Be Ready to Pay for Your Young Driver

The day your teenager gets their driver’s license is as expensive and fearful a day for you as it is a glorious day for them!  Let me tell you, your fears are warranted.  According to the Insurance Information Institute an III.org Teen Driver study shows that motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for 15 – 20 year-olds in the US.  Couple this very grim fact with a Yahoo Insurance article in which Staveley Head, states a 17 year old male driver will pay up to nine times more than a 25 year old to insure a similar car, in the same post code area; and fourteen times more than a 35 year old.

(Other Articles in the Teen Driver Series)

III.org attributes immaturity and lack of experience to teen drivers high crash rate.

As a parent you are completely justified to dread the day your teen gets their driver’s license.  However, there are ways to minimize both the risk of accident and amount of insurance premium for your young driver.

• Limit driving to daylight hours (The vast majority of teen accidents take place at night).
• Do not allow other teens to ride in the car without adult supervision (The presence of unsupervised teen riders greatly increases the chance of an accident).
• If driver education is available in your state, make your teen driver take the course (Teens who have take some form of driver education have 20% less chance of getting in an accident.  This course also can reduce insurance premiums).
• If your teen has a B average or better in school tell your insurance agent (Most insurance carriers have some form of Good Student Discount).
• Have your teen take an online defensive driving class (New York Residents follow this link to the NYS Approved Course.  This course offers 10% insurance premium discount and removes 4 points from driver motor vehicle record).

Many insurance carriers are starting to use technology as a way to monitor teen driving.  This excerpt from the III.org article outlines some of the programs currently available:

“Insurance companies are helping to reduce the number of accidents involving teen drivers by subsidizing the cost of electronic devices that parents can install in their cars to monitor the way teens drive or by offering discounts to policyholders with teens who use these devices. The American Family Insurance Company has supplied about 2,000 families in the United States with a video camera that alerts parents when a teen driver makes a driving error. The program includes discounts for families that use the camera, which is operated by an independent company that provides weekly reports for parents. AIG and Safeco Insurance use global positioning systems (GPS) to monitor teen drivers and parents can be alerted by email, text message or phone if their children exceed preset boundaries on speeding or distance.”

Disclaimer:

This article is for informational purposely only. There is no legal advice being suggested or proffered and the author assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions take or not taken by the readers based upon such information.

Thank you,

Ryan H.

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