Lowering the Cost of Car Insurance

By
eric
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Donald Trump has promised he’ll use the power of the presidency, if he gets it, to reduce the cost of car insurance – which has been skyrocketing for everyone, including people who’ve not even received a “ticket”for some trumped-up traffic “offense” that could be used as an excuse to justify charging them more for “coverage.”

“Your automobile insurance is up by 73 percent – vote for Trump, I’ll cut that number in half”!

Which – despite the supercilious lecturing of the consiglieres of the insurance mafia such as Robert Hartwig, of the blandly styled Insurance Information Institute – he could do by what is styled executive order and never mind pedantic legalisms about the “constitution” and what it says a president may and may not do. The communists (call them by their proper name; “Democrats” they aren’t, the last one of those was RFK, Jr.) only object to this business of executive-ordering when it is done by someone the communists don’t like in a way that stymies the advance of communism. It is stupid to play fair with such people.

One plays to win.

“Someone should explain to Trump that insurance – and insurance rates – are regulated by the states, not the federal government,” wheedles Earwig. 

But “regulated” isn’t quite the right word, is it?

In fact, the states – state governments – impose the now-universal requirement to hand over money to the car insurance mafia as the price (one of them) of being allowed to register and operate a car on the government’s roads.

Get it out of your head that there is such a thing as “public” anything. It is either privately owned property or it is government controlled property, in which case it is government property in everything but name. Like the home you don’t actually own, even though it’s you who pay the mortgage and even if you paid off the mortgage. You must continue to pay the government, mustn’t you? In which case, how can you imagine you “own” that which the government can seize if you ever stop paying the government to be allowed to live there?

It’s the same with cars, effectively. You can’t even register (that is, ear-tag) one in most states without handing money over to the insurance mafia. Even if you never operate it on the government’s controlled roads. This pretty much demolishes the mewly justification given for requiring people to hand over money to the insurance mafia in that it’s not even possible to cause harm to someone else on the government’s controlled roads with your car if it never leave your driveway.

“If Trump on Day 1 could wave his hands and reduce auto insurance rates by 50 percent, auto insurance would instantly cease to be sold by any auto insurer in the United States,” says the Earwig. 

“The reason, of course, is that if insurers were compelled to sell auto insurance at 50 percent of the current price this would lead to enormous losses and the eventual insolvency of the insurer – hence they wouldn’t sell any at all.”

 

Italics added.

“Enormous losses”? Oh, the humanity!

How about the enormous losses incurred by the millions of people who are forced to hand over money to the insurance mafia each year for damage and harm they didn’t cause? It is interesting – revelatory – to note the fact that no one ever gets a refund from the insurance mafia for not causing damage and harm. The revenue stream goes only one way, cap’n.

Hadn’t you heard?

More to the point – the one Trump misses – is the cost of compulsion that’s driving costs up. It is a simple thing to understand, if you’re willing to think about it a little. Anything you’re forced to buy is going to cost more to buy for the simple (and ought-to-be-obvious) reason that you’re forced to buy it. Put another way, when a seller has the power to coerce you to purchase what he’s selling, he has an incentive to sell it to you for more rather than less.

And – in the opposite case – when a seller cannot force you to purchase what he’s selling, he has every incentive to sell it to you for less. More finely, he won’t be able to sell you anything at all – unless you deem that which he’s selling to be worth the money.

That is how Trump could lower the cost of car insurance.

By executive-ordering that no state has the lawful power to force any person to purchase anything, especially the products or services of private, for-profit corporations such as car (and health) insurance mafia. It is not merely that people are being mulcted, as they are via what are styled “taxes” to give theft a better mouth feel. In the case at hand, they are being mulcted for the profit of insurance cartels so wealthy they can afford – among others things – to barrage us with endless, obnoxious TeeVee ads about how we’ll “save” by sending them money! Never mind the marble-floored, glass walled office buildings, executive salaries and so on.

They plead poverty like a Borgia Pope – and are just as insufferable.

Take away the compulsion and insurance companies would be obliged to be reasonable. They would lose the insolent power to summarily increase what they charge and tell people to suck it up, buttercup. Because people could say: “No, I’m not paying that. I haven’t filed a claim. You have no legitimate reason to “adjust” my premium. Make it what it was – or cancel it.”

Imagine that.

You hardly have to. It’s the way it works in what’s left of the free market. No one is forced to eat at Olive Garden and because Olive Garden knows this, it does not charge $50 for a stale roll. The insurance mafia does that, essentially – precisely because it can make you pay $50 for a stale “roll.”

