Thursday, July 29th, 2010

What Should be your Teen’s First Car?

images 1 I am often asked by parents, “What is a good first car for my new teen driver?” I’m assuming parents ask me this question because I help many families with young drivers insure their first car and somehow that experience has given me great insight into what a good first car for a teen would be. Unfortunately, this experience only allows me the expertise of knowing which vehicles are more cost effective to insure for young drivers. What I tell parents is this, when choosing a first car for your young driver there are three factors to consider: the initial cost, the vehicle’s safety features, and insurance premiums.

This is an excellent article posted on Leaseguide.com about the Best Cars for Teens. If you are in the process of purchasing a first car for your teen driver I highly recommend taking the time to read through the Leaseguide.com article. From there you can create of list of potential vehicles for your search which have a low initial cost, good safety features, and affordable insurance premiums.

Insurance wise I would keep the following in mind when choosing a first car:

NO high performance vehicles, especially older high performance vehicles with limited safety features (You may end paying more in insurance premiums than you did for the car).
Airbags, Automatic seatbelts, Day-Time Running Lights, Anti-Lock Brakes, and Theft Deterent Systems all provide discounts.
Pickup Trucks & Mini-Vasn often rate lower for insurance purposes than cars (Not that your teen is going to want to drive a Mini-Van).

Choosing a first car for your teen can be a stressful task. However, by doing a little homework you do not have to worry about second guessing your decision. There are safe, inexpensive cars out there that you and/or your teen can afford to insure. You just have to find them, Good Luck!

And always remember to have everyone in your family take Defensive Driving! The savings are too big to procrastinate on. For an approved online defensive driving course click the following link: American Safety Council

“If you’d like to talk about your Insurance Risk, contact me today. We can talk about your exposure, and begin our relationship!”

Thank you,

Ryan H.

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Posted by Ryan Hanley on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 6:12 am
Filed under Auto Insurance, Featured Content, Personal Insurance · Tagged with Auto Insurance, defensive driving, discounts, first car, insurance, new york, teen driver

Melissa Cibelli

Great tips, Ryan. I think too often teens don't realize how expensive they can be to insure and a safe car can go a long way in reducing rates, and protecting them too!

On a personal note, I'd also say, give your kid a car with character, one you can look back on and tell stories about. I'm STILL telling stories about the adventures I had in my 1988 Pontiac Boat.. er.. Bonneville. :)
Ryan Hanley

Great advice! If the kid likes the car he/she may take a little more responsibility to not wreck it!

Mine was a Rust White 1988 Ford Ranger named Charlene... ha!
Jason Verlinde

Ryan:

I recently had this discussion with one of my neighbors. He has three children in their late teens, early twenties. His philosophy with his kids was to get them a regular cab pickup with a manual transmission. Not because of the cost to insure but because they could only cart around one other person. Also with the manual transmission, it makes it extremely difficult to talk on the phone, text, eat, etc! The less distractions the better!!

I thought he had some great ideas and have shared them with quite a few of my insureds.

Jason
@javerlin74
Ryan Hanley

Jason,

That is a great idea. I've never thought about the fact that you can't text when you have to shift... Excellent idea... I will pass that along to my insured!

Thanks

Ryan H.
Cielito Villanueva

Great idea for an article Ryan. I remember a few years back as a personal lines broker that parents would ask me all the time about which car to get for their child. While it's true that insurance is a big part of a car buyers decision, it becomes less crucial as they get more accident-free years under their belt. I just find it amazing how some are willing to pay over $10,000 a year on insurance for a sports car but to each their own.
Ryan Hanley

Thanks Cielito! In early years of driving safety and good line of sight are important for young drivers! like you said get a few years of accident/ticket fre under your belt and then make a move to a more intense vehicle if you like.
Focus_Mike

Outside of no-fault states like NY and MI, full size pickups are the most expensive class of vehicle to have insurance on. They tend to be owned and driven by a high percentage of single, young, male drivers, henceforth the frequency of accidents and the cost to settle claims is higher compared to most other vehicles. Generally, vehicles with limited seating, i.e. trucks rate better in no-fault states where injuries in the vehicle make a big difference in premium.

What I typically tell people shopping for a teenager's car, is to take a poll of what their friends would like to have, and don't buy anything on the list. Typically vehicles that are popular with kids cost more to insure.
Ryan Hanley

I love that advice... " take a poll of what their friends would like to have, and don't buy anything on the list."

I am probably going to steal that line for when I talk to parents from now on!