vehicle insurance. a need of its times

August 13, 2011

Vehicle insurance (also known as auto insurance, gap insurance, car insurance, or motor insurance) is insurance purchased for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise therefrom. The specific terms of vehicle insurance vary with legal regulations in each region.

In many jurisdictions it is compulsory to have vehicle insurance before using or keeping a motor vehicle on public roads. Most jurisdictions relate insurance to both the car and the driver, however the degree of each varies greatly.

Several jurisdictions have experimented with a "pay-as-you-drive" insurance plan which is paid through a gasoline tax (petrol tax). This would address issues of uninsured motorists and also charge based on the miles (kilometres) driven, which could theoretically increase the efficiency of the insurance, through streamlined collection

Thoughts on update to US section

The section pertaining to insurance in the US is much improved. It provides a good overview about the general state of auto insurance requirements throughout the US by state. I would like to see some information included regarding what experts have to say about the pros and cons of certain requirements or lack thereof. I'd particularly find further detail on Virginia's lack of legal compulsion interesting. But all-in-all I think it's a worthwhile addition to the page. Dglasser13 (talk) 02:16, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

I agree with above comments from Dglasser13. Some other thoughts I have are related to the organization of the article. It seems like it might make sense to incorporate this into the section above that details policies of various countries, or to meld this section with section 5 that already has details about insurance in the US. I'm not sure if this was the original intent, but as is stands now some of the information seems to exist in both sections--for instance both sections explain the xx/xx/xx rules. --Labrahams (talk) 21:06, 4 April 2011 (UTC)