But if it weren’t compulsory then some people would drive without insurance and one of them might hit you and leave you with the bill for the damages!

Absolutely. As if that doesn’t already happen, despite the compulsion. Just the same as people are murdered every day with illegal guns in places like Chicago and DC where it’s illegal for non-criminals to own guns.

The criminals, of course, don’t care about such laws.

Just as “dangerous drunks” continue to drive drunk in spite of laws that say it’s forbidden. Just as there will be people who drive without insurance, regardless of the law that says they are required to buy it. Which – as such – causes no damage or harm to anyone. If they do cause damage or harm, then hold them responsible, by whatever means necessary. Garnish their earnings. Make them work a chain gang. Whatever it takes.

Just stop taking money from people who didn’t damage anything or cause harm to anyone by forcing them to hand it over to the insurance mafia.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. Insurance Incongruity
  2. Insurance Savings Accounts?
  3. The Cost of the Mafia
  4. Insurance at Gunpoint is Sick and Evil
  5. Insurance & Racial Profiling

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88 COMMENTS

  5. While I dont know the nuts and bolts of the insurance “market” (or racket) in the US, I can say from experience one of the reason all financial firms are getting more and more expensive and useless is the amount of regulation firms have to comply with (you know the regulation the good people in the gov implemented post 08 for all our benefit). I say this as a person who’s spent the last decade+ dealing with this fuckery….. I know how much of a burden it is to firms, and now and it’s becoming more and more obvious as its hitting the consumer (using that word loosely here)…
    The only way insurance can come down – deregulate, allow more entrants, make it easier to set up… yes there will be a couple scams and some sad stories. But on balance im 100% certain the net amount people pay will come down, bringing an overall benefit to society.

  6. Insurance rates up?….blame Kommiela…..

    In an interview, Singer Janet Jackson claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris isn’t black.

    In an interview with the Guardian, the youngest child of the Jackson family shared, “She’s not black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian.”

    Jackson added, “Her father’s white.

    Kommiela’s mother is East Indian….her father is Irish and East indian…but was born in Jamaica…

    In 1655, when England captured Jamaica from Spain, Oliver Cromwell populated the new colony with Irish – some convicts, many indentured servants.

    born in Jamaica…makes him black?….so Musk…born in south africa… is black?….

    If Kommiela is black…anyone born in N. america is N. American Indian…same logic….

    Judge Joe Brown met her father. He says that the father told him he is “Hindu and White”.

    Wikipedia used to say the same thing: ie “mixed Indian & Caucasian” until they changed it.

    the courts in America determine the race of a mixed race child…Whatever race the mother is, is the race the court ascribes to the child.

    Most of the women interviewed, especially those of color, want Kamala Harris because she is NOT white …but….she is 1/4 white….her father’s parents were…one white…one East Indian…

    where is the black?….

    She’s black like Liz Warren is Indian.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/singer-janet-jackson-claims-kamala-harris-is-not/

    • Kommiela’s mother is East Indian….her father is Irish and East indian…but was born in Jamaica…

      born in Jamaica…makes him black?….so Musk…born in south Africa… is black?….

      If Kommiela is black…anyone born in N. America is N. American Indian…same logic….

      Remember that when they start handing out reparations to N. American Indians….it has started….

  7. Where did this idea of making others “whole” after an accident even come from? If you’re worried about losing something, if you can’t afford to repair or replace it YOU should buy insurance to protect YOUR investment. Is an “accident” a crime that justifies punishment even if no crime has been committed? The human tendency to feed off each other like some parasite circle jerk leads to things like mandatory insurance and eventually COMMUNISM. Remember, New Hampshire has no mdatory auto insurance. The sky hasn’t fallen and I never heard of anybody placed on the chain gang for a fender bender either.

    • Hi BlackFlag,

      I oppose forcing people to buy insurance because it’s self-evident, as I see it, that it’s wrong to compel anyone to pay for damages they’re not responsible for having caused – especially when they were caused by someone else. But it’s also right to hold people responsible for damages they do cause, including as a result of “accidents” that are most often the result of driver error. Not necessarily deliberate, but nonetheless. In the manner of accidentally knocking over your neighbor’s mailbox because you didn’t see it when you were backing up. You didn’t mean to. But you have a moral obligation to fix or replace the mailbox. Expecting the neighbor to just deal with it would be an asshole thing to do, yes?

