When Your Teen Takes to the Wheel

Since teens lack driving experience, they’re a higher risk to insure; therefore, the premiums assigned to them are typically higher than an adult. However, there are steps you and your teen can take to help reduce rates:

Keep a clean driving record

Drive a safe car

Raise policy deductibles

Take advantage of insurance discounts

Safety and Your Teen Driver

If you’re thinking about buying a car for your teen, look into different auto safety ratings first. Since teens are much more likely to have a crash than adult drivers, choosing a car with safety features will not only give you peace of mind but also help reduce your premium cost.

Graduated licensing laws may vary state-by-state but they’re all designed to restrict driving privileges for teens, until they gain experience on the road. Typical provisions of graduated licensing are as follows:

Learner’s permit or intermediate license requirements

Nighttime driving restrictions

Required hours of adult supervision while driving

Suspension of driving privileges with a crash

Additional training requirements after a crash or ticket

Seat belt requirements for drivers and passengers

Restrictions on the number of passengers allowed in a car

Mandatory driver education

Tougher drunk-driving penalties

Creating Guidelines for Your Teen Driver

Even after receiving their license, some teens are not prepared for driving on their own. Only you can decide when your teen is ready to drive without adult supervision. While they’re learning, you can help keep them safe by setting rules about when, where, how and with whom they may drive.

Put a limit on the number of passengers in the car. Teens are likely to have more trouble focusing on the road with laughter, music, food and other distractions, all of which increase with the number of passengers.

Establish and enforce a house curfew. Check with your local police department to see if your town has a curfew for minors. If not, set your own.

Insist that your teen and his or her passengers always use seat belts. Teens tend to use their seat belts less often than other drivers. Remind your teen that the presence of airbags does not mean he or she can ignore seat belts.

Limit or supervise your teen’s driving during times of high risk. The highest number of driving crashes occur Friday and Saturday nights and early on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Set driving area limits. If your teen wants to travel outside your town or city, require that he or she request special permission.

Prohibit driving or riding with others under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In addition to the possibility of legal consequences, tell your teen you will revoke driving privileges for a given amount of time.

If your teen meets certain qualifications, you may be eligible for a discount on their policy. Contact me for more information and your auto quote.