Car Insurance
Bruce C. Miller
is it possible to not pay car insurance? If so, how would I go about
doing so, and proving this fact if I got pulled over?
Dave Garland
That would depend on your local laws. You need to consult with
someone in your particular country or state/province.
But offhand, I'd guess that very few people have enough money in the
bank to cover, say, a handful of serious injuries or deaths. Those
who do have that much money probably don't hang out on m.c.f-l
Dave
h
"Dave Garland" <dave.g...@wizinfo.com> wrote in message
news:s-idnYxgUKHgRQ7U...@posted.visi...
> Bruce C. Miller wrote:
>> If someone has enough money in the bank to cover damages in accidents,
>> is it possible to not pay car insurance? If so, how would I go about
>> doing so, and proving this fact if I got pulled over?
>
In NY you are required to have insurance. You cannot "self-insure" in NY. I
don't know about other states. It's worth the $500 a year just for peace of
mind, even though I've only had one accident in 35 years of driving and it
wasn't my fault (I was rear-ended while stopped at a red light).
Dave
"h" <tmc...@searchmachine.com> wrote in message
news:gn0phh$2uke$1...@adenine.netfront.net...
That may be true in NY, I'm not sure. In some states, you can post bond
instead of buying insurance. Basically, you give the state half a mill to
hold for you incase there is a claim against you. I don't know anybody that
rich. If there WAS somebody that rich, they'd probably buy car insurance
anyway. The reasoning is simple. How much interest would they be losing
out on if they wasted a half mill on bond? Cheaper in the long run just to
buy insurance, considering all the interest you'd lose on the bond
oney. -Dave
James
> "h" <tmcl...@searchmachine.com> wrote in message
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> news:gn0phh$2uke$1...@adenine.netfront.net...
>
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> > "Dave Garland" <dave.garl...@wizinfo.com> wrote in message
In Ontario and as far I know the other provinces, you must carry a
minimum amount ($500,000) of liability insurance. You can of course
not insure your car against collision theft etc., and when I had cars
worth less than $5000 I did just that.
James
JR Weiss
> If someone has enough money in the bank to cover damages in accidents,
> is it possible to not pay car insurance? If so, how would I go about
> doing so, and proving this fact if I got pulled over?
Some states have the option of posting a bond in lieu of insurance. Check
with your state DMV.
Lou
"Dave" <now...@noway2.not> wrote in message
news:gn178p$jpl$1...@reader.motzarella.org...
didn't even have to post a bond, unless you had an accident. And even then,
if the person you hit/injured signed a waiver, you got a free pass.
I had occasion last year to spend one night in the hospital for some minor
surgery - went home the next day. The bill came to $100k and change. I
think you'd be nuts to leave yourself open to paying those kinds of bills by
foregoing insurance, legal or not.
Mark Anderson
> I had occasion last year to spend one night in the hospital for some
> minor surgery - went home the next day. The bill came to $100k and
> change. I think you'd be nuts to leave yourself open to paying those
> kinds of bills by foregoing insurance, legal or not.
Here in the great banana republic of Illinois the required coverage for
liability is $40,000. If you insure the minimum and someone ran up a
$100K medical bill you'd still be uninsured for $60K, almost like having
no insurance at all.
Lou
"Mark Anderson" <m...@nospambrandylion.com> wrote in message
news:-5SdnYJtMMBF8QjU...@speakeasy.net...
The easy answer is that you insure for more than the legal minimum. The
other point is that if you end up having to pay, it's a lot easier to pay
60K than it is to pay 100K.
My experience may not be typical - my hospital stay had nothing at all to do
with anything driving related. But if an overnight can cost like that I'd
think you're better off buying insurance than paying the expenses yourself,
no matter how much money you have in the bank.
Dave
do
> with anything driving related. But if an overnight can cost like that I'd
> think you're better off buying insurance than paying the expenses
yourself,
> no matter how much money you have in the bank.
>
>
That's another way of saying that health care costs are TOTALLY out of
control. -Dave
George
PA has similar limits that I guess were set in 1950. Buying the state
required minimum is only slightly better than nothing. The main thing
you need to protect yourself from are the lawyers looking to transfer
wealth to themselves who have their pictures on city buses telling
people they will "help them".
Lou
"Dave" <now...@noway2.not> wrote in message
moment, that's the way the world is, and a prudent person does what s/he can
to deal with it. It's certainly not an argument for not buying auto
insurance.
Dave
>> That's another way of saying that health care costs are TOTALLY out of
>> control. -Dave
>>
> I'm saying nothing of the kind, and that's another subject anyway. At the
> moment, that's the way the world is, and a prudent person does what s/he
> can
> to deal with it. It's certainly not an argument for not buying auto
> insurance.
Well didn't mean to change the subject. But it's typical for a one-night
hospital stay to cost more than a middle-class families gross YEARLY income.
If that is not a broken health care system, what is? -Dave
Mark Anderson
>> Here in the great banana republic of Illinois the required coverage for
>> liability is $40,000. If you insure the minimum and someone ran up a
>> $100K medical bill you'd still be uninsured for $60K, almost like
>> having no insurance at all.
