That's one way to make sure people get insurance. So, what's the history on this insurance thing in TX? Was it passed for a safety thing or did people think it was all about the insurance companies making more money?
I'll let you decide for yourself.:laughing: Before auto liability insurance became mandatory, we had an entirely different system. In those days, the police put an "estimated" damage amount on the accident reports, and the police responded to any and all auto accidents, and while the "investigation" may not have been much on minor accidents, they were all reported. In addition, anyone involved in an accident with an apparent damage of $50 or more was required to file their own "blue form"; i.e., their own accident report with the state. On that report, they included their insurance information. In the event they had no insurance, they received a letter from the Texas Department of Public Safety giving their options:
1. Send DPS a release of liability signed by anyone else involved in the accident,
2. Send DPS proof that you did, in fact, have insurance, or had filed with the state the necessary paperwork to be self-insured (which you would have done to start with if you had such),
3. Send DPS a deposit in the amount of the total estimated damage (yours and the other person's), or
4. Send DPS your drivers license and vehicle license plates.
If you sent the deposit, it would be returned after one year (but you received no interest on that money)
unless other persons involved in the accident had filed a lawsuit for damages against you.
But then the courts decided that the DPS was penalizing you and/or suspending your drivers license without a court hearing, so they decided the DPS could no longer do that. After all, lawyers have to make a living, too, and they needed the business.:laughing:
I had some personal experience with the old system while I was still in the police recruit school.:laughing: I was driving down a 4 lane street in the right lane in a suburban city, when a guy in the inside lane turned right into his driveway. He caught my left front fender with the side of his car and took me right up into his yard. He was real nice; went inside, called the police, and came back with pencils and paper for us to exchange information. When the officer arrived and asked what happened, I let the other guy talk. He told the officer, "I just turned into my driveway and he ran into the side of my car." The officer asked which lane he was in, and he was truthful. I didn't have to say a word. The officer wrote him a ticket for "negligent collision", and that guy had no insurance. He told me to get my "bleeping" car out of his yard and I told I would, just as soon as the wrecker could get there. So, my insurance paid to fix my car, and I paid the $100 deductible (remember, my salary at that time was $370 a month
). A week or so later, the guy called to tell me he had received a form from the state that I had to sign. I told him I was familiar with it and I'd sign it when he paid for the damage to my car. He asked, "Didn't you have insurance?' and I told him I did, but that I was out the $100 deductible. So he offered to pay me the $100 and I told him my insurance company would want their money, too. So then he told me he'd talked to my insurance agent and the agent told him it was OK if he just paid me the $100. I told him to have the insurance agent call and tell
me that himself. Then he asked, "Who is your agent?":laughing: I told him and we hung up.
A week or two later, a representative from the insurance company showed up at the police academy to see me. He had the release form for me to sign, and a check for my $100 (from the insurance company) and said they had collected all their money from that guy.:laughing: I guess he needed to keep his driver's license.:laughing:
Of course, now . . . things have changed. The police don't even respond to auto accidents unless (1) eomeone is injured, or (2) a wrecker is needed to remove one or more vehicles. No police report of an accident is generated.