      With accidents involving your and someone else’s vehicle, the issue is often determining who’s at fault; i.e., who lost control, followed too closely, missed the light, etc. That can be a challenge when neither party thinks they are at fault or refuses to admit fault. “No fault” insurance dispenses with that and just has the insurance of each party cover the costs, which of course adds to the cost.

      Getting back to the point I was trying to get at: If you haven’t caused anyone else any harm then you aren’t responsible for such “harms” and it’s outrageous to make you pay for them because you might at some indeterminate point in the open-ended future cause “harm.” Even if you never actually do.

      But if you do cause damage, then (morally) there is an obligation to – as you put it – “make whole” the person you damaged.

  8. Software leads to warfare. That means hardware.

    Been that way for centuries. Go War!

    How do I know?

    Your mind will lead the way, the ultimate software.

    Peacefare is the way to go, warfare sucks.

    A war on war will help, maybe.

    It is a travesty of a mockery of a sham.

  11. I quit paying any insurance on anything a long time ago – too damn expensive. How is Trump going to lower insurance rates? Those are private companies responding to state laws, lawsuits, etc. The Prez doesn’t have the power to change any of that – unless you get rid of private insurers by having the state supply the minimal coverage when you register a vehicle. Some places already do that, $20 added to all the other fees – and that saves the police from having to check for your coverage – if the vehicle is currently registered, it is also insured.

    In Oregon uninsured drivers is like 50%. The current system has already failed.

  12. More ‘crats at work — this is rich:

    ‘The Department of Commerce is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would prohibit the sale or import of connected vehicles that incorporate certain technology from China and Russia.

    ‘On Sunday, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told reporters during a conference call that “in extreme situations, a foreign adversary could shut down or take control of all their vehicles operating in the United States, all at the same time, causing crashes (or) blocking roads.”

    https://tinyurl.com/4abwfdcs

    What’s this ‘foreign adversary’ twaddle? Effective 2026, new vehicles will be equipped with kill switches. ‘Foreign adversaries’ did not impose this treasonous mandate. It came from our domestic enemies in the ‘Biden’ regime … people like the witless ‘Raimondo’ entity.

    Their announcement is a clear-cut admission that kill switches are real. They just said so.

    Substitute ‘Homeland Security’ for ‘foreign adversary’ and you’ll get an accurate picture of what’s coming, two years down the road. Russia and China are just cartoon-character bit players that need smacking down to create a credible diversion from what ‘Biden’ did to us.

  13. “Which – as such – causes no damage or harm to anyone. If they do cause damage or harm, then hold them responsible, by whatever means necessary” -EP

    I’ve long thought that accident loan companies could largely replace auto insurance companies. If you were to crash into someone, the law could require you to then take a (likely high interest) loan to pay for the damages. BUT, only people who caused damage would ever have to pay, instead of just everyone everywhere, no matter how they drive.

    “By executive-ordering that no state has the lawful power to force any person to purchase anything, especially the products or services of private, for-profit corporations such as car (and health) insurance mafia…”

    I’m not sure Orange Man could executive fiat that, but he could do what DC tyrants have been doing for some time: Refuse federal dollars for the States’ pet projects unless they acquiesce. But, of course, if the Feds didn’t take those dollars in the first place, we’d all be a lot richer than if we didn’t have to pay auto insurance.

    No, I’m afraid Orange Man is really only thinking about price-fixing schemes, same as Kommiela.

    • “I’m not sure Orange Man could executive fiat that…”

      Agreed. Lefties seem to be very pro-10th when it serves their interests. Assuming it can be saved, it’s going to have to be turning the tables on things that they have already arrogated to themselves. Lefties getting the sh*t sandwiches they have been trying to force on us smashed into their faces and rubbed around a bit gives me a warm fuzzy.

      • They will. All the rituals come back. Truthfully, any one of us who was part of increasing government power, even for the best of intentions, will feel that power used against us. Just a matter of time.

  14. >If they do cause damage or harm, then hold them responsible, by whatever means necessary. Garnish their earnings. Make them work a chain gang. Whatever it takes.

    First, you have to catch them. Pedro El Pendejo ain’t gonna hang around, because
    1. He is in the country illegally,
    2. He is working for cash, bajo la mesa (or bajo del agua, as they say in Mexico).
    Hit and run will be his plan of action, even as you bleed out in the wreck .

