Got hit :( Driver had no insurance.

[liuping]

to pay for insurance, you have to spend so much extra time at work,

You lost me there (along with the immigrant and communist conspiracy stuff)

Basic insurance coverage is as low as $15 per month (full coverage is less than $100).

If you are working a night job to afford $15 per month, you have some very serious financial issues (and I assume you are not in the market for a Tesla, etc).

 

[e-Rik]

@bwa--I can't quite tell if you're serious or not with your post. If you aren't, then you need a tongue-in-cheek tag. If you are, then you need a tin foil hat tag.

+1, amusing rant though bwa!

 

[Cyclone]

Here in Virginia, you can pay a $500 fee when registering the car and be legally exempt from the requirement to carry insurance. It's complete madness.

Back in college, I remember reading an article about a person who ran from the cops instead of pulling over for a speeding ticket in Georgia b/c he didn't have insurance. Turned out, he didn't need insurance as a "visitor" to Georgia. I wonder if such things are still possible.

 

[Rockster]

With the recent change this should be no longer true, but not too long ago it was estimated that 25% of cars in Texas had no insurance. What happened was that you get plates for a year, but you only need to show that the insurance is current on the date you renew the plates. Some folks would purchase a week's worth of insurance.

I used to live in Maryland. In that state, the insurance companies are required to inform the department of motor vehicles of a vehicle's insurance status. Any time insurance lapsed, the DMV found out within a day. If a few days passed and the DMV hadn't been informed that a new policy had been written, the DMV instructed the local police to go to the address on record and retrieve the tags from the car. That happened to us once when my parents miscommunicated and each thought the other had renewed the auto insurance policy. Imagine our surprise when the police knocked on the door one evening and said they were there to collect the car's license plates. I think this is a perfect solution: If you choose not to insure the car you've bought, it's still your car. Drive it on your property all you want. Just don't bring it out onto the public roads.

I don't know about how things are in Maryland now, but when I lived there, Maryland didn't have very many uninsured motorists.

In contrast, as Jerry observes, it's not uncommon for people in Texas to get a week's worth of insurance once a year, at auto registration renewal time. In fact, many drivers don't even bother with that. A friend of mine suffered an accident caused by an uninsured, unlicensed, undocumented resident of another country. At the accident scene, the driver had no proof of insurance and no ID whatsoever. All the officer could do was write down the name and address that the driver stated verbally was his and then let the man leave. My friend said to the officer, "it's obvious that was a fake name and address and this guy not only has no insurance but no license and isn't even a citizen. Can't you arrest him or something?" The officer replied, "Sorry, it doesn't work that way. In a few weeks the court will send a letter to that fake address and nothing will happen."

 

[mikeash]

When I was born, there was no requirement for insurance in California. And I think we were better off.

But then, with the aftereffects of WWII, communism and the baby boomer generation and traitorous profiteering as well as all sorts of other anti-citizen movements, we got Illegal Aliens (at that time from Mexico but really any detritus of people from anywhere would cause this problem). With them they brought a host of problems, including never getting insurance and causing a lot of very bad accidents. California sought to fix this, but the solution came from Iowa and the Communists from Sacramento, in the form of required insurance.

I find that insurance on cars is a racket....

Insurance is a racket, and you try not to buy it, but one of the problems that Illegal Aliens brought with them was never getting insurance? Man, if you're going to post crazy rants, at least try to make them internally consistent.

You're operating a dangerous machine which can easily cause a million dollars in damage to others. If you have a million dollars or more in assets that you don't mind losing to a lawsuit then you don't need insurance, but otherwise you do. Pure liability insurance is enough to satisfy The Man and is pretty cheap as long as your driving record isn't terrible.

 

[Vitold]

Seriously? The lack of the other guy having insurance is the fault of "Illegal Aliens" who are "detritus" people? Ouch.

In BC, all motor vehicle insurance is run by the Provincial government - it's called: ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia). Third party liability insurance is mandatory and can only be obtained through ICBC -- no competition is allowed from private insurance companies (or anyone at all). You can only buy optional insurance from private insurance companies (comprehensive) but not liability insurance. We also have uninsured motorist protection so that if someone stole a vehicle, lets say, or was drunk and voided their insurance, and hits you, ICBC pays you under that coverage. (Very few people have no insurance since you will be pulled over quickly without a current tag.) Plus, we have no fault coverage for accidents that are our fault. You don't get nearly as much as in a tort claim against another driver when it's not your fault, especially for catastrophic injuries, but at least you get medical and wage-loss benefits.

This must be your version of hell on earth when it comes to insurance.

