Tag: insurance

5 Tips for the Rookies of the Road; Teens and Driving

Nothing can be scarier for parents than the day their kids become old enough to drive a car. Keeping these kids safe on the highways is all about education, and these five tips for rookies of the road should follow them, their passengers, and other drivers out of potential danger.

1. Turn Off the Mobile Device

What may already seem like old news to these teenagers, driving while distracted is not worth their life. These kids today grew up glued to their mobile devices, and an alert from social media and they go scrambling for their device, even when behind the wheel. Turn off the phone, that text, alert, or message can wait.

2. Set the Navigation System While at Home

Fumbling around with a navigation system while en route to a destination can lead to trouble. Keep eyes on the road, hands on the wheel, and program your navigation system while parked in front of your house. Most systems now have features that will not operate while the car is moving, but not all of them have this feature

3. Have Insurance and Attorney Contact Information

Inform the young driver that accidents happen, many that will not be their fault. Regardless who was at fault, these kids can quickly be taken advantage of by experienced drivers who will talk their way out of their obligation. Tell your child to call 911 after any accident and let the police sort out the details. They should also know to contact an attorney if injured behind the wheel.

4. Focus Like Playing a Video Game

Kids today grew up playing video games, and many of those games required you to have your focus in a dozen places at once. This same attention can translate well as they are operating a moving vehicle. Remind them to focus like they were playing the game, glancing inside mirrors, rear view mirror, ahead of them, side streets, and cars on either side. If they can seamlessly move their attention all around the vehicle while maintaining their speed, they will be just fine.

5. Never Get Too Comfortable

Every day they safely arrive home, remind these teenagers not to get too comfortable with today’s success. The focus is necessary every time they drive, and new distracted drivers are entering the roads each day, more reason they need to be vigilant in their attention behind the wheel.

These tips for rookies on the road should help to get them off to the best possible start and keep them safe behind the wheel. Reassure them every night that they are getting better and that you are certainly proud of them.

 

How Teen Drivers Affect Your Insurance Rates

You want to be a good parent and do everything right by your child, and while all parents strive to do just that, it can sometimes feel impossible. One thing a lot of parents want to do for their children is add them to their car insurance policy once they become a driver. Nothing wrong with that except that this can cause those premiums to nearly double in a lot of cases. But how do you know if your rates will really be affected? Here is what to keep in mind when making changes to your policy.

Why Teens?

Teen drivers are among the most dangerous on the road. They are inexperienced and are still learning how to grow up in general. It is hard for insurance companies to justify covering them at all if they do not charge very high rates. This is why even parents with excellent driving records can see a big increase in their premiums by adding a teenager to their policy.

What is it Based On?

The rates you can expect to see your premiums increase by vary based on the part of the country you live in, but according to NBC News the average across the states is about 80%.

The younger the driver that one adds to their policy, the more they can expect to have to pay on their premiums. Sixteen-year-old drivers add around 90% on average to premiums paid. Nineteen-year-olds by contrast add about 60% to the policy premiums. That is still a big increase, but below the average for all teen drivers. The insurance companies see the data and understand that the older the driver is, the less likely they are to have an accident on the road.

Other Increases

In the event that something terrible does happen out on the road involving a teen driver, you might want to get an attorney right away. Insurance rates will be the last thing you are worried about if your teenager is involved in an auto accident but they can help with the damage that might be done to your policy afterward in some cases.

It is difficult to express how important it is to have all drivers on the road insured. It is against the law to not be insured when you are driving, so you should consider this when looking at those such higher premiums. If you are able to convince your teenager to hold off for a while on driving then you will come out better money-wise.