    The medical Industrial Complex will bankrupt you in a flash, without your consent.
    You, dear friend, will not have the money to hire a P.I. to attempt to find Pedro, even assuming you could find a P.I. who did not laugh at the suggestion.

    Pedro is long gone, and you are well and truly f*ed, because that is the way the world works.

    • I have to agree with that, Adi. How does one collect blood from a turnip? Most people are not going to come back and fix the damage that they have done and unfortunately, it now frowned upon to take a baseball bat to one’s knee caps when they refuse to make you whole.

      • >it now frowned upon to take a baseball bat to one’s knee caps when they refuse to make you whole.

        Perhaps that attitude needs to change. 🙂
        Can you say “Gangs of New York?” 🙂

        But, as I said, you have to find them, first.
        You and I, and Eric, and probably most people who read this website, are visible.
        Pedro is not. Pedro is decidedly *invisible*.

      • Hey RG,

        “…It now frowned upon to take a baseball bat to one’s knee caps when they refuse to make you whole.”

        Unless you’re an AGW, then it’s practically expected.

        • Hi BaDnOn,

          Speaking of which…am I the only one noticing an increase in vigilantism or maybe,, just a larger group of braver psychos?

          Last night I am folding laundry and I hear a bang/bang/bang outside the front of our home toward our road around 9:30. I peek out and see a car speed away. Our dog charged the front door barking up a storm. Hubby gets up and checks everything and nothing seems a miss. I dismiss it as one of the neighbor’s teenagers and friends doing something stupid or the car misfiring. Don’t think much of it…I go back to folding clothes.

          This morning hubby is out the door early and I have fallen back to sleep. At 6:20 AM the dog is barking again and at the front door. I look outside and between my neighbor and my property a strange man is pacing back and forth between our yards. He is about 25-35 years old, tall, and lanky and kept looking around every which way. Of course, I don’t have my glasses or my contacts on so he is a bit of a blur. I watch him for about five minutes. Barry is about three feet away if needed (I name all of my weaponry). I finally walk downstairs to get my glasses and he is still pacing back and forth outside at the crack of dawn.

          My neighbor finally leaves for work (she is a teacher) and he stands across the street from her. She does not stop, but just drives off. Her husband has not come out of the house at all. I move to the other side of the house and he has disappeared. Of course, this flips me out and I am walking one end of the house to the other to see where this guy went. I can’t find him. I call hubby and tell him the kids and I are heading into work because I am creeped out. Well, about an hour goes by as I am getting ready and I see my neighbor’s mailbox completely destroyed. I couldn’t see it earlier because there is a tree that blocked the view from the bedroom, but my guess is they were targeted. I am also assuming this was the bang/bang/bang that I heard the evening before. He, apparently, had a point to prove and was waiting for my neighbor to leave. Once she did, he did as well. My guess: crazy ex-boyfriend (yes, she is married), bad drug deal, or they didn’t pay someone that they were supposed to. The rest of our mailboxes (and yards) were still intact.

          Moral of the story: stay away from crazy people.

          • Raider Girl,

            Yes, stay away from crazy people, indeed.

            Do you happen to have security cameras around? I certainly did at my former house in a somewhat seedy part of Phoenix. They can address some perplexing mysteries at times. Once I awoke to banging calamity outside at about 5 AM. I found on the playback that some jackass had hopped up on the curb in his sedan and took out my empty trashcan.

            Also, there was a car that drove by about 2AM who popped off a bunch of shots into the ground as they drove by. Just a little joy-shooting, luckily. You could see the dirt jump up in spots as he drove by. I found a 9mm casing in the road the next day.

            I never spied on my neighbors property, by mine and the immediately surrounding roadway were constantly monitored and revealed some interesting insights.

            Of course, friends like “Barry” are the only things that will remove an immediate threat, but in case you want to solve a mystery…

            As for vigilantism, I think some people might have noticed that the cops are either useless or counterproductive at times, so they make the necessary rectifications themselves.

    • Hey Adi,

      Of course, Pedro wouldn’t have auto insurance either, so, I’d like to have the money I’ve saved by not paying it as well. 😉

  16. Instead of running his fool mouf about car insurance, Orange Man should be touting this landmark House vote last week:

    H.J.Res.136 This joint resolution nullifies the rule titled Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles and published by the Environmental Protection Agency on April 18, 2024.

    ‘The rule established and modified requirements for certain light-duty or medium-duty vehicles, including (1) emission standards, such as a greenhouse gas emission standard; (2) the durability of batteries for certain electric and hybrid vehicles; and (3) measuring fuel economy.’

