Here in New Mexico, an estimated 1/3 to 1/2 of drivers don’t carry insurance at any given time! The state tends to look the other way, but now at least they’re sending out letters to warn folks that if they don’t get insurance, they’ll lose their auto registration. Oooh!! Big ouchy there! These dumbass lazy mouthbreathing lowlives are the same buttholes who don’t care if their car is registered or not, anyway, or if their license is revoked or not- the same dungbeetles who get plastered and then drive and maim or kill others. Our insurance is sky-high, due to my having to subsidize these buttmunches and their illegal, dangerous, reckless way of life! I tell you what the letters should say- "IF YOU BASTARDS DON’T FORK OVER THE DOUGH LIKE THE REST OF US AND GET YOUR CAR INSURED WE’LL SEND UNCLE GUIDO AND THE BOYS TO GIVE YOU SOME ENCOURAGEMENT! WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!!! HOW ABOUT SOME SMASHED KNEECAPS? HOW ABOUT A NEW BUTTHOLE OR TWO? NOW YOU’LL KNOW HOW THE VICTIMS OF DRUNK DRIVERS FEEL WHEN THEY’RE CRIPPLED FOR LIFE!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
I’m sensing some spacing difficulties here. Work with me, was your mother born in a shed?
Washington state still has uninsured drivers, but if you’re pulled over and don’t have proof of insurance it’s a $500 ticket. That’s cut down on some of it.
If you’re insurance is too high, why don’t you stop paying it?
It’s not like the state cares.
So, are you saying it’s the Government’s responsibility to force people to buy a product they don’t want?
Mandatory insurance laws are tyrannical. If you don’t want insurance, you’re stupid, and you deserve the consequences. If you do want insurance, and you buy a policy that doesn’t cover you if the other guy has no insurance, you’re stupid, and you deserve the consequences.
Friedo, I believe that driving is a privilege, not an absolute right. Operating a vehicle is a dangerous activity. If uninsured people only hurt themselves, I’d say “more power to them!” But unfortunately they have a tendency to get in accidents and then the other driver is screwed, even with “uninsured drivers’ coverage.” That’s the main reason this issue makes me so mad.
If everyone needs to get driver’s insurance to prevent “the other driver [being] screwed,” wouldn’t everyone need to get the maximum coverage available to ensure they are covered for whatever happens to transpire?
Such a large amount of coverage must come at a hefty price. (I wish I were an insurance company. With the government forcing people to buy the product/service, it must be a goldmine) I’m sure there are people in the country who are unable to afford that level of coverage. Their only options, it would seem, are:
a) Don’t drive.
b) Have the government subsidize their insurance.
Option ‘a’ isn’t a good choice because if they were unable to drive, they would most likely lose their job. In the end, making them worse off than before.
Option ‘b’ doesn’t work because no one wishes to pay even higher taxes, especially if you’re already spending more because of the maximum coverage required.
Quite the dilemma, I’d say.
You can’t renew the license plates on your car in Alberta without showing valid proof of insurance. Same deal in Saskatchewan. Insurance companies are vying with lawyers and politicians for lowest scum that ever scurried across the face of the earth, but most drivers are covered here.
Here insurance is not required - but my understanding is that the state now has a “financial responsibility” law, meaning that you have to either have insurance or the ability to pay any damages in an accident where you are at fault. How they prove this, I don’t know.
Oh, I agree that driving is a privilage. If you can’t prove that you can safely operate a vehicle, you should not be permitted on the road. Fine. But I don’t agree that a person should be forced by the state to insure his own property. It’s obviously a good idea to do so, but making it mandatory is just a form of taxation. (Albeit, taxation that goes to a private company.)
I would think (though I don’t have any numbers to prove it right now) that in states that don’t have mandatory insurance, the insurance premiums would actually be cheaper due to more competition and a finite market.
I could care less if they carry insurance on their car, but I do think they should be required to carry liability insurance to cover mine. Otherwise, I’m screwed when they hit me…
Especially if they can’t cover the damages…
Friedo, in this neck of the woods, you pretty much HAVE to have a car to have a JOB, unless you live around the corner from your job as a CEO… or you wanna work at McDonalds.
However, in my long and checkered careers, I have not always made enough money to pay for “uninsured motorist” coverage. I don’t feel that makes me an idiot. I feel that it points up that I was poor. I hasten to point out that, although poor, I was holding a job and paying my damn bills, at least!
