HB 1098 has been signed into law and requires the interim study committee on insurance to study the economic impact of uninsured drivers in Indiana, and possible solutions, including insurance verification processes; coverage restrictions; and fines.
It’s been awhile since I had to deal with uninsured motorists with any regularity. State Farm’s subrogation unit was once a client until the corporation restructured. When a State Farm insured would get hit by an uninsured motorist, State Farm would pay for the damage under the insured’s UI coverage. They would then become “subrogated” to their insured; basically step into the shoes of their insured and acquire rights against the tortfeasor. They would then try to collect from the uninsured motorist and, if unsuccessful, farm it out to guys like me to go sue. One good lever we had to collect was the ability to suspend driver’s licenses when they failed to pay a judgment for an uninsured loss for a period of (I think) 90 days after the judgment was entered. The suspension was good for up to 7 years unless they paid up or filed bankruptcy.
I doubt the Republicans will have the intellectual honesty to conclude that an entire state of uninsured drivers results in that state having a greater economic health than is found when its citizens are universally compelled to consume an imaginary product.
I believe that talking hamsters would not have the intellectual vacuity that you posses in making such a statement.
All about you, isn’t it, Freedom?
The checks that I send to my car insurance carrier and the checks that I have received when others were negligent were sure as heck not imaginary.
Oh, yeah, wait a minute. They were fiat currency issued by a fractal reserve system. They were imaginary. They must be backed by fairy dust to be real.
Broken Windows Fallacy – Frederic Bastiat
Utterly irrelevant to the issue.
To make a more substantive post, I just returned from a vacation in NM. It has one of the highest rates of uninsurance. Yet they have a legal requirement that only the insurance companies can give notice to the state of coverage. It cannot be done with a policy number at registration.
New Mexico is just to incompetent to administer the program and suspend licenses. But I guess if you will drive uninsured, you would drive with a suspended license.
Uninsured driver’s and those who drive while suspended are big issues in Indianapolis. It is time to get much more strict on these people. If there is one crime where I would support confiscation of a vehicle, it is for those who drive uninsured and/or suspended. Might not be right for a first or second offense, but a third strike and your out law would work.
Suspended driver’s complain about mass transit, but yet if they don’t start supporting the system, the system losses money. I believe the fact is that the punishment is so lenient, there is no way they want to fork over the money to ride the bus. If we are going to take $500 in income a year from average wage working people for mass transit, it should be followed with a very get tough stance on driving while suspended. With the expansion planned under Indy Connect, there is no excuse for someone not to ride the bus.
Any insurance company who has to payout on an UI claim should have every right to file a lien on the title of the vehicle. Granted, they might be #2, but they should have that option.