Of the 70 percent of Americans who applied or reapplied for automobile

Question

Of the 70 percent of Americans who applied or reapplied for automobile insurance last year, only 10% requested and read a booklet provided by the Federal Government on automobile safety and strategies for reducing insurance costs. Therefore, at least 90 percent of Americans who bought auto insurance this year are paying too much for their policy.

The reasoning behind this conclusion is called into question by which of the following?

A. Consumers must pay a fee to obtain the Federal booklet by mail. 
B. The booklet offers ideas for reducing insurance costs that are unavailable elsewhere
C. Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet.
D. Of the 30 percent of Americans who do not have automobile insurance, 10 percent are uninsured drivers and 20 percent do not drive.
E. Knowledge of automobile safety techniques tends to reduce a driver's monthly insurance payment.

First: Pre-thinking the answer, following e-gmat approach : 1) Any evidence of more than 10% of Americans who ain't paying too much for the policy.

I chose 'D'. Though later I understood why C is the answer. But my question is 'how to pre-think' so as I can move the context for ' paying less or more for the policy' to ' a good policy' as per C. Infact none of the answers address the context of the passage so as to be a good weaken answer.

Look forward for some discussion on this! Many thanks  chetan2u

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

What do we need to weaken?
The fact that people can pay less inspite of not having the booklet.

We can do this by saying that yes the people have the intellect to buy a good insurance scheme even without a booklet.
This is what the option C says.

You need to figure out what needs to be weakened first. Once you have done this, pre thinking should not be difficult.

MorningRunner · Answer

People can find good policy doesn't mean those policies are of lower cost!

C is misleading.. 
How can C be answer?

Posted from my mobile device

zet · Answer

I also could not understand the reasoning.

A. Consumers must pay a fee to obtain the Federal booklet by mail.  (I assume in the end consumers pay less for insurance costs because of the booklet. But when the price of the booklet added, it is not less. I think the situation as; there are two options; -1st policy- no booklet + more insurance cost -2nd policy-with booklet + less insurance cost. Having "less insurance" does not directly lead to 1st policy price = 2nd policy price. Thus, A must be correct. What do you think? 
B. The booklet offers ideas for reducing insurance costs that are unavailable elsewhere  (strengthen the argument even) 
C. Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet.  (the argument talks about paying less because of knowing more about "automobile safety and strategies for reducing insurance costs." The booklet is not about picking the good policy. The ones who get the booklet can get the good policy and still can pay "less" because of their knowledge about " automobile safety and strategies for reducing insurance costs." In the end, I was between A and C and, eliminated C as an irrelevant choice 
D. Of the 30 percent of Americans who do not have automobile insurance, 10 percents are uninsured drivers and 20 percent do not drive.  irrelevant 
E. Knowledge of automobile safety techniques tends to reduce a driver's monthly insurance payment.  strengthen

sayantanc2k · Answer

Your reasoning for C is valid. The option would be better if "good" were replaced by "cheap".

However your reasoning for A is impractical. Booklet cost is in no way comparable to insurance costs (or even the difference between costly and cheap insurance costs) - it is a negligible fraction of the insurance cost.

HarpreetSinghBajwa · Answer

Of the 70 percent of Americans who applied or reapplied for automobile insurance last year, only 10% requested and read a booklet provided by the Federal Government on automobile safety and strategies for reducing insurance costs. Therefore, at least 90 percent of Americans who bought auto insurance this year are paying too much for their policy.

The reasoning behind this conclusion is called into question by which of the following?

A. Consumers must pay a fee to obtain the Federal booklet by mail.
B. The booklet offers ideas for reducing insurance costs that are unavailable elsewhere
C. Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet.
D. Of the 30 percent of Americans who do not have automobile insurance, 10 percent are uninsured drivers and 20 percent do not drive.
E. Knowledge of automobile safety techniques tends to reduce a driver's monthly insurance payment.

First: Pre-thinking the answer, following e-gmat approach : 1) Any evidence of more than 10% of Americans who ain't paying too much for the policy.

I chose 'D'. Though later I understood why C is the answer. But my question is 'how to pre-think' so as I can move the context for ' paying less or more for the policy' to ' a good policy' as per C. Infact none of the answers address the context of the passage so as to be a good weaken answer.

Look forward for some discussion on this! Many thanks chetan2u

godot53 · Answer

Please note that the argument makes a scope shift from "who applied and reapplied" to "who bought". So, what if the people "who applied" have just applied and didn't bought, or may be that "applying" is just a part of government rules, and so on. So there is a leap...., and that the assumption is -

Few people who applied or reapplied are able to choose/buy a good policy  with  the aid of the booklet

Since, "few" and "some" technically is something "more than 1" in a sample space, we can say that C just confirms the opposite of our assumptions that - Some consumers   are able to choose a good policy  without  the aid of the booklet.

