7 ms·

Sometimes I wonder why we pay for insurance (to cover unpredictable accidents) when insurance policies specifically don't cover many unpredictable accidents...

cortesoft 5y ago
Because it covers a lot of other accidents that are predictable.
- pishpash 5y ago
  If it's predictable it's an (expensive) pre-payment plan. Perhaps you mean it's characterizable.
  - edmundsauto 5y ago
    Predictable yet unlikely events (especially expensive) are what insurance is optimally for.
    - blowski 5y ago
      Exactly. It's unlikely to happen to you personally, but it's certain to happen to some proportion of the whole population in a given time period. That's what makes meteorites different - they're unlikely to happen even to the population as a whole.
      - zepolen 5y ago
        So it makes perfect sense to cover them. There has been (one, perhaps two?) cases of damage to car by meteorite in the last decade, in the same period there have been billions of insurance policies issued. The per insurance policy cost is negligible.
  - jorvi 5y ago
    Not necessarily. My home insurance (with outdoor coverage) has an add-on policy that also covers damage away from the house up to €3000 per event, for €12 a month with a €100 deductible. That means I don’t need any separate insurance for my laptop, phone, headphones, watch, what have you. And if just one of those breaks in the span of 3 years, I’ve already broken even at worst, or a net €2570 ‘gain’ at best.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
I need to rewatch the film The Man Who Sued God, which tackles this particular thing (I believe it was based on a real story?). The tl;dr is, a guy's boat was hit by lightning and the insurance didn't pay out because it was "Act of God", or in more agnostic terms, unpredictable / unexpected.
- OJFord 5y ago
  Interesting, I saw a Bollywood film with that premise - can't recall the name but I think more recent - not a boat, but the guy's shop. Was good from what I recall, would also recommend. (edit: though in hindsight I realise that's a useless 'recommendation' if I can't recall the name...)
  - infinite_beam 5y ago
    OMG: Oh My God! (2012) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283748/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283748/
    - OJFord 5y ago
      That's the one, thanks!
hellbannedguy 5y ago
I wish more people questioned mandatory car insurance. It just seems like a huge racket. I once heard a political analyst say Sacramento (I live in CA.). politicians take in huge donations from Insurance Lobby groups, and those lobbiests practically write/refute any bill even tangentially related to their coverage, or premiums. (I don't want to start a debate. I know the positives/negatives. I looked into that Pay per Mile insurance. They all require a computer to plug into. Their are many vechicles still on the road that don't have a diagnostic port.)
throw0101a 5y ago
You don't insurance to protect the car, you get insurance to protect yourself, i.e., liability. If you do an oopsy, and someone dies or even ends up in a wheelchair, how are you going to pay for the resulting lawsuit otherwise? Covering repairs is just an added bonus on top of the CYA. Also consider if you end up in a wheelchair or quadriplegic: what happens if the person who hit you is a deadbeat driving around without insurance? Do you think you'll be able to extract anything out of them with a standard lawsuit? Do you have general life insurance with critical illness coverage? Do you have any kind of income replacement policy? * https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010416/critical-illness-insurance-who-needs-it.asp https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/01041...
- geoduck14 5y ago
  >You don't insurance to protect the car, you get insurance to protect yourself, i.e., liability. More to the point, your (liability) car insurance is to protect the other person
  - throw0101a 5y ago
    Your (liability) car insurance is to protect your financial situation by paying the other person.
- dboreham 5y ago
  In many jurisdictions (e.g. the USA) coverage against theft and damage is separate and can be omitted. Liability insurance is usually mandatory by law. So I think people tend to view them as separate and different to some extent.

cortesoft 5y ago

Because it covers a lot of other accidents that are predictable.

pishpash 5y ago
If it's predictable it's an (expensive) pre-payment plan. Perhaps you mean it's characterizable.
- edmundsauto 5y ago
  Predictable yet unlikely events (especially expensive) are what insurance is optimally for.
  - blowski 5y ago
    Exactly. It's unlikely to happen to you personally, but it's certain to happen to some proportion of the whole population in a given time period. That's what makes meteorites different - they're unlikely to happen even to the population as a whole.
    - zepolen 5y ago
      So it makes perfect sense to cover them. There has been (one, perhaps two?) cases of damage to car by meteorite in the last decade, in the same period there have been billions of insurance policies issued. The per insurance policy cost is negligible.
- jorvi 5y ago
  Not necessarily. My home insurance (with outdoor coverage) has an add-on policy that also covers damage away from the house up to €3000 per event, for €12 a month with a €100 deductible. That means I don’t need any separate insurance for my laptop, phone, headphones, watch, what have you. And if just one of those breaks in the span of 3 years, I’ve already broken even at worst, or a net €2570 ‘gain’ at best.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

I need to rewatch the film The Man Who Sued God, which tackles this particular thing (I believe it was based on a real story?). The tl;dr is, a guy's boat was hit by lightning and the insurance didn't pay out because it was "Act of God", or in more agnostic terms, unpredictable / unexpected.

OJFord 5y ago
Interesting, I saw a Bollywood film with that premise - can't recall the name but I think more recent - not a boat, but the guy's shop. Was good from what I recall, would also recommend. (edit: though in hindsight I realise that's a useless 'recommendation' if I can't recall the name...)
- infinite_beam 5y ago
  OMG: Oh My God! (2012) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283748/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283748/
  - OJFord 5y ago
    That's the one, thanks!

hellbannedguy 5y ago

I wish more people questioned mandatory car insurance. It just seems like a huge racket. I once heard a political analyst say Sacramento (I live in CA.). politicians take in huge donations from Insurance Lobby groups, and those lobbiests practically write/refute any bill even tangentially related to their coverage, or premiums. (I don't want to start a debate. I know the positives/negatives. I looked into that Pay per Mile insurance. They all require a computer to plug into. Their are many vechicles still on the road that don't have a diagnostic port.)

throw0101a 5y ago

You don't insurance to protect the car, you get insurance to protect yourself, i.e., liability. If you do an oopsy, and someone dies or even ends up in a wheelchair, how are you going to pay for the resulting lawsuit otherwise? Covering repairs is just an added bonus on top of the CYA. Also consider if you end up in a wheelchair or quadriplegic: what happens if the person who hit you is a deadbeat driving around without insurance? Do you think you'll be able to extract anything out of them with a standard lawsuit? Do you have general life insurance with critical illness coverage? Do you have any kind of income replacement policy? * https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010416/critical-illness-insurance-who-needs-it.asp https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/01041...

geoduck14 5y ago
>You don't insurance to protect the car, you get insurance to protect yourself, i.e., liability. More to the point, your (liability) car insurance is to protect the other person
- throw0101a 5y ago
  Your (liability) car insurance is to protect your financial situation by paying the other person.
dboreham 5y ago
In many jurisdictions (e.g. the USA) coverage against theft and damage is separate and can be omitted. Liability insurance is usually mandatory by law. So I think people tend to view them as separate and different to some extent.