Why is car insurance compulsory?

[wanda]

I know this may sound obvious but bare with me.

I read an article on BBC website about speed awareness courses being considered the same as points on your licence https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20328860

The fact that it is compulsory and heavily regulated means you or I can not start a car insurance company tomorrow. This in turn means only large established companies can afford to become insurers.

Following on from this the insurance industry seems to be based on risks which rely heavily on statistics. Statistics do not take into account rarities of one off cases i.e over take someone who is driving 60 mph on the motorway, for some reason he speeds up to 70 mph to prevent you from overtaking, you speed up to 75 mph to overtake and get caught. Suddenly as a result you are deemed to be more of a risk than before.

Because of profits, it is in the insurers interest for things to be more "risky" than not. Which means prices tend to go up, plus we are at their mercy.

What the government doesn't seem to take into account is that life it self is a risk. Surely the best thing to do is to leave it up to individuals to insure their cars. If the argument is safety then I would understand if they took M.O.T failures more seriously than driving without insurance.

If car insurance was voluntary then insurers would be forced to compete for us as the market would be driving them rather then the other way around.


What are your thoughts. Do you think it should be a must?

 

[BlackTwingo-i]

Doesnt america work in a way that its not compulsory? But if you dont have insurance you have to pay for the damage, or am i mistaken?

Should be like that! America seems to be a much simpler, easier way of life.. Other than the crime factor

 

[Zoe]

Car insurance is compulsory to protect the third party more than yourself. If you have an accident and badly injure someone there is no way the average person will be able to pay their compensation etc etc

And as for speed awareness courses, there not a declarable thing to your insurers if you dont want to, hence why people do them instead of taking the points? Thats what I thought anyway. :?

 

[singlespeed]

Car insurance is compulsory to protect the third party more than yourself. If you have an accident and badly injure someone there is no way the average person will be able to pay their compensation etc etc

Exactly. Badly injure someone, or cause a long term/ life long injury and any normal person would be bankrupt many times over with the costs. Hence why I think having a minimum of third party insurance as a legal requirement is a good idea.

 

[JE_GT]

Doesnt america work in a way that its not compulsory? But if you dont have insurance you have to pay for the damage, or am i mistaken?

Should be like that! America seems to be a much simpler, easier way of life.. Other than the crime factor

I believe in America you insure yourself rather than the vehicle so you are allowed to drive whatever?

 

[waitey]

Doesnt america work in a way that its not compulsory? But if you dont have insurance you have to pay for the damage, or am i mistaken?

Should be like that! America seems to be a much simpler, easier way of life.. Other than the crime factor

I believe in America you insure yourself rather than the vehicle so you are allowed to drive whatever?

If that was the case here, with the amount of idiots on the roads there would be a car in every ditch in the country as many don't seem to give a rats arse about other drivers on the road.

 

[DrDrew]

Car insurance is compulsory to protect the third party more than yourself. If you have an accident and badly injure someone there is no way the average person will be able to pay their compensation etc etc

Exactly. Badly injure someone, or cause a long term/ life long injury and any normal person would be bankrupt many times over with the costs. Hence why I think having a minimum of third party insurance as a legal requirement is a good idea.

Yep. Additionally if you crashed into a Ferrari/koenigsegg/Lamborghini etc, could you afford to pay a hefty repair bill on one of them?!

 

[BlackTwingo-i]

You should just get sent to jail if your a ******* driver that caused a preventable accident!

 

[maggi200]

Don't you also have to renew plates which are linked to some tax?

I can see sense in multiple variations of the idea.

Insurance is there for a reason. Those who moan they can't afford it, wouldn't be able to afford to repair a car if it wasn't there.

 

[wanda]

Car insurance is compulsory to protect the third party more than yourself. If you have an accident and badly injure someone there is no way the average person will be able to pay their compensation etc etc

Exactly. Badly injure someone, or cause a long term/ life long injury and any normal person would be bankrupt many times over with the costs. Hence why I think having a minimum of third party insurance as a legal requirement is a good idea.

