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Re: For similar cars and drivers, automobile insurance for collision damag
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10 Jan 2023, 00:49
For similar cars and drivers, automobile insurance for collision damage has always cost more in Greatport than in Fairmont. Police studies, however, show that cars owned by Greatport residents are, on average, slightly less likely to be involved in a collision than cars in Fairmont. Clearly, therefore, insurance companies are making a greater profit on collision-damage insurance in Greatport than in Fairmont.
P: For similar cars and drivers, automobile insurance for collision damage has always cost more in Greatport than in Fairmont
P: Police studies, however, show that cars owned by Greatport residents are, on average, slightly less likely to be involved in a collision than cars in Fairmont
C: Therefore, insurance companies are making a greater profit on collision-damage insurance in Greatport than in Fairmont.
Greatport insurance more expensive than Fairmont. Less car accidents in G. Therefore, insurance makes more. Well, what if the cars are more expensive? This seems like the biggest assumption made so let's try and find it below.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Repairing typical collision damage does not cost more in Greatport than in Fairmont. -- I don't like it, but it is as close as we get. If the cars don't cost more to repair, then the insurance makes more money (huge assumption made). I wish this had said "insurance companies don't pay more", but we have to deal with it. For the negation, if they do cost more, the argument is ruined.
(B) There are no more motorists in Greatport than in Fairmont. -- But we are talking about averages, so we do not care about number of vehicles.
(C) Greatport residents who have been in a collision are NOT more likely to report it to their insurance company than Fairmont residents are. -- This is reversed to a certain extent. If this were the other way around, it would be an assumption (the argument would be destroyed because the comparison wouldn't be accurate). But if they are not more likely, then the numbers are correct and the accident rates are comparable.
(D) Fairmont and Greatport are NOT the cities with the highest collision-damage insurance rates. -- OK, but who cares about the rates of collision in the country or world? We just care about the comparison between the two cities listed.
(E) The insurance companies were NOT already aware of the difference in the likelihood of collisions before the publication of the police reports. -- Who cares if they were aware? The argument isn't about motivation, but the result. And the argument believes that the result is that G makes more money than F.