But of course majority of people pay for training because they want to learn somewhere, and not everyone has parents willing to risk the family car. Surely even in US people pay for training and there's more to the cost than just the $25 test fee?
It varies; you can't make a categorical statement like that based on random stuff you read on the Internet.
My insurance is the equivalent of £430 and I have nearly the maximum liability coverage and comprehensive on a current year model car.
Obviously it depends on your commute, and I've always prioritized a very short commute.
Also, some people lease and have mileage limits. I have the impression that leasing is more popular in the UK, so that might affect the average.
This is the most noticeable difference between US and UK.
Cars here generally have perhaps $300,000 liability, perhaps $500,000. I have $1,000,000 but larger number is covered by an additional "umbrella" policy that includes liability for multiple cars and also my house.
I imagine there are much greater limits for the likes of Bill Gates. But not commonly for the ordinary 99%. Also, despite auto insurance being legally required, probably 10% or 20% don't have it. They don't care, they have no assets, so they're "judgement proof". There are never any serious criminal consequences for this.
Ordinary people can protect themselves against uninsured drivers by adding additional coverage for that to their own insurance policy. In effect, if you have an accident with an uninsured driver, your own policy pays out whatever liability that driver would owe you. This added coverage is not all that expensive.
The most severe damage caused so far in a single car accident in Germany is about 30 Million €: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiehltal_bridge
Fortunately, they were finally able to repair the bridge and didn't have to completely rebuild it, which would have been vastly more expensive.
Bit of an aside - how is American insurance so stupidly expensive. Here in UK I have a brand new Volvo XC60 PHEV, £60k, 400bhp car, in one of the highest insurance groups(like group 45 out of 50), I'm 30 years old and my fully comprehensive insurance is £400 a year. That's including 20 million liability limit, legal cover, courtesy vehicle, key cover.....etc etc.
Yeah when I was 21 my insurance was £2000 a year on some crappy old econobox, but in general once you turn 25 the insurance falls down rapidly. On my previous Mercedes AMG I paid about £500 a year for fully comprehensive, aged 26.