    Passed by the House on Sep 20th, 215-191:

    https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024438

    F*ckin’-A! The Senate being in communist hands, Chuck the Schmuck probably will block it from reaching the floor this year. But he may lose the Majority Leader job next year.

    In any case, Red Guard Michael Regan just suffered a major humiliation on his slime-trail way out the kitchen door. The House officially repudiated his sweeping greenhouse gas regs. Commie clown begone!

    • Out of sheer spite at getting slapped down by the House, today defiant punk Michael Regan issued new regs to crank up the cost of HVAC equipment:

      ‘The program includes requirements for repairing leaking equipment, automatic leak detection systems on large refrigeration systems, using reclaimed HFCs to service certain existing equipment, minimizing HFC releases from fire suppression equipment, fire suppression technician training, and removal of HFCs from disposable cylinders before they are discarded. The regulations also limit the amount of new, or virgin, HFCs that can be contained in reclaimed HFC refrigerants.’

      https://tinyurl.com/yck8ak4f

      ‘Biden’ is going to keep crippling the economy till the day he slinks out of his usurped office for good. Democrat = Communist = Saboteur

      • Hi Jim,

        The EPA does this once a decade…with the help of Dupont. Keep changing out the refrigerants so it forces higher costs and continuous change outs across the board for consumers.

        The EPA is so concerned with “safety” they are mandating the restriction of non flammable refrigerants such as 134A and 410A to “mildly” flammable refrigerants such as 454B and R32.

        Let’s be honest, none of it is about safety, but control. Most of the new HVAC systems are computer based. The HVAC techs are probably going to have to have degrees in engineering before it is done. Most of the newer systems are Wi-Fi connected and the thermostat can be controlled by outside institutions from your tech, to the manufacturer, to the utility company. The newer systems are complete crap though. A better quality product is not being made and the systems have a useful life around 8-10 years compared to 20 years + from the days of yore.

  17. Lots of nibbling around at the edges, but the actual numbers for CAFE standards and EV goals are administrative branch. They could go away as quickly as he could say, “You’re fired.”

    He could say, “You want to buy a $2,500 stripped down car from India? You be you. California, you don’t have a say here. Interstate commerce is a federal matter.”

    He could go even further. The states converted the right to travel into a privilege by extending the rules that had applied to commercial drovers onto private transport. He could easily take that back, using current case law (Wickard v. Filburn, et. al.), that any vehicle operating or capable of operating across state lines is covered under the Commerce Clause.

    Then, ideally, says, “And you don’t have to get a federal license.”

    Using just “settled law”, he could do all that and more. Problem is, I doubt he would, even if he understood that.

    • That would all be outright heroic, Steve. I doubt Orange Man has it in him. He’s too consumed with “Law and Order” to allow that kind of freedom.

      But it would be righteous.

  19. Trump appears to mean well, but this is stupid. Long term, he could actually do that by getting congress to pass a law that specifically stated that no individual in any state is required to buy car insurance. In addition, he could rescind and remove regulations that have made cars unrepairable in the event of an accident. Airbags, sensors, and yes, even design changes for side impact and rollover crashes implemented could be removed/repealed.

    Emissions standards have also driven up insurance costs. It is much more expensive to remove/replace engine hardware than in the past. Direct injection engines are twice as expensive as regular FI models. 10 speed transmissions contribute to the cost of a car as well and make cars more expensive when they are new and when they are “totaled.”

    Yes, costs could be driven down, but not by someone who has never worked on a vehicle.

    Check the air cleaner.

    • It would appear to me that your suggestion (having Congress pass a law that prohibits states from requiring car insurance) would violate the Constitution, specifically the 10th amendment. Congress doesn’t have the authority to order the states to do things outside of its jurisdiction (article 1, section 8).

  20. First day of Autumn, time flies.

    If you have a Troy ounce of pure 24K gold, minted, it is worth 2500 dollars today. The price is $2658, you’ll have to pay a premium to sell your gold. At 2658 dollars per Troy ounce, I’d sell. Maybe you can dump your junk gold, watches, jewelry, but you won’t be receiving 2658 dollars per ounce.

    You’ll be able to pay your home insurance with an ounce or two of gold, you have to convert to US currency before the insurance company will be allowed to pay what you owe. Insurance companies are not precious metal brokers.

    What was the home tax burden in 1985 at 4x, is now 18x.