Cheers !!

vp101 · Answer

One of the things that has helped me the most when it comes to critical reasoning questions is accepting the fact that the right answer may not be the perfect answer. Logically, you are right in stating that the argument put forth in option C is not the most sound and practically, may not result in a lower premium. However, look at the other options - all of them make no sense in terms of weakening the conclusion reached in the statement. Hence, we have to go with C because it's the best available choice out of the five options available to us. It's not perfect, but it's the least bad option we've got.

Turkish · Answer

Hello Harpeet,

Not an expert but this is what I understand.

The statement says  70 percent of Americans who applied or reapplied for automobile insurance last year, only 10% requested and read a booklet provided by the Federal Government on automobile safety and strategies for reducing insurance costs
 . Here the author fails to understand that people who did not request for the booklet just don't know about " automobile safety and strategies for reducing insurance costs" But what if they already knew? and they didn't buy the booklet because they knew all the safety and strategies... This what the option C says " Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet."

aaa2007 · Answer

I used the following reasoning. Please do correct me if I am wrong anywhere.

The premise says that of all the people buying the insurance (70% Americans), only 10% ask for the booklet. This booklet helps people to choose a cheaper insurance policy. The conclusion states that the rest - 90% of people buying the policy are paying more.

You can see the flaw in the reasoning here. The author presents no evidence that the people asking for the booklet are actually paying less for the policy. It could be that others are already aware of the information presented in the booklet and are therefore able to choose an inexpensive policy!

Option A: Consumers must pay a fee to obtain the Federal booklet by mail. 
It does not talk about the cost of the policy but about the cost of the booklet.

Option B: The booklet offers ideas for reducing insurance costs that are unavailable elsewhere
This would actually strengthen the argument.

Option C: Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet.
This states the flaw that we talked about.

Option D: Of the 30 percent of Americans who do not have automobile insurance, 10 percent are uninsured drivers and 20 percent do not drive.
This talks about the 30% of people who DO NOT have the insurance. Whereas our conclusion talks about the people who have the insurance. This information is irrelevant.

Option E: Knowledge of automobile safety techniques tends to reduce a driver's monthly insurance payment.
This draws on something already mentioned in the premise. I anything, this would strengthen the conclusion.

Option C is the best choice and our answer.

Alacritous · Answer

First of all, the conclusion of this short passage is that the booklet provides strategies to reduce the insurance costs and those who do not buy it are paying too much. 
  Questions the conclusion but not so strongly; Booklet's fee can't be as high as the insurance fees.  
  strengthens the conclusion. 
  Correctly questions the conclusion, because ideas are not just limited to booklets, people have the knowledge to buy good policies from other means also. 
  doesn't affect the conclusion. 
  doesn't affect the conclusion.

gmat1393 · Answer

Hi  Bunuel   nightblade354

Please put the highlighted part into Spoiler.

Thanks!

nightblade354 · Answer

All set. Good job.

-- Mod Nightblade

anand.prakash90 · Answer

c is not the best answer because 'Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet' 
what about the rest customers is that they are not able to choose good policy then it is strengthen the argument.

It is correct when it is most customers.

Thanks

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

X = # of Americans who applied or reapplied for automobile insurance

According to the passage, out of 70% of X, only 10% read some book (last year)

Conclusion: This year, 90% of Americans who bought auto insurance this year are paying too much for their policy.

The conclusion is directing support towards the usage of the book.  To weaken this conclusion, we need to show that the same effect (that the book is supposed to exhibit) can be obtained without needing the book in the first place.

This is what we have in (C)

C.  Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet.  - Here, we have a statement that proves what we  are seeking to establish.  Hence,   (C) is the right answer.

Suyash750 · Answer

C will be the answer because the argument's main point is that 90% people who have not bought the booklet are paying extra for insurance. Now if we look at option C - it says that " C. Some consumers are able to choose a good policy without the aid of the booklet" - this calls into question the conclusive statement in the argument.

laborumplaceat · Answer

C is correct.
A: nowhere it says that the consumers are getting the booklet by mail. And the conclusion says "paying too much for the policy" and not the cost of the delivery of the booklet.
B: This strengthens the conclusion.
C: Correct
D: Not talking about Americans who are not insured.
E: Out of Scope

Of the 70 percent of Americans who applied or reapplied for automobile

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Of the 70 percent of Americans who applied or reapplied for automobile

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards