Car Insurance

[Liquid]

In the O&CE and not the CIG subforum due to being on opinions. Correct me if this is wrong.

In the United Kingdom, and most countries I believe, it is illegal to drive without insurance. I paid £3,000/~€4,000/~US$5,000 for 12 months insurance on this 1999 1.5L Honda Civic MB. An astronomical amount. I was under 21 when taking out the policy, and it's my first policy so it was always going to be pricey. I don't know how much it will fall to with 12 months no claims, or if I can even afford to insure it again. But if I want to drive it, I must have insurance on it, because that's the law.

It's not illegal to not insure one's house, or not insure one's possessions.

So riddle me this; if you could legally drive without insurance, would you? Or would you prefer the security of having insurance?

 

[kk20]

In the O&CE and not the CIG subforum due to being on opinions. Correct me if this is wrong.

In the United Kingdom, and most countries I believe, it is illegal to drive without insurance. I paid £3,000/~€4,000/~US$5,000 for 12 months insurance on this 1999 1.5L Honda Civic MB. An astronomical amount. I was under 21 when taking out the policy, and it's my first policy so it was always going to be pricey. I don't know how much it will fall to with 12 months no claims, or if I can even afford to insure it again. But if I want to drive it, I must have insurance on it, because that's the law.

It's not illegal to not insure one's house, or not insure one's possessions.

So riddle me this; if you could legally drive without insurance, would you? Or would you prefer the security of having insurance?

Third party fire and theft?

 

[Liquid]

Actually, no. It was £400 cheaper to go fully comp.

 

[kk20]

Actually, no. It was £400 cheaper to go fully comp.

Your pullin my leg arent ya

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

I know I can drive... and I am sure the majority of the people on this forum can as well lol.

Its all the other idiots on the road I am worried about. I live right off of Dallas North Tollway; I am on it or the service road every day and I am constantly dodging idiots who just can't drive. I literally avoid at least one accident a day. One day I had to swerve to miss THREE DIFFERENT CARS in a ONE MILE STRETCH of DNT....

Because of this.... I would pay for car insurance in the chance the idiot who caused the accident didn't have any.


If I lived in Podunk county where er'body knew my name... probably not.

 

[MatskiMonk]

That is a crazy amount, but then it is a 1.5, even when I got my first car a 1.4 was about the most anybody would have been able to afford the insurance.

I probably would have insurance, in case I got sued for damaging someone elses property, I wouldn't have insurance just for my own car, only 3 cars I've had out of 9 have actually cost more than a years insurance is.

 

[Lizard]

I most likely would because of the security but then maybe only a few years down the line when I have a good income. To start with I most likely would skip it.

Whilst on the subject of insurance what is everyones views on some of the calls to put a maximum limit on prices. The idea was put forward as an effective way of reducing the number going uninsured.

 

[Keef]

So riddle me this; if you could legally drive without insurance, would you? Or would you prefer the security of having insurance?

Riddle me this: What the hell kind of sense does it make to have insurance that is more expensive than the car you bought it for?

Now, to answer your question: It depends, but I would. In fact, I would probably follow the rules better because of the added risk.

There have been studies in the aviation community suggesting that more mistakes are made when workload/responsibilities/assumption of risk are low. Obviously higher stress situations lead to fatigue with time, but in the short term performance is much better.

I think there's a general consensus among your typical drivers that driving isn't dangerous. Well, that's completely wrong as it's probably the most dangerous thing they'll do all day. But they don't have to worry about that - they have traction control in the rain, ABS in the snow, blind spot warning systems, and above all full-coverage insurance that pays them big bucks when they screw up. They didn't really like that car anyway. And that, my friend, is a dangerous-as-hell attitude if I've ever heard of one.

That said, if I had a new car I'd have full coverage on it. If I had my car I'd have liability because it's cheap and pays for that asshole's BMW.

 

[Famine]

Riddle me this: What the hell kind of sense does it make to have insurance that is more expensive than the car you bought it for?

You don't only wreck your car when you crash.

In fact the largest chunk of money paid out on insurance claims isn't car or scenery. It's personal injury and loss of earnings. You can easily see a half million claim on a two car crash with six occupants.


Speaking of which, it's actually a myth you need to be insured to be on UK (or EU) roads... kinda. You don't have to buy insurance - you simply have to prove you have bought valid insurance or that you have the sum of £2m in secured savings for the purposes of underwriting yourself.

 

[Keef]

You don't only wreck your car when you crash.

In fact the largest chunk of money paid out on insurance claims isn't car or scenery. It's personal injury and loss of earnings. You can easily see a half million claim on a two car crash with six occupants.

Apparently Progressive thinks $340 a year covers whatever Bentley I might plow into and its elderly occupants.

 

[Famine]

Admiral have a similar attitude to our BMW and MX-5.

But I am very old.

 

[nealcropper]

Famine? Did you say that if you have £2M in the bank that you can get around having car insurance?