    Gov’s gaping maw demands more, the greedy pig that it is.

    On November 9th in 1984, Pfizer’s stock price was $1.53 per share. 29 dollars today. Pfizer was a nascent shoot back then.

    43 dollars per share back in October of 2021, no need to wonder why there.

    Go to the Boise River in Idaho and pan for some gold. You will be able to maybe strike it rich. With enough effort, after a few days, you will have some gold. It’ll cost less than trying to buy it at 2658 USD.

    Precious metals and gemstones up and down the Rockies, file a claim somewhere and begin your journey.

    The Pentagon is doing all of the diplomacy, the latest from what I have read over Trillion Dollar Hedge, Blinken and the crew have been sidelined.

  21. Insurance is regulated by the states. Life insurance, auto insurance, homeowners insurance, you name it — it’s all regulated by the individual fifty states. Insurers lobbied hard to maintain their state fiefdoms.

    Trump’s claim is election-year bullshit. If he attempts to executive order car insurance premiums, insurers will be in federal court the next morning, demanding an injunction on the grounds that the president has no authority over insurance. And they will win that injunction on the spot, if not a summary judgment to boot.

    Me to Orange OaF:

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjtCxr-WgAAPfCJ.jpg:large

    • >Trump’s claim is election-year bullshit. If he attempts to executive order car insurance premiums, insurers will be in federal court the next morning, demanding an injunction on the grounds that the president has no authority over insurance. And they will win that injunction on the spot, if not a summary judgment to boot.

      Agree.

  23. “Your automobile insurance is up by 73 percent – vote for Trump, I’ll cut that number in half”!

    People in this country are insane.

    When Kamiltoe suggests price fixing for groceries that is bad.

    When the Orange Fail suggests it for car insurance that is good.

    Or. . . Is it vice versa?

    Insanity!

    • Hi Burn it Down,

      I don’t advocate that he fix prices. I advocate that he end this loathsome business of forcing people to buy insurance. I try to point out to people that – logically – if it’s right to force people to buy car insurance because they might cause damage/harm someone with their car, then it is just as logical for the government to force people who own guns to “cover” them, too. Hell, I might punch someone in the face. Maybe I ought to have to buy insurance for that, too!

      Where does it end?

      • The sad fact of the matter is that this country is now so lawless anything goes.

        You are 100% correct that the states or the federal government should not have the ability to mandate insurance.

        However that is not going to change simply because we don’t have a functional government. They do whatever they want. Legalities, moral principles, constitutionality have not mattered in over a 100 years.

        We are reaping what has been sowed before most us were born. Face it, we were sold out by our parents, grand parents, and great-grand parents before them.

        There is no end until this system ends and that isn’t likely to happen in my lifetime.

      • Hi Eric,

        We don’t have to buy insurance in Virginia for our home (unless required by mortgage), health, life, or auto. We (and NH) are the only two states in the nation that auto insurance is optional. A bill did pass both Virginia houses to require every driver to have auto insurance, but I do not believe Youngkin ever signed it. In Virginia if you don’t have auto insurance there is a $500 uninsured motorist penalty one has to pay when renewing tags so usually it is cheaper just to buy a liability only policy for about $150 per year compared to the $500 fee.

        • >We don’t have to buy insurance in Virginia for our home (unless required by mortgage)
          True in CA as well, RG.
          Back in the 1980s, an architect of my acquaintance discontinued his HO insurance when he paid off the VA loan on his own home, which sat on the edge of the cliff in Rim Forest, CA (San Bernardino Mountains).

          The next winter was a wet one. The hillside saturated, then failed. Ken’s house ended up at the bottom of the hill. Total loss, uninsured. Oh, well.
          Can you say, “false economy?”

          • Hi Adi,

            No doubt, it happens. It is the risk one has to take. I do carry liability coverage on my autos and a homeowner’s insurance policy (no mortgage involved) on my residence.

            But, let’s be honest there is no guarantee that the insurance company will pay either. A small tornado (EF0) hit the back side of my parents home one afternoon a few years ago. Insurance never made them whole and it was a brutal fight even eight months after the fact.

            I carry home and auto for the largest of catastrophes, but very much like the Social Security and Medicare I pay every pay period, I don’t expect it to be there when needed.

            Fortunately, I have back up plans.

        • “…so usually it is cheaper just to buy a liability only policy for about $150 per year compared to the $500 fee.”

          Unfortunately, that is only true for people with a clean driving record. Those with lousy records run into thousands, if anyone will touch them at all.

