This makes perfect sense to me, but speaking of "fairer car insurance": Why is it that it seems to be a given that the insurance industry is the biggest scam in the world, and yet there seems to be no way to regulate it or make it more reasonable?

I'm sure I'm not the first one to make this point, but here it is anyway: We all pay all this money to these companies, the idea being that if something bad ever happens, they will have enough money from all the people that nothing happened to that they can compensate us for the bad thing that happened. OK.

But then, after the bad thing happens, our rates go UP, and we have to pay them more, for what - to compensate for the money they had to pay us? What the hell? And if the free market is so bloomin' great, why are there no insurance companies that will pledge not to increase rates in this way?

I'm sorry, this has just been on my mind lately, and I felt the need to rant. But yeah, I would love pay as you drive car insurance.

Don't get me started on Insurance Companies. The ONLY strategy a company will take is one that makes them richer.

On the other hand, I might actually get a car if insurance worked this way. If I had a car, I might make two or three trips a month, but if I could pay next to nothing just to have a car sitting in the driveway for when I need it, I'd be more likely to get one. However, it's no doubt that the number of miles existing drivers would cut out of their driving would greatly offset the number of new drivers like me.

I know it's not possible for everyone to be car-free, but this is #1 reason why I ride a bike. When I paid insurance, gas, and upkeep I was always broke. Now I've always got money for beer.

An interesting idea. The way I see it, it would mean less revenue for the companies, so it might be harder to file a claim on one of those plans (cheaper plans usually have high deductibles, if the event is covered at all). The trade off would be that consumers would have more money in the short term. That money would be on top of the savings realized from using less gas overall, but the privacy issue would be bitching point.

The pay-what-you-drive plan might actually be able to gain traction if the plans were structured like cell-phone plans. The $20/month for 60min of airtime (drive-time) vs. the $60/month for 1000 min of airtime (drive-time).

I would think that the logistics for such a plan would be a nightmare to implement, though. That nightmare is what I suspect is the fear over privacy (not in a conspiracy sort of a way, just the industry listening to the critics it agrees with sort of way). Before a plan could be put on the market, the company would need some way to verify mileage consumed (just like cell companies need to track minutes consumed). Insurance companies won’t take the consumers "word" for it. A verifiable meter of some sort, such as a GPS unit or a tamper proof "black box" would be good for that. Of course some folks would object to an insurance company placing a GPS unit or any monitoring device in a car for insurance purposes... even if it means saving a few (or a lot) of bucks.

Of course, the odometer would very much show how many miles have been driven in that car. But, really, what consumer wants to spend ANY TIME getting emissions tested every few years, much less having to go somewhere to get the "official" miles driven report. And besides, would that report be done monthly, semi-annually, or annually.

I also like what they are doing experimentally in OR: tax by the mile. Instead of a per gallon tax, there is a tax on a per mile basis for road repair. Worked great in New Zealand for diesel vehicles (which I owned while down there) and can be crafted to encourage higher mileage vehicles to be taxed less...

Auto insurance and car tabs play a big role in my refusal to own a car. Even after you turn 25 and the rates drop, $50-60 a month is tough to part with just for insurance. Here, car tabs cost so much more than they do elsewhere because of the taxes extracted to pay for city projects. And then parking and gas on top. I just absolutely wouldn't get a car if given the option, and I've had it a few times.

People scoff at the bus, the wait times and OMG SMELLY PEOPLE but for one $54 bus pass payment a month, it's worth not hemorrhaging money each month. And for what? So you can control where you're going? All it takes is one traffic jam a day and no available parking to refute that.

I have a Flexcar membership, and if I ever need a car, there it is. And the need rarely comes about.

God, I'd love it. I rarely trip 1,000 miles a year in my car.

Plus, I'm an old fart who already gets fairly cheap insurance because I'm a low risk. Not getting my license until I hit forty really paid off in some ways.

There is a downside to this - it will encourage kids to drive cars, but have their parents pay for the gas, which will push the higher-accident-prone teenage driving premiums onto other age ranges.

Sounds great if you're 16 and paying $400 a month for insurance, but if my $40 a month insurance goes up to $300 a month, gonna be a lot of unelected politicians real soon.

oh, an easier way, and much more effective, would be to pay for car insurance at the gas pump.

easiest way is based on two things: GVW and mileage. gas consumption equals mileage (bonus: penalizes inefficient vehicles) and GVW sets the rate - thus a motorcycle would weigh little, consume little, and be dang cheap, while an SUV would weigh a lot, consume a lot, and be expensive as heck.

It's called using the market to send economic signals. What the founder of capitalism claimed was its strength.

Well, based on a few of these comments, though I like the idea, if it means more people own cars and clutter up the landscape with parked cars, the collective benefit may not be as good as the individual benefit.
Yay Flexcar (and Enterprise if you need it for the weekend)!

I love FlexCar and seriously considered it as an option when I got a job that required me to go to meetings carrying a lot of stuff. In the end, a couple things that I won't go into swayed me into buying a car. But since I'd be driving less than 6,000 miles a year, my car's purpose got classified as "leisure" by State Farm (I think the bar was set at 6,000, but can't remember exactly. It was low). It's something worth looking into if you don't drive much - I save a lot of money, and all I have to do is send them an occasional odometer reading when they ask for it.

Sounds good, Meg. How much does it cost you? Also, did your car tabs cost a bunch?