4 ms·

1 million is a laughable low coverage. Get into a single accident where someone has to get emergency surgery, a few months in the hospital, and then needs physi

by foepys 9y ago

1 million is a laughable low coverage. Get into a single accident where someone has to get emergency surgery, a few months in the hospital, and then needs physical therapy to walk again. One million is gone faster than you can imagine.

ars 9y ago
1 million is far far higher than what most people carry. It's plenty.
- foepys 9y ago
  Interesting. In Germany the lowest legally possible coverage is 7.5 million € for damages to a person plus 1.22 million for other damages, but 50 to 100 million is the general coverage. Just to give some perspective on how expensive accidents can be.
  - fludlight 9y ago
    Is this for commercial or personal drivers?
    - foepys 9y ago
      Personal drivers. Prices might be higher than in the US but it's hard to give an exact price or even a range because it varies a lot by vehicle type. I'm paying about 600€/year for a small and older VW. But a bigger car doesn't necessarily need to be more expensive because the parts to repair it could be cheaper or it's less likely to get into expensive accidents due to break assistance. I'm also covered for accidental damages caused by me outside of my car for up to 100 million € and that costs me only about 70€/year.
      - fludlight 9y ago
        I’m paying about $1700/year for $1m coverage for two newer sedans with a combined value of about $40k. You can’t buy more coverage than that in the US without going to an insurance agent. It’s available but as a specialty product aimed at wealthy people. Most car insurance websites won’t quote coverage that exceeds $300k or $500k. The legal minimum, which is what many (most?) people have is like $60k. I’m sure some of this is due to the differences in our healthcare and legal systems. Ironically, it seems intuitive that Americans should have higher insurance limits than Germans, not the other way around.
        foepys 9y ago
        This is putting some stuff Uber did in Germany into perspective. When Uber Pop launched in Germany insurance companies were quick to publicly state that no driver using Uber is insured under their personal policies and they needed to opt into commercial policies that are multiple times more expensive. Then Uber stepped forward and put out a big anouncemnt that every driver is insured for up to 1 million €. Everybody was like "yeah, okay, that's not nearly enough to be allowed to drive here in Germany". Nobody understood why Uber would make such a dumb statement. Now that you explained how it's handled in the US, I'm not surprised anymore.
        ars 9y ago
        Have a look here: https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-minimum-car-insurance-requirements-2645473 https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-minimum-car-insuran... People are recommended to have more than the minimum if they own a home, or otherwise have a lot of assets to protect. Commercial requirements are much higher. It works different in the states because the person or property being injured also has insurance, which will cover them. Insurance covers you not the person or property being injured. So if you smash a building with your car, the property owner will collect from their insurance. That insurance company will then sue you, and your insurance will cover you. If you don't have enough insurance, they'll take what they can get, and if you don't have any property or money, they'll give up after that.
  - lotsofpulp 9y ago
    That sounds insane, even with American medical prices. How much are insurance premiums in Germany? I just don't see how anyone could cause that much damage with their vehicle.
    - foepys 9y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16499582 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16499582 It's pretty easy to do so much damage. Imagine turning left without looking and an oncoming truck tries to avoid a collision and drives into a store front. Property damages will be very high and the injured people inside the store will need medical attention, too.
      - Dylan16807 9y ago
        Also sounds like the truck's fault.
        raducu 9y ago
        I caused something similar and accepted the accident as my fault. I back-exited a parking space and turned left immediately after, while the truck tried to avoid me by going in the incoming lane; if he just hit the breaks without swerving I would most like have been killed.
    - paulcole 9y ago
      That’s what Steve Wynn said about his elbow!

by foepys 9y ago

ars 9y ago

1 million is far far higher than what most people carry. It's plenty.

foepys 9y ago
Interesting. In Germany the lowest legally possible coverage is 7.5 million € for damages to a person plus 1.22 million for other damages, but 50 to 100 million is the general coverage. Just to give some perspective on how expensive accidents can be.
- fludlight 9y ago
  Is this for commercial or personal drivers?
  - foepys 9y ago
    Personal drivers. Prices might be higher than in the US but it's hard to give an exact price or even a range because it varies a lot by vehicle type. I'm paying about 600€/year for a small and older VW. But a bigger car doesn't necessarily need to be more expensive because the parts to repair it could be cheaper or it's less likely to get into expensive accidents due to break assistance. I'm also covered for accidental damages caused by me outside of my car for up to 100 million € and that costs me only about 70€/year.
    - fludlight 9y ago
      I’m paying about $1700/year for $1m coverage for two newer sedans with a combined value of about $40k. You can’t buy more coverage than that in the US without going to an insurance agent. It’s available but as a specialty product aimed at wealthy people. Most car insurance websites won’t quote coverage that exceeds $300k or $500k. The legal minimum, which is what many (most?) people have is like $60k. I’m sure some of this is due to the differences in our healthcare and legal systems. Ironically, it seems intuitive that Americans should have higher insurance limits than Germans, not the other way around.
      - foepys 9y ago
        This is putting some stuff Uber did in Germany into perspective. When Uber Pop launched in Germany insurance companies were quick to publicly state that no driver using Uber is insured under their personal policies and they needed to opt into commercial policies that are multiple times more expensive. Then Uber stepped forward and put out a big anouncemnt that every driver is insured for up to 1 million €. Everybody was like "yeah, okay, that's not nearly enough to be allowed to drive here in Germany". Nobody understood why Uber would make such a dumb statement. Now that you explained how it's handled in the US, I'm not surprised anymore.
        ars 9y ago
        Have a look here: https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-minimum-car-insurance-requirements-2645473 https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-minimum-car-insuran... People are recommended to have more than the minimum if they own a home, or otherwise have a lot of assets to protect. Commercial requirements are much higher. It works different in the states because the person or property being injured also has insurance, which will cover them. Insurance covers you not the person or property being injured. So if you smash a building with your car, the property owner will collect from their insurance. That insurance company will then sue you, and your insurance will cover you. If you don't have enough insurance, they'll take what they can get, and if you don't have any property or money, they'll give up after that.
- lotsofpulp 9y ago
  That sounds insane, even with American medical prices. How much are insurance premiums in Germany? I just don't see how anyone could cause that much damage with their vehicle.
  - foepys 9y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16499582 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16499582 It's pretty easy to do so much damage. Imagine turning left without looking and an oncoming truck tries to avoid a collision and drives into a store front. Property damages will be very high and the injured people inside the store will need medical attention, too.
    - Dylan16807 9y ago
      Also sounds like the truck's fault.
      - raducu 9y ago
        I caused something similar and accepted the accident as my fault. I back-exited a parking space and turned left immediately after, while the truck tried to avoid me by going in the incoming lane; if he just hit the breaks without swerving I would most like have been killed.
  - paulcole 9y ago
    That’s what Steve Wynn said about his elbow!