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

Most South East Asian countries do not have such rules to have insurance for a car to be legally driven on the road, they are fine with it, insurance is optional to them, as it should be. I would only go for third party if full coverage is too expensive and only have an insurance if it's the only way to be legally driven, anyway I never had any accident or make any claim yet - except scraping my front bumper once when parking late at night, and I have been driving for more than 15 years in several countries, so that might have changed my perspective ...

 

[Famine]

Famine? Did you say that if you have £2M in the bank that you can get around having car insurance?

It's not sufficient to be just in the bank. It has to be secured savings ("surety") for the purpose of underwriting yourself. And technically it's not getting around having insurance, rather self-certifying.

 

[GazMac]

Well, for me, a 1.2 Corsa 16v was priced for me at £3900. A Honda civic 1.6 Type S was £3800, and a Ford Focus sport 1.6 was £3600, and a Gold 2.0 TDI was £4100, all these were fully comp.

Here's were the big shock was.

Honda Integra DC5 was priced at £6738.

But now I just have a motor trade insurance which means I can drive any car I want, (Subaru impress) although I'm thinking off buying a ford RS MK2. But I can't drive mad cars Luke Gerrard or anythung until I'm 21

 

[savage388]

While our insurance over here isn't as ridiculous as over in the UK, if I didn't have to pay
I wouldn't. Considering my car books for next to nothing ( I think like $1800) and full coverage would be around $2000 a year it makes no sense to have it if I didn't need it.

 

[Pagey279]

Insurance in England after you have been driving for around 2 years drops massively, I bought a Honda Civic Sport last February (my first car) and it was the first policy I had taken out by myself, fully comp, I had been driving 1 year and 3 months (had access to my Dad's car), no no claims and I was 19 years old and I was quoted £1750 for the year. Which isn't bad.
But I need to renew next month, so I have been driving 2 years and 3 months and have only got 1 years no claims and my insurance has gone down by £1200 to £550. My friend after driving 2 years or so bought a Clio Sport 182 Cup and insured that for less than £600 too. It's quite surprising, to me at least.
Plus I've been looking at quotes and for cars with 200bhp+ it costs me less than a grand to insure.

Considering my current car is worth £3500 maybe then yes I would still insure it even if I didn't have to.

 

[Dennisch]

Well, for 10 euro a month, I can't really complain.

 

[niky]

Most South East Asian countries do not have such rules to have insurance for a car to be legally driven on the road, they are fine with it, insurance is optional to them, as it should be. I would only go for third party if full coverage is too expensive and only have an insurance if it's the only way to be legally driven, anyway I never had any accident or make any claim yet - except scraping my front bumper once when parking late at night, and I have been driving for more than 15 years in several countries, so that might have changed my perspective ...

Not in places you would actually want to drive. Insurance is mandatory in Malaysia and Singapore, and third-party liability is mandatory in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. I don't know about Cambodia and Burma, but really... who drives there?

Of course, if you ever have reason to make claims against typical third-party liability coverage in these countries, it's a complete joke, and all you'll get is a shrug and a smile from the typical madmen who weave down the road with utter disregard for life and limb.

Because these idiots get the cheapest insurance possible, it actually pays to get a fairly decent insurance plan to cover yourself. And having lost three cars to torrential flooding over the past thirty years, "Acts-of-God" coverage has become a standard option on insurance contracts for all our new vehicles.

 

[Shaun]

Well down here, Victoria Australia specifically, (I'm not sure of our other states) insurance isn't compulsory.

Included in our yearly registration fee is TAC insurance which covers pedestrian and other road users but not property. I can quite legally drive around at my own risk of damaging property or other vehicles.

We generally have three types of optional insurance.

Third party: Covers damage to others property.
Third party fire and theft: As above and the addition of, well, theft and fire of your own vehicle .
Comprehensive: As above and cover of your own vehicle.

So to answer the original question, yes I can choose to drive without insurance but don't. We always have comprehensive insurance on our cars to cover us against the unavoidable. As has been stated already I trust myself but not others.
We've used our insurance three times when on each occasion none where our (well my wifes fault).
Once our car was hit in a car park with none of us in it. $1500 damage.
Second time a guy reversed straight into my wife side on. $3000 damage.
And worse when one of our cars was six weeks old with 1000 km on the odo my wife was patiently waiting at a set of traffic lights when two cars collided at the combined speed of 100kmh. Result, one of the cars was propelled into my wife causing $16,000 of damage to our car.

So after some of our misfortune there's not a chance in hell we wouldn't have insurance.
One catch though, if your car isn't roadworthy good luck getting any money from your insurance agency. Thing is we don't have annual roadworthy tests (same as your MOT) but only when a car is sold.

On a side note I can't believe how expensive insurance is for you guys.

tldr: I don't have to have insurance but choose to.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

Not in places you would actually want to drive. Insurance is mandatory in Malaysia and Singapore, and third-party liability is mandatory in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. I don't know about Cambodia and Burma, but really... who drives there?

