Always... This can protect you even if the other party DOES have insurance, though get ready to sue your own insurance company. 

I ended up buying a Sienna Platinum for exactly this reason - Our 2014 got totaled by a drunk while we were stopped at a red light. The 5k mile “dealer demo” bought as new was the best overall option, but NOT what we really wanted...

100% true for almost any kind of insurance - If you need to make any significant claim the first call should be your lawyer. 

Damn it, now I need to track down a running version...

Very interesting - we just ended up with a Prius Magnum XL (Sienna) and I want to keep the car way past the battery warranty, this helps me feel better about that. 

I just recently spent more than I could have ever imagined on a new Toyota Prius Magnum XL Sienna. Amazing family car, getting 37mpg on the current tank with AWD. It’s already a minivan so I already don’t care what it looks like... 

“I am deeply suspicious of the “they’re all trying to kill me/you” rhetoric espoused by so many riders.” - They are not, it’s just easier to pretend that to help keep yourself aware and safe. I have put on 100s of thousands of safe miles, and then was taken out by a 22 year old who blew a red light right in front of…

Yup. The environmental costs of NG production and use for generation have been externalized, as well as the fossil fuel industry having loads of long standing subsidies... The Idaho NuScale plant is run by one of our partners, and one big extra it does provide for that cost is reliability and a decoupling of the price…

They are so hosed, the labor market is still insanely tight, especially for top tier tech workers. Sure you can hire them back, but only for 120% of their departing salary... 

It’s also shorter and smaller in the back than the previous generation (our 2014 got totaled by a drunk driver at a red light, so now we have a 2022). Given the car seats live in the 2nd row I don’t really care about removing them... I have a trailer if I need to move really big stuff. And there are some other…

Absolutely. Ice storms suck like that, hardening would help in some ways but there would still be outages.

You get it, you are seeing their humanity. No excuse for their actions or statements, but at the core they are just lonely and lost and seeking connections, like any of us. The question is how to get out ahead of it. 

LOL, I am only just taking out my big coat. Finally actually winter...

This this this. There have been numerous studies presented to ERCOT that clearly call out the problem and the solution, and it gets swept under the rug in favor of short term margins.

Sienna is the correct answer for a family, they are built for exactly this. 

LOL, trying to be nice... I finally work at a place that really appreciates those things, we have at a minimum full exercises every quarter. You would appreciate it :)

I work in tech. MAYBE 10-15% of companies ever really test their backups...

Completely insane. Our faithful minivan was totaled by a drunk driver, I just bought a new one... Sticker was $56k. Unbelievable, would have been totally unthinkable to me just a few years ago. Yes it’s top trim (not our intention) but even the base trim with just a few features (like AWD, I live in the frozen north)…

Missed the edit - Fuck the ‘thin blue line’ that’s the bad apples spoiling the bunch, makes them all guilty, guess that’s maybe what you mean...

That really sucks :(