          So like pretty much everything else, punish the people who are not the problem, while doing little to nothing about those who are.

          • Hi Steve,

            What would your solution be? If someone has a lousy driving record that sounds to me that they shouldn’t be on the road. What do we do with them? A business should not forced to take on clients that they lose money on.

  24. Not sure we want a dictator. It damn near that now and they still can’t get it right.

    Price fixing does not work, regardless where and how it’s being used. I suggest most of the increase is due to inflation in the car repair business parts and labor. Prices have almost doubled there.
    It is a State issue,,, like how many States removed or modified the helmet laws due to citizen groups constantly on their ass 24 & 7.

    Inflation is caused by the printing of excess money which Washington has the printer running at max. Simply removing the requirement to have insurance would work and would be constitutional.
    And people would drive more carefully.

    If we want steady prices,,, corpgov need to stop the printing. They’re destroying the currency not to mention counterfeiting is illegal.

    For your enjoyment: How good insurance can be helpful

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx0z9FjxP-Y&t=99s

    • Hi Ken,

      I don’t want a dictator, either – which is why I resent and oppose being made to buy insurance. If I cause damage or harm someone, make me pay – by all means. I ought to pay. But if anyone can explain to me why I must pay when I have not damaged anything nor caused harm to anyone, I am all ears.

  25. My question is if a Tesla costs 5-10x? to fix vs a ice car, and more than likely is ‘totaled’ at a much higher rate than others, does the insurance companies charge way more for that Tesla or do they just role in that extra cost for ALL users?

  26. “If Trump on Day 1 could wave his hands and reduce auto insurance rates by 50 percent, auto insurance would instantly cease to be sold by any auto insurer in the United States,” says the Earwig.

    Oh, and what a glorious outcome that would be.

    I’m always against unconstitutional acts, but they seem to happen with a lot frequency in these united states. It would would be nice if one of these unconstitutional act would benefit the citizenry every once in a while.

  27. There are a number of reasons why auto insurance is so high. But the root cause for each always comes back to the federal government.

    If Trump were serious about reducing the cost of auto insurance, He Vivek’s approach of taking a bulldozer to all federal agencies and their regulations they impose upon Americans.

  28. Owning A Car Is Less Important To Younger Generations

    From Zerohedge:
    “This suggests that the perceived necessity of car ownership is not only influenced by the availability and quality of public transit but also by generation.”

    In the city you can take Ubers, so that’s a big part of it. But looking at the TCO of car ownership, it’s pretty clear that your minimum wage job isn’t going to cover the cost of a newish car, insurance, fuel, parking (if in the city), and maintenance. Not to mention repairs after the “differently housed” help themselves to your laptop.

    My nephews aren’t typical but they both couldn’t wait to buy vehicles. A jeep for the older one, a Subaru Outback for the younger. But they both have warehouse jobs that pay pretty well for the area and still live at home. They might even be funneling the loan through mom and dad to get a better interest rate. I’m not privy to that information but I know it’s fairly common.

  29. Well, one way he could actually do something about skyrocketing insurance rates is to send the new arrivals back to their home country (or whatever country they obtained a passport from). That’s a heck of a lot of uninsured, unlicensed drivers off the roads in one stroke of the pen.

    I was thinking about Miami in the 1970s and 80s. The Cuban boat people crisis. Castro kicked ’em out and sent them up to Florida to fend for themselves. But before that he opened up the jails and “deported” the criminals where they ended up in Florida running the cocaine trade. We know that Venezuela has usually followed the Cuban playbook, so who’s to say Maduro hasn’t been doing the same thing?

    History doesn’t repeat itself, but Communism does.

    • whatever country they obtained a passport from).”- RK
      I doubt any of them have passports, why bother with such niceties when you can get bussed up here and get free housing, debit cards, EBT cards, sail fawns, etc. all provided by the local tax slaves.

      • This Wired article, posted earlier by anonymous1, is a blueprint of how an industrious, educated illegal immigrant from Brazil, with a flair for networking, self-promotion and fraud, undermined Silicon Valley tech scams and enriched herself in Taxachusetts … till she (unusually, rarely) get caught. Priscilla, Queen of the Rideshare Mafia:

        https://archive.ph/DCLXn

        Bear in mind that thanks to rootless cosmopolitan vandal ‘Mayorkas,’ young Priscilla probably is a voter in this fall’s ‘election’ [sic]. Makes ya feel proud, don’t it?