Of course, if you ever have reason to make claims against typical third-party liability coverage in these countries, it's a complete joke, and all you'll get is a shrug and a smile from the typical madmen who weave down the road with utter disregard for life and limb.

Because these idiots get the cheapest insurance possible, it actually pays to get a fairly decent insurance plan to cover yourself. And having lost three cars to torrential flooding over the past thirty years, "Acts-of-God" coverage has become a standard option on insurance contracts for all our new vehicles.

For me, it depends on the value of the car, if the car valued at less than say $3000, why would I insured it ( full cover ) if it will cost $1000 or more a year ? I'll go third party, if the car one day written off in an accident, I'll get another car If the car's gone due to nature's wrath ( flood, quake, fire ), what can I say ? **** happens But seriously, it's all in the ratio of car's value and insurance fee for me.

 

[nealcropper]

It's not sufficient to be just in the bank. It has to be secured savings ("surety") for the purpose of underwriting yourself. And technically it's not getting around having insurance, rather self-certifying.

Right, cheers mate, good to know.

 

[Liquid]

Riddle me this: What the hell kind of sense does it make to have insurance that is more expensive than the car you bought it for?

Welcome to British insurance companies.

I paid £650 for the car yet £3,000 in insurance. I know how ridiculous it is, I had to pay it. And it took up more than 90% of my life savings I'd started since I was 17 specifically for the purpose of my first year's insurance because I knew it would be so expensive.

As a 21 year old male, I am obviously going to crash my car everyday and kill millions of people in traffic so therefore we are absolutely rogered in the rear when it comes to insurance. I won't get insurance cheaper than the cost of the car until I'm about 25. Which is four years time.

As for answering my own question, I probably would still pay for insurance, provided it was a fair amount and not more than 50% of my yearly income....

 

[hogger129]

I think it's stupid to drive without at least liability coverage. In Wisconsin, I'm pretty sure it's state law now that you HAVE to have at least liability coverage.

 

[hogger129]

I know I can drive... and I am sure the majority of the people on this forum can as well lol.

Its all the other idiots on the road I am worried about. I live right off of Dallas North Tollway; I am on it or the service road every day and I am constantly dodging idiots who just can't drive. I literally avoid at least one accident a day. One day I had to swerve to miss THREE DIFFERENT CARS in a ONE MILE STRETCH of DNT....

Because of this.... I would pay for car insurance in the chance the idiot who caused the accident didn't have any.


If I lived in Podunk county where er'body knew my name... probably not.

You think that's bad - I used to go visit my buddies at Purdue every summer for a weekend and I had to drive through Chicago during rush hour. Bumper to bumper, people just cut right in. Sometimes people will just change lanes on top of you and you'll get run into the i-Pass lanes.

 

[Barra333]

Well down here, Victoria Australia specifically, (I'm not sure of our other states) insurance isn't compulsory.

Included in our yearly registration fee is TAC insurance which covers pedestrian and other road users but not property. I can quite legally drive around at my own risk of damaging property or other vehicles.

We generally have three types of optional insurance.

Third party: Covers damage to others property.
Third party fire and theft: As above and the addition of, well, theft and fire of your own vehicle .
Comprehensive: As above and cover of your own vehicle.

That is pretty much how it works in NSW and ACT too Shaun.
The compulsory third party is paid with the registration of the car. In NSW, there are several companies to choose from, but in the ACT only one bothers.
As a result, it costs me $800 a year to keep a 2001 Commodore registered, plus about another $300-$400 (dont remember) for the fully comprehensive cover.

Also, to echo what Famine said, but others seem to have ignored... the third party cover is only to cover what you hit. The car you drive could be worth $5, but the Ferrari you scratch and have to pay for is worth far more than that, so your insurance covers it's repairs. If you hit another $5 car, then fine, pay the other driver out of you own pocket.

When I lived in the UK for a little while and owned a Rover 400 (worth a whopping £400 pounds), it was about £10/month cheaper to get fully comp than 3rd party. That included an intro no claim bonus of 10% - they wouldn't honour my 6 years of crash-free driving in Australia.

 

[Slash]

A lot of companies are stupid about insuring things up here. If it's not new then you won't really get much money if an accident happens. My buddys dad restored a '78 F250 from the frame with as much work that could have been possible and some idiot rear ended him and he got $2,000. Just because it was a 1978.

 

[Shaun]

Can't you get an agreed value on the vehicle before signing up for the insurance?
Many companies will do it here with the best example being Shannons. Their main business is classic car insurance to cover exactly what you mentioned.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[Grayfox]

If you are just starting to drive.

You will most likely get a cheap car, so why not get third party cover.

Shaun we do have roadworthy tests.

Pinkslips.

 

[Liquid]

If you are just starting to drive.

You will most likely get a cheap car, so why not get third party cover.

Shaun we do have roadworthy tests.

Pinkslips.

The hypothetical is, if you didn't have to buy insurace, would you? Or would you still buy it?