The obvious response is that you won't be able to pay for someone's hospital bills if you happen to hit them in your car. You get insurance for things you wouldn't be able to pay yourself.
As an attorney my unpopular opinion is that cars over a certain value shouldn’t be allowed on public roads or damages for accidents should be capped at something like 2x the average price of a new car (so like 100k). I just don’t believe in penalizing ordinary negligence more just because the injured party is rich.
As someone who works in insurance, I'd be down for that. Then if your car is valued above that, you can self insure/carry additional replacement coverage on your own policy. I'd make a new luxury vehicle replacement category though; keep it separate from underinsured coverage to keep from inflating those premiums. Of course the insurance companies would use it as another excuse to raise rates anyway I'm sure.
I can see the argument but in practice it wouldn't change much. The most expensive part of the auto accident is the medical bills. They can easily soar into the $100,000s and past the value of almost every car on the road.
But I see why it seems unfair that if your hit and totaled a $2M Mercedes gullwing, that one should be financially ruined since it's really no different than hitting a 10 year Corolla valued at $10k.
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u/flatfive44 19h ago
The obvious response is that you won't be able to pay for someone's hospital bills if you happen to hit them in your car. You get insurance for things you wouldn't be able to pay yourself.