Car Insurance for Teenagers
Posted on April 6, 2009
Category: car insurance | 2 Comments
When teenagers meet car insurance, there is a costly affair in the making. According to general insurance statistics, teenagers are the highest risk driver group of all and therefore are involved in the greatest number of accidents. So what are the prospects for teenagers to get affordable insurance?
As insurers gauge their clients according to the degree of risk involved, teenagers being the highest risk will always attract the highest premiums without exception. This is just a fact of life that cannot be escaped. However, there are some things that teenagers can do to minimise the potential expense of insuring a car themselves or at least being able to drive legally on the roads.
One way is for one parent, and this is usually the mother, to add their teenager(s) who are in possession of a valid driving license as one of the drivers on their own car insurance policy. This is one way to reduce the cost of insuring a teenager, but it has one major drawback. If the teenager becomes involved in a motor accident while driving a car belonging to the parent then, while the policy is safe from being cancelled, the penalty clause will cause the following year’s premium to go up by quite a lot.
However, listing a teenager on the family’s own car insurance policy does safeguard the vehicle while providing them with some invaluable experience in driving on the roads whilst being named on a car insurance policy. As their level of experience increases year by year, the premium rate will gradually reduce and by the time they are able to break free and take on their own insurance policy, their past driving record, as long as it’s good, will help the insurance company to calculate a more agreeable rate. Of course, the level of the risk will be adjusted according to whether the person has been involved in one or more collision. But if the driving record is clean, then the teenager stands a good chance of attracting a low premium policy.
It is inevitable that certain groups of teenagers are bound become involved in car accidents. But this is not true of all teenagers. Many teenagers are actually relatively good drivers, some are natural while others have been taught well by an experienced teacher. With this in view, there are a plethora of discount car insurance schemes that are offered to such teenagers.
Parent need to analyse which scheme fulfills their requirements as well as whether the driver is able to meet those criteria set by a car insurance company. A good driving student who can drive well could could clinch a deal and get a decent rate of rebate knocked off the premium. There are some car insurance companies who will reduce the premium if the teenager has successfully completed a recognised course in driver’s education. Taking up a driving course can certainly help to save a great deal of money,with the course fees being offset by the amount of rebate attracted.
Of course some common sense is required when attempting to insure your own car when you are still a teenager. You may have a decent job and have been able to afford to buy an expensive car, or be lucky enough to have rich parents who could buy one for you, but don’t expect to get ant preferential treatment atthe insurance company. They’ll view your flashy new car as an accident waiting to happen and set their highest premium rate accordingly! By opting for a smaller, cheaper and boringly sensible car, you will at least attract a lower premium for your efforts. Of course, car insurance companies are impressed by sensible drivers, so to buy a sensible car says to them that you are a more secure risk than the rich kid next door who’s parents have just forked out for a brand new Mercedes for their little darling!
It is a fact of life that car insurance premiums for teenagers are very expensive. But when you use some common sense and think about what you intend to do about balancing the sensible factor against the fun and excitement factor, you can either save yourself a lot of money, or throw away a ton of money on car insurance.
Of course if rich parents are paying, who gives a crap?
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2 Responses to “Car Insurance for Teenagers”
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Great post and how true that teens are just gimme, gimme gimme, and could care less about paying for anything and that is so true about the car! Thanks for posting this.
Now that was a funny ending! I love it the way teens think they can just borrow dad’s car when ever they want like it some divine right they have, then not pay for it when they have a fender bender LOL! Keep posting that way, man