own insurance policy with a cheap small used car, while the rest of the family has a different policy with fancier cars and collision coverage?

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#38

Post by xnx » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 6:00 PM UTC

These aren't quite the last gasps, but the end is definitely in sight for the car insurance industry. Self-driving cars are an extinction level event for car insurance. $20K would buy a lot of Waymo rides.

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#39

Post by silisili » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 6:00 PM UTC

I keep reading about ridiculous insurance prices the last few years, but it seemingly never affects me. Do most people tend to get lots of moving violations and in accidents or something?

I have two vehicles, mid range limits, one brand new with full coverage, and one a bit older with liability, and for two drivers the bill is around $1200 a year.

I know kids of course get a higher rate, but even so, $20k seems a bit out there unless you have a dodgy record.

Re: Welcome to the Era of the $20k Family Car Insurance Bill

#40

Post by BeetleB » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 6:00 PM UTC

baggy_trough wrote: post #19

toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disincentives a suboptimal transportation option. Price signals are important, just like making it expensive to own property where the risk is too high. Automotive ownership and transportation is likely to never be as inexpensive as it previously was. You will either need to pay the cost or live somewhere you don’t need a car.

The proposed price signal is "the more expensive, the better". So forbidding car ownership, in other words. A deeply destructive point of view.

Deeply destructive, perhaps, but the norm in European countries. They prefer making driving expensive (be it via taxes, or import duties, etc).

The US is still far cheaper to drive in, by comparison.