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| insurance [2025/10/06 03:11] – [General thoughts & opinions] qlyoung | insurance [2025/10/06 03:33] (current) – embellish qlyoung | ||
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| + | Oh, uh, none of this is legal advice, I'm not a lawyer and hold no credentials associated with insurance, etc. | ||
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| + | Now I know what you're thinking. This is so lame, this isn't the culture, look at this loser using his personal syndication platform to write about boring ass insurance of all things. I'm gonna go read a phrack or gwern or the new yorker or whatever it is you read. | ||
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| + | You're right. Anyway, on to the article. | ||
| In May 2024, prompted by something random, I did a complete review of all my insurance policies (except for medical) and learned a lot of things about insurance which I should have learned about 10 years ago. Here I've jotted down some of what I've learned in the hopes that maybe it will prompt someone else who was similarly uninformed to learn these things. | In May 2024, prompted by something random, I did a complete review of all my insurance policies (except for medical) and learned a lot of things about insurance which I should have learned about 10 years ago. Here I've jotted down some of what I've learned in the hopes that maybe it will prompt someone else who was similarly uninformed to learn these things. | ||
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| In short: **If you are American and most of the contents of this page are new to you, you are probably at risk of having your life ruined and should learn about insurance** | In short: **If you are American and most of the contents of this page are new to you, you are probably at risk of having your life ruined and should learn about insurance** | ||
| - | Being underinsured is very dangerous in the US. | + | Being underinsured is very dangerous in the US. It's one of those risks that will probably never materialize into a real problem but if it does, it can ruin your life without recourse, game over. Here in the US we love having these little life-ruining booby traps sprinkled around, that way everyone has to spend time thinking about them instead of pursuing happiness or whatever. |
| All of the information here is available online, but here's some rough notes on what insurances the average American might want and what they cover. Not legal advice. | All of the information here is available online, but here's some rough notes on what insurances the average American might want and what they cover. Not legal advice. | ||
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| * Many insurers require that bodily injury liability and property damage liability have the same limits | * Many insurers require that bodily injury liability and property damage liability have the same limits | ||
| * Medical benefit - this one kicks in before your medical insurance deductible for very specific vehicle-related situations. For example, you are standing on your car in order to clean your gutters and fall off - your medical insurance would cover the medical costs, but the medical benefit from your auto policy could pay out to cover your medical deductible. | * Medical benefit - this one kicks in before your medical insurance deductible for very specific vehicle-related situations. For example, you are standing on your car in order to clean your gutters and fall off - your medical insurance would cover the medical costs, but the medical benefit from your auto policy could pay out to cover your medical deductible. | ||
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| + | UMBI/UMPD warrant their own point. Why do you need to pay to insure yourself against someone else NOT buying insurance? That doesn' | ||
| In May 2024 I noticed my auto insurance policy had a limit of $50k USD for property damage liability coverage. That's the coverage that pays out if you are liable for damage to someone else's property (usually their car). This seemed rather low since many cars on the road are themselves worth more than $50k, and even a car worth less than $50k may be loaded with property whose value exceeds $50k. You could also hit a house or something else and cause more than $50k of damage to it and be liable for that. In all of those cases, with just $50k of coverage, you would have to pay the remaining costs out of pocket. Depending on the liability amount and your financial situation that could range from annoying to life ruining. | In May 2024 I noticed my auto insurance policy had a limit of $50k USD for property damage liability coverage. That's the coverage that pays out if you are liable for damage to someone else's property (usually their car). This seemed rather low since many cars on the road are themselves worth more than $50k, and even a car worth less than $50k may be loaded with property whose value exceeds $50k. You could also hit a house or something else and cause more than $50k of damage to it and be liable for that. In all of those cases, with just $50k of coverage, you would have to pay the remaining costs out of pocket. Depending on the liability amount and your financial situation that could range from annoying to life ruining. | ||
insurance.1759720261.txt.gz · Last modified: by qlyoung
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