David Jenkins
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 07:23 AM |
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And we complain about insurance?
Just look down this page for the insurance costs for a Mondeo equivalent in some US cities!
CNN Money
Sheesh!
David
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ChrisJLW
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 09:26 AM |
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And I thought £700 including track day cover was expensive (tweaked Mk1 MR2) 
I've lived a life that's full.
I've traveled each and ev'ry highway.
But more, much more than this,
I did it side-ah-ways.
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Philbo
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 09:45 AM |
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This is of course because if you hit someone, anyone, in the US you (or your insurance company) is likely to get sued for tens of thousands of $$$.
That's why I can't stand these ambulance-chasing companies over here with their "have you had an accident at work? we can help sue
for compensation" claims. Much more of this and a few people might get a few hundred undeserved extra quid (most of which ends up going to the
ambulance chasers anyway), but we will all pay the price in massively inflated insurance premiums.
This american blame culture where people refuse to take responsibility for their own actions really gets my goat. Unfortunately, it seems to be an
increasing trend over here. How many stories have we had recently over some poor bint who resigned from their £500,000 p.a. job city job over sex
discrimination and then sued for millions?
Grrr
</rant>
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Deckman001
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 09:55 AM |
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Or the lady that sued a department store she was shopping in because she tripped over a child whilst looking at goods, The really anoying thing is
that it was her OWN child she fell over, AND she won !! can you believe it !!
Jason
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twinturbo
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 10:13 AM |
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There was a recent UK case..
A young man was sueing the local council for damages. He had jumped into a local pond head first and broken his neck. His claim was that there should
have been signs for shallow water or other warnings..
So, the judge rejected his claim.. He stated that the "Claim" Society that has come over fropm teh states will ruing the country. Already
Councils are closing amenities and chopping down ( Climable ) trees for fear of somone having an accident and suing them
He went on to say that in most cases the claimant is unreasonable, and often causes their own accident.
Hopefully this case will be a start of a more considered view of compensatin claims and courts will only award for geniune cases..
Otherwise everyone will sue everyone for everything..
TT
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 10:55 AM |
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There has always been a wonderful concept in English law, called "a duty of care" - in other words, any normal person has a duty to look
after themselves and avoid situations that carry a risk of injury. This is probably the principle applied in the pond case mentioned above.
The only time you should be allowed to sue is if you have acted reasonably and still been injured by something that you couldn't have planned
for.
DJ
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 11:08 AM |
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funny you should mention that david.
Fed up of seeing ads for american insurance, I thought id give it a go on one of the ads on hotmails sign in screen.
you could tell i was bored.
it was a california site only, so i entered 90210 as my zip code (beverly hills)
The questions that were asked were a bit whacky compared to UK ones. They wanted to know if i wanted to use the car for work, or just pleasure, where
we combine those.
If you were married you HAD to give partner driver details even if not on policy.
Then, the quote was made up of many different elements. Things like personal injury and damage to the car, and public liability all had seperate costs
to make up the total, based on amount insured.
now, in the UK we must have unlimited liability.
In the usa its typical to hav something like 50k dollars for damage to others cars, and 50k personal injury.
thats bu&*er all.
taken all of that into acount, the cost for a 45 year old driver, totally clean record, to drive a focus in california was......
1,500 dollars!
for a six month policy!
what a rip off!
atb
steve
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binraker
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 04:03 PM |
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i help out at my old school with various sound and lighting duties from time to time and i now do virtually everything myself so that no one sues me
for dropping something on them whilest they are holing a ladder or trip when carrying things up the stairs. it acctually makes my life more dangerous
cause i can't technically be up a ladder so i have to do it when no one is looking or "looking the other way" and i havent got the
hang of getting 20kg lights to levitate onto bars with the power of my mind. im a great beliver that if evolution (or god, cause you dont want to piss
him off) wants you dead then you should oblige. and as my grandmother told my father when he used to go and play on the farms where he lived,
"its mostly the thick people who get killed"
what is it about me that makes me look like i know what im doing????
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derf
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| posted on 17/9/04 at 06:51 PM |
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Ok from an American, we had some dude sue McDonalds because he spilled hot coffe on himself and it hurt and he had problems performing in bed after
that. It wasnt that he was incapable of sex, it just wouldnt last long, viagra might have helped his situation, but instead he sued McD's and
won a claim for $5,000,000. Now McD's puts a disclaimer on their coffee to let patrons know that it is hot, DUH!!!
The car rates here are so expensive because they also figure in gas, maintenence (tires, oil changes belts etc...) plus mileage . I live in the state
with the highest rural (non city) insurance, and I pay $2005 a year for full coverage on 2 Ford Focus, a Jeep Wrangler and a Kawasaki Ninja500, 4
vehicles total, or just about $500 a year per vehicle.
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