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Comment by atirip | Hacker News Reader

Well, this shows how fucked up US system is... In Europe this absolutely cannot happen. First, everybodys is health is insured by state, so whatever injuries in whatever car accident anybody may have, there's no claims to present to anybody - state pays everything. Secondly, one in Europe shall not fear any "pain-and-suffering suits", and even more when you are just the owner of the vehicle. Third, liability insurance is unlimited so if you totally trash somebody's Ferrari with your Yugo, no fear, you are fully covered.

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I live in Germany, and not all of this is entirely true.

Liability insurance isn't strictly unlimited, the coverage limits are just very high - e.g. in Germany, personal damages are covered with a minimum of 7,5 mio. euro (with a maximum limit of 8 to 15 million per person, depending on the insurance company), and total damage is mostly limited at 50-100 mio. euro. For most accidents, these numbers are fairly equal to "unlimited".

About health insurance - I'm not quite sure how you come at the conclusion that state pays everything. Injuries in an accident are paid for by the liable party's liability insurance, the same as in the U.S.

Just for comparison, here in the us insurance for a 25k car and minimal (some 100 or 300k for the described case in the article) plus uninsured driver would be well over 1.2k per month.

In other countries i paid that per year for way more peace of mind.

I'm not sure why you're paying $1200 a month for insurance but that's not the norm for US based auto insurance at all.

I'm not. I pay 300 a year, but i don't even cover my car.

But yesterday i did the car coverage for a used 09 bmw 128iC.

Couldn't get any lower than that on several websites

Wow, I have no idea why you have those numbers! I guesssome important details must have been left out?

I have two vehicles less than 5 years old, with two drivers, with way more than $300k coverage for liability and comprehensive, and a $0 deductible by one of the top/largest insurance carriers in the U.S. and I pay $75/mo, total.

I pay more like $200 a month for a significantly more expensive car in Palo Alto. I have a clean driving record and a mainstream insurance policy. You should get competitive bids!

FYI, Europe is a continent, not a country. It's compromised of several individual countries, each with its own laws & institutions. There is almost nothing that is singularly true across them all. To make such a broad generalization, either ignores their differences or involves selective inclusion of countries you consider "your" Europe.

Not a reply to parent: - User link2009 - just to let you know, your account it dead - only you and those who have 'view dead' set can see your posts. Not sure how or why your account got killed, but you might want to start over if you want people to be able to view your comments.

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