>
> The easy answer is that you insure for more than the legal minimum. The
> other point is that if you end up having to pay, it's a lot easier to
> pay 60K than it is to pay 100K.
It all comes down to the amount of risk you are willing to take. If you
run someone over and they live the liability could run up into the
millions. When hit with a multi-million dollar judgment how much is your
$40K or $300K or $500K insurance policy worth? The plaintiff will take
all your assets and bankrupt you regardless.
Dave Garland
> "Dave" <now...@noway2.not> wrote in message
>> control.
>>
> moment, that's the way the world is,
Actually, that's the way the USA is, not the world.
Another Dave
The Real Bev
> On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:40:57 -0500, Lou wrote:
>
>>> Here in the great banana republic of Illinois the required coverage for
>>> liability is $40,000. If you insure the minimum and someone ran up a
>>> $100K medical bill you'd still be uninsured for $60K, almost like
>>> having no insurance at all.
>>
>> The easy answer is that you insure for more than the legal minimum. The
>> other point is that if you end up having to pay, it's a lot easier to
>> pay 60K than it is to pay 100K.
>
> It all comes down to the amount of risk you are willing to take. If you
> run someone over and they live the liability could run up into the
> millions.
The solution is obvious: if you aren't sure, back up and try again.
> When hit with a multi-million dollar judgment how much is your
> $40K or $300K or $500K insurance policy worth? The plaintiff will take
> all your assets and bankrupt you regardless.
--
Cheers, Bev
O_________________________________________________O
"John Wayne toilet paper -- It's rough, it's tough,
and it don't take no crap from nobody."
Lou
"Dave" <now...@nohow2.not> wrote in message
news:gn7015$smt$1...@news.motzarella.org...
I guess it depends on what you mean by "broken". If health care was where
it was 50 years ago when I was a kid, I'd be 10 years dead by now. And
though my recent surgery was characterized as minor (one day in the
hospital, back to work in four days, could have probably been back in three
if I pushed it) without it I had a 50% chance of losing either or both legs
sometime in the next 10 years. And again, back in my youth, this particular
procedure wasn't available.
So I'll grant it was expensive, more expensive than I'd expected. But
personally, it was worth it.
Health care reform isn't going to change how much it costs to build or
maintain a hospital, or a CAT scanner, or anything else. It may "control"
costs by making things like CAT scans and certain procedures and medications
less available. Other than that, it mostly shifts the burden of payment
around.
And it's still not an argument for not having auto insurance.
Lou
Oh please - if you live somewhere else and are subject to different rules,
then your situation is different, and what you do in response to that
situation is different. I presumed the original question was from someone
in the US, and at the moment, if you live in the US, that is the way the
world is, as far as you're concerned. It's not going to help you one bit
if, standing in a courtroom, you say that somewhere else you wouldn't have
to pay the medical bills incurred by someone you injured.
Rod Speed
It can, actually. When the Jap system didnt allow high charges for
CAT scans, that forced the Japs to make much cheaper CAT scanners
and they now flog those to the rest of the world at those lower prices.
> It may "control" costs by making things like CAT scans
> and certain procedures and medications less available.
Didnt happen in Japan. They are all still freely available with no waiting
time at all, no possibility of the system telling you you cant have them,
and with a $10 per day hospital charge mandated if you are happy with
a 4 bed ward, $90 if you want to pay for a private ward instead.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
> Other than that, it mostly shifts the burden of payment around.
Wrong. It drastically cuts the cost of health care.
Thats why everywhere else has MUCH cheaper total health care costs than the US has.
> And it's still not an argument for not having auto insurance.
Wrong again. If you can only be charged what the Jap system charges, many would self insure.
Coffee's For Closers
57234a...@x10g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>, bm3...@gmail.com
says...
> If someone has enough money in the bank to cover damages in accidents,
> is it possible to not pay car insurance? If so, how would I go about
> doing so, and proving this fact if I got pulled over?
If you are in the US, contact your state's insurance commission
(or similar named agency.) Ask about options for "self-
insurance."
My understanding is that, this involves posting a large bond.
Meaning that you hand over the money to be held in case of a
claim. The amount would probably need to be at least equal to
the minimum coverage (e.g. $30K.) I expect that there are some
small administration fees.
You would receive a certificate of self-insurance, similar to the
proof document that an insurance company gives to its customers.
It might not be allowed in all states.
--
Get Credit Where Credit Is Due
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Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum
Bruce C. Miller
IN.SIG> wrote:
> In article <ec12c14d-cc1e-406f-8d17-
> 57234ac8e...@x10g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>, bm3...@gmail.com
> Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum
I'll probably skip it then. Even in a crappy CD account, I can make
like $1k/yr on just the interest of $30k. Might as well go with
minimal insurance, which costs less than this.
I'll look into it, but I doubt they'd be willing to give me any kind
of ROI on this money they're "holding" for me.
I'm in Virginia, FWIW.