Public Auto Insurance keeps costs down, and bases costs on ones driving record. Everyone, men and women, young and old, starts off at the same rate, when you crash it goes up. The rate is relatively low because theres no executives and shareholders to pay. Civil servants are cheap, and they can deliver Auto Insurance swiftly and easily.

Sure teenagers crash the most, but theres no need to punish all teenagers just for being in this demographic. Privite companies are inflating prices on people for doing nothing wrong, thats an injustice if there ever was one. Any excess money collected by the government company would go into a pool, and if the pooled money isn't needed then it gets refunded the next year. Money in working peoples pockets is always a good thing.

British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have adopted Public Auto Insurance and it has been very successful, the rate increases are extremely low compared to other provinces with privite systems. There was recent outrage in Ontario when the insurance companies recorded a 150% profit increase in 2004, and at the same time rates were sky-rocketing. The rates are now stabilizing, but such nonsense would never have happened with public auto insurance. Making astronimical profits off peoples backs directly hurts low-income families, they need minimum coverage at a fair price now.

The thing is, the privite insurance company's lobbyists are a powerful force. There is no doubt that they view public auto insurance as a threat, the government can delivery this service better and cheaper. States and provinces should experiment with a public system, the only problem with this is the privite companies would suffer. But at least people would see the benefits and they could make the choice.

__________________
"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill

Interesting concept. Actually makes a good bit of common sense. The problem in trying to get it to fly in the States is just precisely that: it just makes too much sense for our idiot politicians. In the meantime, I think the US would be lucky if we could get rid of this BS called no-fault insurance and go back to thoroughly nailing the idiots that are causing all these accidents.

__________________
Theodore Lamar Heiks
BA, History/Political Science, Western State College of Colorado, 1984
MBA, Entrepreneurship/Marketing, City University of Seattle, 1993