>There's nothing fairer than user-pays, especially when users can choose to pay less by changing their behavior.

If user pays is so fair why does anyone who could access credit or liquid assets in excess of their state's minimums have to pay hundreds to thousands per year for auto insurance?

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AlotOfReading 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Most states allow you to go without insurance by fronting the cash. It's called self-insurance. You put up some minimum amount, file a form with the state DMV, and keep the approval certificate in the vehicle like normal.

It's relatively unknown for individuals because most people have no desire to lock up tens or hundreds of thousands of spare dollars just to avoid car insurance. As far as I'm aware it's primarily used by rich collectors who need to insure large collections that don't fit more traditional insurance profiles. Much more useful for businesses.

	▲	cucumber3732842 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>Most states allow you to go without insurance by fronting the cash. That's BS on it's face. Most states don't allow it or they restrict it to big business and government agencies. >because most people have no desire to lock up tens or hundreds of thousands of spare dollars just to avoid car insurance. Most people's money isn't making a return greater than what insurance would cost them. Second, this completely ignores my point about credit. I can easily get hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit secured against my house or tens of thousands in unsecured credit (credit card). Why must I pay to keep the lights on at some insurance firm? And I'm not particularly rich. If the numbers pencil out for me then surely they must pencil out for millions of people.

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chad_oliver 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's an entirely separate issue, isn't it? In my country (New Zealand) there are no requirements to have auto insurance. If you don't have insurance and you hit a million-dollar car you're gonna be in an awkward situation, but that's a risk you're allowed to take.

Note that you _are_ legally required to pay your annual ACC levies, which fund no-fault cover for injuries. However that doesn't cover property damage.