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Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

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61–70 of 79 posts

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#61

Making cars a requirement for participating in society, across all socioeconomic levels, was a mistake. Now, lacking a car can put people into economic crisis. We can correct this by investing in public transportation and getting rid of government-provided free parking.

In the US. Rest of the world has functioning public transport.

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#62

is that accurate? Here in Germany minimal Kfz-Haftpflichtversicherung is I believe 7 million in personal injuries and 1 million in property damages. So if a broke guy in the US runs you over and causes you half a million in health damages, puts you out of work and totals your car you'll get 30k from their insurance? How can you legally let people on the road like this

And in Germany if you somehow cause more damage than that, you have to pay the remainder out of pocket, and Germany is much better at enforcing payment than any other country. That's right, if you crash into a billionaire's 2 million dollar Ferrari and total it, the state will extract one million dollars from you.

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#63
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why is someone who is not an employer, subsiding other employers in their purchase of employee insurance?

What does that even mean? The insurance is for the person who gets a hand cut off in an industrial accident. It's not for the employer.

So it is the employer who has to pay for it, not other citizens.

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#64

Making cars a requirement for participating in society, across all socioeconomic levels, was a mistake. Now, lacking a car can put people into economic crisis. We can correct this by investing in public transportation and getting rid of government-provided free parking.

In the US. Rest of the world has functioning public transport.

Cyprus, a member of EU, barely has any public transport.

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#65

Making cars a requirement for participating in society, across all socioeconomic levels, was a mistake. Now, lacking a car can put people into economic crisis. We can correct this by investing in public transportation and getting rid of government-provided free parking.

If people can’t afford to pay for an accident then they should not be driving

It's better to use the term "collision" as "accident" is loaded and implies that no-one is at fault or to blame. There's a long history of car industry bodies changing the narrative around traffic collisions in reporting (e.g. use of passive voice and not mentioning a driver).

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#66

Mark my words, in 2036 this story will read like a blast from the past. I read somewhere on this site recently that Waymo is about 9x safer than human drivers, and that number isn't going anywhere but up. What accidents remain will mostly be the responsibility of self driving car makers and fleet operators, and those don't deal with strip mall insurance agents. Please join me in a moment of silence for the dissolving…

They aren't "accidents", but collisions in the vast majority of cases. Using "accident" is a loaded term that implies no fault, no blame and that it's just one of those uncontrollable facts of life. An actual road traffic accident would be something like a tree falling down onto your vehicle.

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#67
post #23

> In-car dongles that track jerky driving, crash event recorders, and driver monitoring systems now let an insurer observe behavior directly and price it. Uh, but not in California, because of 1988's Prop. 103. Telematics for insurance pricing are completely unavailable in California.

I've long thought that black boxes for drivers can also act to detect various diseases. If someone's smoothness of driving suddenly starts to deteriorate, then it's often a sign of early dementia or eye diseases.

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#68

You basically need to insure yourself when using US roads. Forget the ridiculous minimum coverage requirements, a huge percentage of Americans drive around with no insurance whatsoever -- 20% or more in some states.

lol as a Canadian my insurance company recommends the maximum civil liability coverage (2 million) if one plans to drive in the US. Those lawsuit-happy Americans and their private health care systems haha.

Wouldn't the insurance company's incentive be to sell you the most coverage they can?

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get $3M-$5M in personal liability umbrella coverage (“plup”) for under $1k/year, but have to max out the underlying policy limits first.

And to add, you're already close to maxing out the underlying limits by default as required by auto lenders. If not financing, you should still...get similar levels to add umbrella. For the parent, an extra 1M umbrella is an extra $2-300/y and covers beyond auto!

Thanks for the advice, I will look into that!

Re: Killing with a car costs $1.6M, California requires drivers to carry $30K

#70

You basically need to insure yourself when using US roads. Forget the ridiculous minimum coverage requirements, a huge percentage of Americans drive around with no insurance whatsoever -- 20% or more in some states.

In Sweden if you register a car and have no insurance you're automatically on the governments but it's 3x more expensive than normal.

Most US states require proof of insurance to register a car. Some people just cancel their insurance after registration, and others simply don’t register it.
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