My wife and I were once at a day long event a few hours north and it snowed pretty heavy. Didn't even think about the car until we walked up to see the tires almost completely covered. It was late and the whole town pretty much shut down, so all I had to use was a window scraper.
Definitely keep a shovel in the car.
I always assumed it had to with whatever cost comes with adding someone to the insurance plan + the cost they're paying. They want to make sure the person is going to stick around. But to me that just seems like the cost of doing business.