[tnmom]

Why the downvotes? Insurance is one of very few industries that truly has incentives to price their product correctly. If I can get liability insurance on my Civic for $30/mo, or an F250 for $35/mo, there is a _clear_ incompatibility with the risk level assessed by HN vs. the risk level assessed by professional insurance actuaries with many decades of data.

[amluto]

Not quite. The statutorily required minimum liability coverage is quite low, so when an oversized car kills a pedestrian, the insurer is likely pay out $100k, which rather understates the true cost to society and to the dead person and their family.

[kube-system]

The disconnect here is that insurance companies don't price in the full risk to kill or injure someone. The price in the risk up to the policy limits, which by law, are only required to be a paltry sum.

There aren't any insurance companies that will even write you a car insurance policy that will cover the potential costs for a very serious injury. It is too risky for them. Heck, the maximum coverage you can even voluntarily buy in the US is lower than the minimum requirements in some other countries. Some countries require millions or tens of millions in coverage, some require unlimited liability. In most of the US many insurers won't even let you voluntarily buy more than $250k/person, and are only required a tenth of that.

[amluto]

Every US insurer I've every spoke to will do it if you say the magic word "umbrella".

(Seriously, it's quite magical. A high-limit umbrella policy plus a minimum-limit homeowners' or renters' policy and minimul-limit auto policy is generally less expensive than moderate-limit policies without the umbrella.)

[kube-system]

Even many umbrella policies max out at $5m, which is still below the car insurance minimums required in much of the EU.

The reality is, in many parts of the US, half or more of drivers have minimum coverage or zero coverage.

[TimPC]

You can kill someone and pay a max of $50k. That doesn't even cover 1 years salary for the person you killed in most cases. The insurance is mispriced because the liability is artificially low.