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I never heard of it until I saw that tweet a few minutes ago.

  • 7bicycles [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    If there is an actual concern about paying for accidents that happen at night, or with drivers who have long commutes, or anything else that would encourage an increase in insurance rates but none of those things happen then just give the money back to the insured.

    I mean Insurances do this now, basically. But it can't ever be more than a pittance, because if everybody got all their money back, there'd be none left to actually pay for stuff when it's needed.

    My point is you can nationalize and cut out profit motives and shareholders and such, but at it's heart insurances got their game down pat on this front. At some point either we all subsidize people who drive their car a lot with insurance, which doesn't sit well with me, or you get into the nitty gritty of making people pay based on statistical data, like that driving at night is more dangerous. It doesn't really matter if the single event costs the same at day or night, it's a question of how often does it happen and what happens. You might get a lot of scraped bumpers in a daytime parking lot, but one guy crashing into a building is gonna cost a lot more, even if it happens a lot less.

    • D61 [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I mean Insurances do this now, basically. But it can’t ever be more than a pittance, because if everybody got all their money back, there’d be none left to actually pay for stuff when it’s needed.

      I dunno about that. We're only about 1/4 into the year and the US auto insurance industry has made $300 billion so far. Pretty sure that's enough to pay for everybody's scratched bumpers, totaled hoopties, and demolished mailboxes with lots left over. And I've never gotten a refund but my rates increase every year.

      You might get a lot of scraped bumpers in a daytime parking lot, but one guy crashing into a building is gonna cost a lot more, even if it happens a lot less.\

      Which is the point of insurance. A large pool of people, most of which WONT be driving into a building, pitching in a small amount of money so that if somebody DOES hit a building the cost to the person in the accident isn't overwhelming to the people harmed. Its like, charging a person who might get cancer higher health insurance rates their entire life (regardless of their ability to pay) even if they never get cancer.

      • 7bicycles [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        I dunno about that. We’re only about 1/4 into the year and the US auto insurance industry has made $300 billion so far. Pretty sure that’s enough to pay for everybody’s scratched bumpers, totaled hoopties, and demolished mailboxes with lots left over. And I’ve never gotten a refund but my rates increase every year.

        42.000 car inflicted deaths in the USA a year, costing about a cool million a pop according to a quick google and only looking at deaths you're at 420 billion dollars a year. Just for that, nothing else. There's absolutely garguantuan amounts of money circulacting these systems.

        My point being: you can take $300 billion of profits out of the system and it'll get cheaper for everyone, sure. Doesn't solve the question though, how do you come to a conclusion how much someone should pay for car insurance? Is it a flat fee?

        Which is the point of insurance. A large pool of people, most of which WONT be driving into a building, pitching in a small amount of money so that if somebody DOES hit a building the cost to the person in the accident isn’t overwhelming to the people harmed. Its like, charging a person who might get cancer higher health insurance rates their entire life (regardless of their ability to pay) even if they never get cancer.

        I mean that does happen, but the crucial question here seems to me the one as to whether driving a car is a universal human right, or should it be?

        • D61 [any]
          ·
          1 year ago

          It would make sense to me that the rates would increase if the auto insurance industry was paying for the 1.4$ trillion cost to society but I don't think they are footing that bill.

          But if things are costing more, then everybody's insurance rates should be increasing by the fractional amount that the few would need the insurance claim filled would need to get everybody as whole as an insurance system is able to. Like, you don't charge people with a higher chance of cancer or something more money for their insurance, everybody pays a bit more. Because who knows if the person with a "higher statistical chance" of getting cancer will actually get cancer or if the person who has a low chance of cancer is the one who gets cancer. If we're actually worried about paying the bills, then society takes that seriously and pays the bills.

          I mean that does happen, but the crucial question here seems to me the one as to whether driving a car is a universal human right, or should it be?

          In a society that was built, and doesn't seem to be changing from, a car centric commuter society any time soon. Its going to have to be a "right" until some revolution happens and fundamentally restructures the USA's society and infrastructure. Which would be super cool.