Originally Posted by Stucky

I decided long ago, not to be a slave to insurance companies. I'm not car-free, so I have to carry liability insurance, but having to carry that insurance (as well as having to have a license and registration, etc.) has always made me wish it were possible to be car-free where I now live.

I recently dropped my home-owner's coverage, when they substantially raised the premium (Even though I've never once had a claim; and carried a very high deductible) [It seems everyone got a substantial raise after Hurrican Sandy; even those of us who live in places not affected by the hurricane!]- I've paid tens of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums over the years (Between homeonwer's and auto) and never had one claim, nor ever had to have an insurance company pay-out a dime on my behalf. I would much rather have saved/invested that money, and been self-insured.

So that's what I do now, with home-owner's. And what I've always done with health[and that POS in the WH can go to Hell; I'm not participating in his Marxist system!]...and if I were to ever become car-free again, I'd drop the auto insurance in a heartbeat, and deal with any future consequences when and if they arose. I would not be held hostage by threats of future gouging if i dropped coverage that I no longer needed. Even if it cost a little more at first if you were to ever re-insure, what you save in the meantime would more than make-up for it; and not only that, but I'd bet even if the premiums were a little higher at first, they would return to normal after a few months or a year of having the new coverage.

I make it a point to give as little of my money as possible to insurance companies. I haver to carry basic liability on my vehicles; The only "elective" coverage I have, is higher limits on that liability (It costs practically nothing to increase the coverage from the legal minimum to $300K- which is a good investment, as the minimum won't do much for you, should you ever need it; and I carry comp and collision on one of my vehicles, only because an extra $300 a year seems well worth it to protect a vehicle which has a fair-market value of $10K.

The average person, between auto; home-owners; health; life; etc. insurance, will spend several hundred-thousand dollars in their lifetime on insurance. After taxes, insurance is most people's biggest expense [More so than housing- because at least with a house, you still retain the value of what you pay for it; with insurance, if you don't have a major catastrophe, you'll never see a dime of that money again]

Heck, one of the advantages of going car-free, is to be free of the obligations that car ownership entails. Being free of mandatory insurance, is one of those principle advantages.