  30. Capo Gecko seems to be doing quite well in these uncertain times. His market cap just exceeded $1 Trillion and he’s sitting on a $270 billion cash pile.

    Whether someone should be forced to buy car insurance is a state matter, and most of the state governments want to be in business with the Capo right now.

  31. How will the Orange Man reduce body shop labor rates of $110/hr in San Francisco?
    Or Honda CRV roofs that cost $3000, a $1600 F250 LED tail lamp with a radar sensor in it, or the $450 cost to recalibrate it?

    • Hi Flip,

      Indeed. I got into this a little in the accompanying video monologue. If people choose to buy a $50,000 vehicle then let them pay the costs of repairing it. Including the potential costs (insurance). I drive an old truck because I don’t want to pay these costs. Why should I have to pay transferred costs because some other guy bought a new F250 with $1,600 LED tail lamps?

      • I agree that auto insurance should not be mandated, just as homeowner’s insurance is not required by law – but perhaps by contract per your mortgage company – should you have one.

        IMO, the majority of insurance issues originate from state insurance departments.
        Case in point is California’s Prop 103, which restricts insurers to a minimal amount of things on which to base underwriting. Insurers are forced to look past obvious risks that SHOULD raise the rates of those bad actors. That ultimately penalizes those who are responsible and mitigate their risks, in favor of the irresponsible and reckless.

        I would love to see a capitalist insurance system where an insurance company could cater to low risk consumers (like collector car insurance) and contain cost/keep premiums low.

        But the flip side would be fleets of uninsured Nissans, Kia/Hyundai and BMWs unleased upon the roads.
        The great question is how would the road carnage – that this group would undoubtedly inflict to sane society – be paid for by the troublemakers that drive those cars, have credit scores slightly above room temperature and zero assets?

        • Buy a policy to protect your own shit Flip. Don’t be a dirt bag commie. “My” mask doesn’t protect you and “your” mask doesn’t protect me.

  33. It might be possible for such mandates to be eliminated via the federal level. However, it would mean repealing the Civil Rights Act.

    That act violates the First Amendment in that it forces people and business to deal with one another. If we have a Right to “peaceably assemble” in the 1st Amendment it also means we have a Right to NOT associate with those whom we choose to avoid.

    The Civil Rights Act turns that on its head.

    In other words, with the CRA we now are merely arguing over how much GovCo can make us do/spend with people we’d rather not be forced to deal with, not if it CAN force us into business relationships.

    This will all end some day…just not well.

    • I, for one see nothing wrong with people of a like race or ethnicity freely associate while excluding others “not of the race or ethnicity” as long as this policy is followed across the board, applying to us whites as well.

      When I hear white people rally against “people of color” who want their own “safe spaces”, I think to myself: “What the hell is wrong with you?”

      As long as segregation is voluntary, self-imposed and not coerced by government edict, it is merely “freedom of association” in action.
      It is long overdue to restore TRUE “freedom of association”, a basic human right that was eviscerated with the passage of the so-called “civil-rights (for some)” laws and statutes.

      This should also apply to “public accommodation” laws which are also unconstitutional.
      Observe the unconstitutional treatment the Colorado baker (Masterpiece Cake Shop) received who has been harassed both by homosexuals and the state of Colorado (whose labor director is also a rabid militant homosexual) for refusing to bake a homosexual-themed cake. These militant homosexuals could have used many other bakers who would have happily baked a homosexual-themed cake but instead chose to harass and criminalize one baker who is living according to his religious beliefs and ethics. These same homosexuals also bypassed muslim bakers (who would also refuse to bake such a cake).

      While the so-called “civil-rights (for some)” movement was instituted under somewhat honorable terms, it has degenerated into a “group rights” fiasco which applies to all except heterosexual white males. There have been open declarations by government officials that “civil-rights (for some)” laws do not apply to white males as us white males (supposedly) hold all of the power.
      Equal rights also applies to freedom of association. If you do not have freedom of association, your rights are meaningless.

  34. Trump: “Your automobile insurance is up by 73 percent – vote for Trump, I’ll cut that number in half”!

    That of course still means that your insurance will have gone up 37.5%. Funny thing is as the time frame is not listed but assumed to be Bribem’s residency that is probably just the amount of inflation that might actually be in the auto repair business these days.

    Either way how much of that price increase is due to accidents caused by illegals and spontaneous fires caused by EVs?

    Also, the website wouldn’t let me log in.

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