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Comment by mannanj | Hacker News Reader

And the DMV (Department of Motor vehicle Services) has also sold registration data. In California, and Texas, they have been fined for this - I'm unsure they aren't completely barred from using a loophole to still do that.

This is why I'm a vocal advocate for having an LLC own any vehicles you might drive. It protects you from the license-plate reading lookup as well from Flock et all. Though I don't know it guarantees you can't be looked up by insurance it's resistance by one more bit of friction. The vehicle I drive now is an old 2012 Lexus owned by Montana LLC and it also has no smart technology and very little insurance costs.

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It won't protect you from the insurance agencies; they demand a DL ID# and a VIN. And you are required by law to purchase from them.

And they're stautorily exempted from a whole boatload of privacy laws, like HIPAA.

In California you can post a surety bond in lieu of insurance. I'm sure the same applies in other states with governance that is not captured by corporate interests.

Can you elaborate on this some? Afaik insurance is the only thing they would accept. I think insurance is generally a nasty scam so anything to get away from it would be pretty neat

You have to deposit $75,000 to the DMV and if you get in an accident where you're at fault you will also be on the hook for damages beyond that. You can also get a surety bond for that amount, instead of doing a cash deposit.

It used to be 35k but it was increased in late 2024 (which is good because it hadn't increased since the 70s).

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/insurance...

But to do that you really have to hate insurers or be uninsurable. Because realistically putting that 75k in a basic HISA will yield enough interests to pay for regular car insurance and you get to keep your 75k.

Thats quite a lot more than i expected, i just have never had a good experience with insurance, everything is a long drawn fight. Probably not worth it unless under specific circumstances

They don't ask for license plates. At least through a camera tech like Flock, it isn't super easy to pick up a vin. So thinking this through more, at least having an insurance agency have your vin isn't as bad as having a flock & flock affiliated agency have your license plate - because if flock & flock affiliated dont have your vin they may never have the vin to find you via insurance company.

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