Interesting data point. However, can you tell us how much your insurance premiums are and coverage you receive so it can be compared to US rates?

 

[Zroiron]

With the recent change this should be no longer true, but not too long ago it was estimated that 25% of cars in Texas had no insurance. What happened was that you get plates for a year, but you only need to show that the insurance is current on the date you renew the plates. Some folks would purchase a week's worth of insurance.

That scheme won't work in Nevada. The moment the insurance lapses, the DMV gets electronic notification and your registration is flagged. Your registration is suspended until you prove that you have valid insurance with an insurance company approved in Nevada.

 

[MileHighMotoring]

That scheme won't work in Nevada. The moment the insurance lapses, the DMV gets electronic notification and your registration is flagged. Your registration is suspended until you prove that you have valid insurance with an insurance company approved in Nevada.

They also have this type of electronic insurance monitoring in Colorado.

 

[Canuck]

Interesting data point. However, can you tell us how much your insurance premiums are and coverage you receive so it can be compared to US rates?

It's crazy nuts. Insurance on my Model S is about $3k. About the same for my wife's BMW. My 2008 Tahoe Hybrid is about $2k. All with $3M liability (plus $3M ump coverage) and full comprehensive. That's also with the full safe driver's discount. My 18 year old daughter is the principal driver of our Leaf (and rates are high for teenagers) so it was about $3k but she had a very minor accident in a parking lot - her fault - and it doubled on renewal to $6k. So I pulled the comprehensive and it was back down to about $3k. I decided to risk own damage for the Leaf. I'd rather invest the extra $3k since it won't break the bank if she totaled it. I'd be much more concerned for her than the vehicle. In fact, after her at-fault minor accident she was rear ended while stopped to the tune of $15k in repairs and it was in the shop for 2 months. That wasn't her fault so ICBC paid for our repairs. I really thought they'd write it off but they repaired it. Fortunately, she was fine.

So that's $11k "after tax" dollars I pay on just vehicle insurance. Nuts. But I don't blame the illegal aliens.

 

[1208]

In the UK it is required by law to have the car insured.

If not, you could:

• get a fixed penalty of £100
• have your vehicle wheel-clamped, impounded or destroyed
• face a court prosecution, with a possible maximum fine of £1,000

 

[AMPd]

If someone tells me they don't have insurance, it doesn't matter. That's something that my insurance company is supposed to deal with, not me. I would have taken down information and filed a claim. Police report would be nice, but I'm not sure it's necessary. It doesn't matter if the other party is insured or not, especially if you're insured. Your insurance would always take care of your claim first, then, they would deal with the liability as it flows with the other party or their insurance (if they have it).

- K

Will my rates go up if i file a claim after getting hit by an uninsured driver? I assume the rates shouldn't go up because it was not my fault, but I've never had to file claims with insurance companies

 

[jerry33]

Interesting data point. However, can you tell us how much your insurance premiums are and coverage you receive so it can be compared to US rates?

When ICBC came in, I paid about 30% more than I had previously on the same car. That was some years ago, so I don't know how much it costs today.

The somewhat sad thing was that when ICBC came in the built millions of dollars worth of specialized claim centres. When the next government came in, they shut down as much of ICBC as they could, and those building stood empty (they can't be sold because they are laid out in such a fashion that they can only be used for claim centres. When the government changed again, they were opened back up. "Only in Canada, pity".

 

[hybridbear]

Will my rates go up if i file a claim after getting hit by an uninsured driver? I assume the rates shouldn't go up because it was not my fault, but I've never had to file claims with insurance companies

Most insurance companies won't change your rates, but if you decide to change insurance companies, then these claims can be held against you.

 

[cdf3]

Consider yourself lucky. I was hit by a driver with no insurance. I've been without my Tesla for the past month and a half, and it's still in the body shop being repaired.

 

[Khatsalano]

Will my rates go up if i file a claim after getting hit by an uninsured driver? I assume the rates shouldn't go up because it was not my fault, but I've never had to file claims with insurance companies

Most likely not. You can ask your insurance agent and they should be able to give you an answer straight up without affecting anything. Also, don't worry if your rates go up, even if you're at fault in another accident (hopefully never). The amount paid out should more than justify it ... I mean, that's the whole point of paying in to a shared-risk pool! It's certainly not to keep paying lower premiums and to never get paid out!

- K

 

[AMPd]

Consider yourself lucky. I was hit by a driver with no insurance. I've been without my Tesla for the past month and a half, and it's still in the body shop being repaired.

Now THAT sucks! I'd be pissed.