My point is that if it wasn't compulsory they would have to fight for our custom and in this way bring down prices.

If the choice was with the individual then, in my opinion, it would force companies to fight for our custom rather than sitting back because they know we have to.

 

[singlespeed]

Car insurance is compulsory to protect the third party more than yourself. If you have an accident and badly injure someone there is no way the average person will be able to pay their compensation etc etc

Exactly. Badly injure someone, or cause a long term/ life long injury and any normal person would be bankrupt many times over with the costs. Hence why I think having a minimum of third party insurance as a legal requirement is a good idea.

My point is that if it wasn't compulsory they would have to fight for our custom and in this way bring down prices.

If the choice was with the individual then, in my opinion, it would force companies to fight for our custom rather than sitting back because they know we have to.

compulsory or not, they still have to be competative against their peers or you would go elsewhere

Would you fancy being hit by an un insured driver, who didn't bother getting insured because they didn't have to?

Fully comp insurance is already volountary and has been from the start

 

[waitey]

Car insurance is compulsory to protect the third party more than yourself. If you have an accident and badly injure someone there is no way the average person will be able to pay their compensation etc etc

Exactly. Badly injure someone, or cause a long term/ life long injury and any normal person would be bankrupt many times over with the costs. Hence why I think having a minimum of third party insurance as a legal requirement is a good idea.

My point is that if it wasn't compulsory they would have to fight for our custom and in this way bring down prices.

If the choice was with the individual then, in my opinion, it would force companies to fight for our custom rather than sitting back because they know we have to.

compulsory or not, they still have to be competative against their peers or you would go elsewhere

Would you fancy being hit by an un insured driver, who didn't bother getting insured because they didn't have to?

Fully comp insurance is already volountary and has been from the start

Don't see why fully comp is voluntary as its cheaper for me to go fully comp!

When it come to car insurance I don't see why people don't just get the best cover possible, even if it does cost them a few more quid.

If you can afford to buy a car then you can afford car insurance no excuses.

 

[Zoe]

Reason car insurance is compulsory
https://news.sky.com/story/1013447/teen-paralysed-in-car-crash-gets-23m-payout

 

[wanda]

Reason car insurance is compulsory
https://news.sky.com/story/1013447/teen-paralysed-in-car-crash-gets-23m-payout

I think the if it wasnt compulsory it would have been cheaper to get the insurance in the first place.

If that person didnt have insurance through choice, he or she would still be liable, whether or not they could afford it or not.

Please dont get me wrong, I dont think insurance is bad, I just think it would be cheaper if we were not forced.

 

[wanda]

Car insurance is compulsory to protect the third party more than yourself. If you have an accident and badly injure someone there is no way the average person will be able to pay their compensation etc etc

Exactly. Badly injure someone, or cause a long term/ life long injury and any normal person would be bankrupt many times over with the costs. Hence why I think having a minimum of third party insurance as a legal requirement is a good idea.

My point is that if it wasn't compulsory they would have to fight for our custom and in this way bring down prices.

If the choice was with the individual then, in my opinion, it would force companies to fight for our custom rather than sitting back because they know we have to.

compulsory or not, they still have to be competative against their peers or you would go elsewhere

Would you fancy being hit by an un insured driver, who didn't bother getting insured because they didn't have to?

Fully comp insurance is already volountary and has been from the start

Don't see why fully comp is voluntary as its cheaper for me to go fully comp!

When it come to car insurance I don't see why people don't just get the best cover possible, even if it does cost them a few more quid.

If you can afford to buy a car then you can afford car insurance no excuses.

I think you guys are getting me wrong. Insurance is a good thing to have, but the fact that we are forced to get it means that the providers of this service dont have to give you a good deal because you need them more than they need you.

If it was voluntary it would be the individuals choice to go for it or take a chance. What that would do is force insurers to fight for your custom as you would have the option of taking the risk yourself, this would make car insurance cheaper than it is now, and stay cheap.

 

[Martin_172]

this is a very interesting view, not something i personally agree with but he does make a very valid point
[youtube]_8dPcLf8-kY[/youtube]