this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Depends. You can also deposit so much to the DMV instead for them to hold in place of insurance. In California it's $75k.

[–] Starski@lemmy.zip -2 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Ah yes, $75,000, a totally reasonable amount for the average joe to just give away.

[–] dmention7@midwest.social 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

75k is a pittance compared to the damage you could do to another person's property or life while driving. That's the whole point of the legally mandated liability insurance--for most people getting in an accident that results in injury to the other party would be financially devastating. And even worse would be having someone hit you and put you through 250k of medical care with no ability to pay.

Thousands of people are injured every day in car accidents in the US and about 100 are killed, so its not some kind of unicorn situation.

If you want to argue about driving being a necessity to live and work, that's a completely separate discussion from why liability insurance is necessary.

[–] Starski@lemmy.zip -2 points 3 months ago

It's not a completely separate discussion though. If driving is necessary to live and work, and you legally have to have insurance to drive, then I believe that to be a completely reasonable connection. I'm not saying we shouldn't have a system in place to ensure people's lives don't get destroyed without proper compensation, I'm simply saying our current system is broken, and to try to justify it with saying you can spend what amounts to more than what the average person annually makes in the US is ridiculous.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Well that's the thing. It's about ensuring that there's a legally predefined amount of money available to pay for damages you cause while driving. It's not going to be cheap. The dmv holding it as cash is merely the alternative to insurance pooling everyone together, charging them according to risk and the cost of doing business, then paying it out whenever necessary.

The only real alternative would be forcing you to actively maintain that amount in free credit, which would probably be difficult and have a fee associated with the risk of inability to pay, especially as you're not guaranteed to survive a crash you're at fault in.

[–] BussyCat@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

That’s why people get liability insurance instead,

The average new car is 50k, many cars are a lot more and medical expenses can be crazy. If you accidentally total a 100k sedan and the driver ends up with a broken bone you could be forced essentially into a life of indentured servitude with 50% of your wages garnished for life