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| Auto Insurance for Teenagers  Parents of newly minted drivers have much to fret about, with research showing that concerns about teen driving top all other parental worries. In addition to lost sleep, count on significant additional expenses, too. Parents can expect their auto premiums to nearly double when adding a teen driver, because 16-year-olds are nearly 10 times more likely to get into accidents than other drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Controlling Auto Insurance Costs for Your Teenager You can impact these expenditures and still maintain good coverage with these ten effective ways to control teen auto insurance costs:
1. Add your teen to your policy rather than buying separate coverage. The premium rates will typically reflect a combined history of all drivers on the policy.
2. Unless your teen drives an insured vehicle more than anyone else, you will save additional money by designating her an “occasional driver” rather than a principal driver.
Insurance costs will be far higher on new and sporty cars, and higher on two-door cars than four-door cars.
3. If the car is more than six or seven years old, consider buying liability insurance but not collision or comprehensive insurance, or at a minimum get a high collision deductible.
4. Get plenty of liability coverage, at least 100/300/50.
5. If you don’t already have one, get an umbrella policy which adds at least $1 million to your auto or homeowner’s liability protection. It’s comparatively cheap insurance, and it’s frighteningly easy to run up seven-figure medical and legal costs with catastrophic crashes.
6. Recheck your rates frequently. Many rates for teens drop every six months to a year.
7. Some insurers will give a discount if your child has a “B” average. Ask.
8. Have your teen be responsible for paying an affordable portion of her insurance costs. Determine from your agent exactly what the increased amount would be if she gets a traffic violation, and let her know that she will be responsible for the entire amount of any such increase.
9. Some insurers offer discounts if teens answer surveys about their driving attitudes and fill out a log sheet recording details of a specified number of driving episodes shortly after they are licensed. You may also be able to obtain a discount by following the Crashproof Plan or signing a Crashproof Contract with your teen. Teen Safe Driving Practices Avoiding crashes can save a fortune in repair and medical costs, too. Five key ways to help your teen avoid crashes:
1. To reduce rear-end crashes, teach your teen how to emergency brake and to maintain a four-second following distance from the car in front of them.
2. Reduce or eliminate distractions. Each teen passenger added to a car driven by a teen increases the crash risk by 50%. Making or taking a cell phone call while driving has the equivalent impact on mental focus of a .08 blood alcohol level—legal intoxication!
3. on seat-belt use. Forty percent of teens still don’t use them, and many deaths and injuries could be avoided with their use.
4. Spend 50 to 100 hours behind the wheel with your teen in a variety of different driving and weather conditions over a 6 to 12 month period after they get their license.
5. Be a great role model. They’re watching (and imitating) you. If you roll through stop signs, exhibit road rage, or speed, so will your kids. Teen Driving Statistics
• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15-20 year olds
• Teens have the highest involvement rates in all types of crashes
• 17 teens lose their lives every day in car crashes
• Many fatal teen crashes involve excessive speed for driving too fast for
existing road conditions
• 77% of teen crashes involved avoidable driver errors
• 31,000 people were killed in crashes involving teens between 1995 & 2004
• In a 4-year period, over 4,000 American soldiers were killed in war-related incidents. In the same time period, over 27,000 teens 15-19 died in car crashes
on U.S. roadways.
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| Auto Insurance for Students Today’s student has a lot on his mind. Next week’s final, the big game, and the party scene are just some of the distractions facing our youth. Auto insurance is not a major concern for many students. The reasons for this can vary. Many young students are still covered on their parents’ policies, as they can be covered on these policies as long as the parents allow them to be. However, for all of the hard-working students that have to pay for their own auto insurance, there are a few key things to keep in mind.
Collision and Comprehensive Coverage for Students
If you have a new car or a newer used car, it is important to have full-coverage insurance for your vehicle. Full coverage means that you have collision and comprehensive coverage. Collision deductibles are the amount of money that you pay to the insurance company to fix your car in the event of an accident where you are at fault. These claims affect your future rates on insurance substantially. The comprehensive deductible is the amount of money you pay to the insurance company in the event that your vehicle was vandalized, involved in a hit and run, damaged in a hail storm, or even if you hit an animal in the road. These claims do not affect your future rates on insurance, as they are considered not to be the fault of the driver.
Minimum Coverage for Students
States vary in the minimum required bodily injury coverage—anywhere from 50/100/25 to 10/20/20. These numbers translate to the following: x thousands of dollars per person, x thousands of dollars per accident, and x thousands of dollars for property damage to others. Keep in mind that states have mandated minimums. In general, this is not enough coverage to ensure that all parties will be taken care of in the event of an accident.
Work with an Agent
Finally, when choosing your comprehensive and collision deductibles, ask your agent to compare different levels, and get feedback as to what they think you should do. Agents are professionals who do this kind of work for a living. They are trained and licensed, so they will help you to make the best decisions for your current situation. Also, when you upgrade your car, after you graduate, it is important to consider a different level of deductible. If you had an older car that was not worth much and carry liability only insurance for it, consider going with full coverage insurance for your new car.
Here are some Useful Links for your Teenager http://www.drivingmba.com/ | |
"Your protection and well being is our policy" 61 E Mill Reef Drive, San Tan Valley, AZ 85143 (480) 980-0387 * Fax (480) 987-5553 Lancaster Insurance & Financial Service Center, Inc is licensed to conduct business in Arizona. The information on this site is a solicitation to conduct business only in the aforementioned state of authority. | | Arizona Motor Vehicle Division Teen Effective 7/1/2008 | 1. | Graduated INSTRUCTION PERMIT Requirements | |
- Teen must be at least 15 years and 6 months old.
- Teen and parent must provide necessary application documents.
- Teen must pass written and vision tests.
- Teen must have a licensed driver who is at least 21 years of age seated in the front seat next to him or her at all times.
| | | 2. | Graduated DRIVER LICENSE Requirements | |
- Teen must be at least 16 years old.
- Teen must hold the class G permit for at least six months.
- Teen must have completed 20 hours of supervised, behind-the-wheel daytime driving practice and 10 hours of supervised, behind the wheel night time driving practice–a total of 30 hours–before applying for graduated driver license.
- For the first six months, a teen with a graduated driver license cannot drive between the hours of midnight to 5:00am unless:
- A parent or legal guardian who has a valid driver license is sitting in the front passenger seat,
- The teen is driving to or from a sanctioned school sponsored activity, sanctioned religious activity, place of employment, or family emergency.
- Teen with a Graduated Driver License shall not drive a motor vehicle containing more than one passenger under the age of 18 on a public highway, unless:
- The passengers are the teen driver’s siblings or
- The teen driver is accompanied by a parent of legal guardian with a valid driver license and occupies the front passenger seat.
NOTE: If the teen driver has no outstanding extensions of the restricted driving period or suspension of driving privileges during the completion of the first six months of restricted driving, the teen may drive without restriction until eligible to apply for a Class D driver license beginning at age 18. | | | 3. | Motorcycle CLASS M PERMIT or DRIVER LICENSE Requirements | |
- Teen must be at least 15 years and 6 months old.
- Teen and parent must provide necessary application documents.
- Teen must pass written and vision tests.
- Teen must have 30-hours of supervised practice or successfully completed a certified motorcycle safety course.
- The 10 hours of nighttime driving is waived.
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