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Comment by j-bos | Hacker News Reader

Is Rivian considered a luxury brand? Because this seems untennable for the average driver.

Their trucks are expensive, but to be clear, the other driver’s insurance paid for it.

> The $42,000 repair cost, along with Apfelstadt's rental car cost, was very close to maxing out the other driver's $50,000 insurance payout limit.

In this case, sure, but unless Rivian drivers are unusually careful they will end up being at fault around 50% of the time. And their insurance companies will adjust their rates to account for $42,000 fender benders.

Rivian drivers are almost certainly unusually careful by that understanding. Just like any other owner of a car with price significantly higher than average. Hell, just the fact that they own a recent model car means they are safer than average.

How?

Most under-25s probably aren't buying a $80k car as a starter vehicle, for example. And that group is very overrepresented in accidents. I doubt an average middle-aged Rivian driver is much different from an average middle-aged Toyota driver though.

Many states still only require $15,000 of liability coverage to drive, so there's going to be a lot more uninsured / underinsured motorist claims in the future.

The Rivian owners insurance will frequently end up paying out, via that underinsured motorist coverage.

To detail, though the Rivian driver has under insured insurance, the at fault party is still responsible for that difference, and the insurance company will take the at fault party to court if they can recoup a portion of the remaining $35k at low expense.

It always shocks me how different things are between EU and US.

Like, the minimum amount insurer can insure for here is around 1 mil EUR

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ%3AJOC...

For comparison I pay around ~$250 yearly for car liability insurance with pretty much no discounts.

The $50k is probably limited to the car damage portion of it.

OK, I think I have a brilliant idea!

1. design a car with a bunch of cheap off-the shelf parts, but bind them in a way that requires complete disassembly and tons of man-hours of work to inspect

2. in-house repair network charges insurances

3. profit!

Yes, very much a luxury brand.

They are more upscale than Tesla. The interior materials all have a premium feel to them.

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