Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

BBC News link

While this is understandable, it is also very stupid. The parents are actually paying hundreds of pounds for NO insurance whatever.
The association of British Insurers says the price of insurance is related to the risks that 17 to 25 year old drivers cost. They are not being deliberately mean to young drivers, but the numbers year after year, show that young male drivers do stupid things on the road which cost money to fix.
:)

Prosecute my ass! If I were a parent - it is my money, I have bought the car, my name is on the title. How are they going to prove that I'm not the main driver? Yes, my son may be driving it to school every day...but I might then be driving the car all night long, therefore having more time behind the wheel than him.

They can't prove shit, unless they start monitoring people, which the last time I checked was still illegal.
 
How are they not insured?
 
BBC News link

While this is understandable, it is also very stupid. The parents are actually paying hundreds of pounds for NO insurance whatever.
The association of British Insurers says the price of insurance is related to the risks that 17 to 25 year old drivers cost. They are not being deliberately mean to young drivers, but the numbers year after year, show that young male drivers do stupid things on the road which cost money to fix.
:)
So? The insurance prices they quote for actual young driver policies in the UK are POSITIVELY OUT OF LINE WITH REALITY. In the US, there isn't an insurance policy in the fucking land where a new driver with no accident record is going to pay more than the value of a new car every year. Yes, the statistics indicate that that demographic is much more prone to accidents - but there's NO WAY IN HELL that the risk level is so high to warrant charging every single teenaged driver the insurance company's average payout for a VERY SERIOUS accident because every single teenaged driver is not involved in a VERY SERIOUS accident every year. Most of them are NEVER involved in a very serious accident.
 
I was quoted 10 thousand pounds to insure a 1k vauxhall senator, i can see why it's so tempting to lie.

what? 10K GBP for insurance? i must be missing something i simply cannot believe that they would charge $14,500USD for insurance for a single year even if it was full coverage.

This police car look exactly like this.

https://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyrussian540/2010/06/06/lexus_es330_1.jpg

With flashes in the light clusters, and 2 blue lightbars in the rear window.

thanks for the heads up i will be on the lookout
 
what? 10K GBP for insurance? i must be missing something i simply cannot believe that they would charge $14,500USD for insurance for a single year even if it was full coverage.

Nope, they really do that sort of crap over there. That TG ep where they were pretending to be kids shopping for insurance? Yeah, they weren't actually lying. My Brit-expat cousin confirmed it when he saw the episode - and it's not like it's difficult to verify online.
 
Man it's a wonder anyone can afford to drive in the UK.
 
Unmarked police cars around here tend to be Skoda Octavias, so every oncoming Octavia makes me lift my right foot.
 
How are they not insured?

Because insurance companies try their very hardest to not pay any money out. If they can find a slight 'problem' with your insurance claim, i.e. they can somehow proove that you are the main driver, then they won't pay out and you're technically uninsured, despite paying them however much you do, which also basically makes it illegal for you (or at least the 17yr old) to drive that car. Its a big grey area that you really don't want to get sucked into.

That TG ep where they were pretending to be kids shopping for insurance? Yeah, they weren't actually lying.

Really - it is painful. The Kangoo is a pretty cheap car to insure, and its not worth much. Insurance with me as the 4th driver (after my parents and 20yr old sister)? That'll be ?800.
And if I'd wanted to have been put on the Volvo V50's insurance, which I'm not; it would shoot up from a couple of hundred for my parents, to ?1700.

I really do hate the insurance in this country - but theres unfortunately nothing you can do about it, but sit through it as the price pretty much hits the bottom when you hit 25.

And as for the unmarked police cars - they tend to be Volvo S60s here, occasionally you can get a couple of BMW 3 series'. I do always look out for unmarked police cars when on the motorway - they're pretty much guaranteed to be dark blue or black, and they always have those pretty visible scrolling screens sitting in the back window. Fortunately I've never come across one, but we have the bloody annoying Highways Maintenance cars which catch your eye causing you to slow down, before you realise they have no power. :lol:
 
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Driving a boring car (autotragic Toyota Corolla) on a boring road (I-5 from Vancouver BC to Seattle and back) is boring.
 
I went for a ride in a 997 911 Turbo today.

Oh. My. God.

I've never been a big fan of the 911, but I think I've changed my mind. It was abosolutely awesome. But its true, no-one lets you out of side turnings in a Porsche. We were nearly taken out by an old Camry that cut us off.
 
I went for a ride in a 997 911 Turbo today.

Oh. My. God.

I've never been a big fan of the 911, but I think I've changed my mind. It was abosolutely awesome. But its true, no-one lets you out of side turnings in a Porsche. We were nearly taken out by an old Camry that cut us off.

I waaannnaaaa!!!!

Edit - Oh look I passed the 1K post mark and I didn't even see...:D
 
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I seem to have driven ~5000 km in one and a half months. For me, this is a lot.
 
If you keep that up, you might consider diesel.

Yeah, but I don't know if I will. I'm thinking of getting something cheap, classic and comfortable for long-distance driving, but the price range / probable age of the car will be such that all diesel versions will suck. Unless I come upon a good W124, which I'm not sure is my style.
 
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