I personally think that you should have to prove “financial responsibility”. If I can prove that I have a $25,000 savings bond in a safety deposit box, and that it is THERE, ready to be cashed in to pay for whatever damage I do if I have a moment of Instant Stupid while behind the wheel… why do I need insurance?
Well, because the insurance lobby is strong in Congress, my son. Ask anyone who’s ever had to wrestle with an HMO.
I have an 11 year old vehicle that is worth $2,000, maybe. Why should I spend $1000 a year so that some turd can drive an $80,000 Lexus without worrying about getting it scratched? If you want to own an expensive car, it’s your risk dammit, you insure it. If I have insurance, it just makes me a target for every little thing that happens, whether I caused it or not. If you think I am going to pay to assume the risk on your bloated gunboat, you are wrong. I don’t give a crap if you lose every nickel you payed for your chrome plated penis; if that bothers you, get insurance, but don’t whine at me! Life is risk, you either accept it, or pay somebody else, and I will do the same. No Fault Insurance Now!
…huh?
If my Lexus gets scratched, and you weren’t responsible, the way I understand it, you don’t owe me anything.
If, on the other hand, you rammed me head-on while running a red light while drunk off your butt, you ARE responsible, and should be held accountable, and made to pay up.
Either you’re innocent, and owe me nothing, or responsible, and you pay for the damage you did.
What does the cost of my car matter?
Well, I personally always thought that the more expensive the car, the higher the insurance. So, I guess that’s why it might matter.
You gotta have insurance in Texas…liability at least! No tags, inspection or drivers license if you don’t have it and a ticket if you are pulled over and fail to show proof of it. So, drive safe!
Because insurance rates are based on the aggregate losses in a given area. The more expensive cars there are to insure, the higher the losses for the same number of accidents. I don’t think my rates should go up just because everybody else wants to drive the laterst imported iron. If you want to be worry free, you buy the insurance, not me. Its that simple.
Does everyone who drives a nicer car than you qualify as a turd, or just the people who drive $80k Lexuses? And are you putting forth the suggestion that if you hit someone who drives an expensive car, you shouldn’t have to pay any restitution to them for the damage you cause because they (presumably) have more money? By that theory, shouldn’t you be free to vandalize or rob the homes of the rich?
What if you hit a Lexus and kill two of the passengers and leave two of the others with significant injuries which will affect them for the rest of their lives? Should you not have to pay insurance to cover that, too?
And what about the people who drive six year old Nissans worth $8k or the like? They’re on the road too, aren’t they? Are you not paying insurance to reimburse them for damages or injuries that you cause? Or do they not exist in your magical fairy world of you and the luxury car driving excrement?
Advice: grow the hell up.
I’m really pissed off about the current insurance rates. My goddamned insurance premiums are almost as much as the car payment. NOTE: I’m 40, married, w/kids, own home, no tickets or accidents for she or I EVER !!!
That is BULLSHIT!!!
Okey dokey, let’s see here… we’ve established that…
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Driving on the public roads is a privilege and not a right.
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People who injure other people while driving should be held responsible for the damages they cause.
Explain to me exactly why one who operates an automobile shouldn’t be required to prove they’re financially responsible? In my state, you can do what Wang-Ka describes and provide a deposit to cover any damages they incur. Most people find it more economical to purchase an insurance policy, but hey, whatever floats yer boat.
Uh, Fear Itself your post makes no sense to me. Are you suggesting that because I own a cheap car I shouldn’t be responsible for all the damages I do to an expensive car? Let’s take that to its logical extreme, shall we? Suppose I own no car at all. I whale on your Ferrari with a tire iron inflicting $50K in body damage. Gee, because I own an expensive car, I should be responsible for the harm you caused. Riiiiiight.
Freido, I fail to see how it is tyrannical, or even unreasonable to expect a person who want to share the roads with me to meet a few conditions. At a minimum, I would expect these conditions to include:
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The driver is physically and mentally capable of operating a motor vehicle;
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The motor vehicle is in good enough condition that it may be safely operated on the public roads; and
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The driver is financially capable of providing reparations for any damages caused as a result of their driving, at least at a minimum level.
DRIVING IS NOT A RIGHT!!! Show me where it says in the Bill of Rights that Americans have a right to operate a motor vehicle without proving themselves financially responsible.
You can kill or maim other people if you don’t do it carefully. You have no right to place at risk my family’s physical and financial health because you choose to drive without insurance.