Paladin. wrote on 02/16/08 at 20:05:06:I don't run over little kids. Last time I ran into anything was 1965.
Insurance is you betting against yourself. If you are a horrid driver/rider insurance will pay off. If you are a safe driver/rider you are the one paying for the horrid driver/riders -- as well as paying for the insurance company skyscrapers etc.. Just as with the state lottery or Vegas casinos -- the odds are stacked so that the house never loses. The insurance companys have passed laws (thru their purchased legislators) to have insurance coverage mandatory, or worse, "no fault" where you have to pay for other people hitting you.
Oh, we've all suffered the frustration of coming back to your parked car and finding some a...hole has damaged it and left, or town collisions where the other driver has no insurance (a big problem in the UK with the hordes of Eastern European, Asian and African immigrants we're suffering).
I don’t know how proactive the Police are in the US these days with insurance, but over here if your vehicle passes a Police car his vehicle automatically scans your plate to check for annual vehicle tax and insurance – and if you don’t insurance, the penalty points on your license put you ¾ the way to being a banned driver.
But think of a worse situation. No fault of your own, your front tyre pops, or your motor locks up, or you hit a patch of gravel or spilled oil, and you lose control of the bike – doesn’t matter how competent or sensible any of us are, it can happen. How bad would it be if you end up causing a $100,000 car to be written off, and have to sell your house to pay off the damages?
Or even worse, same situation, you’re riding sensibly and safely but something does go wrong, and you critically injure a little kid, leaving them in need of long-term medical care that the family can’t pay – if you’re insured, they’re going to be covered. I don’t like the idea of contemplating the alternative.
I don’t insure for my own financial protection – I’d happily run the odds over the balance of a lifetime. I insure in case I need to pay for injury I may cause to somebody else.