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Auto Insurance Rates – For Teen Drivers and Parents, Volume 1 |
When I was young my insurance was skyrocketing out to premiums you cannot even imagine. Insurance companies have found a significant increase in risk with Teen Drivers compared to those of Experienced age groups. This is why a Parent’s premium may increase dramatically when adding a young driver to the policy. Into my early twenties, my monthly premiums were quoted as high as $500 a month. Where did it all start? When did it end?
At the age of 16 I was a little reckless. I remember not being the only one with a lead foot and bad decision making skills. My first car was a small Nissan Sentra. My parents decided to lend it out to me as my first car once I got my license. From a 16-year-old’s point of view the car was an embarrassment. It was silver, a station wagon and was about 13 years old; maybe even a older. I believe this model came out about the time Datson turned into Nissan. Anyways, I was raised in the suburbs and lived on a dirt road. I learned most of my driving experience on the two miles of windy dirt road that I would tear up before arriving at my driveway. When driving home on this road I would fish-tail it coming out of the same turn every day.
When my friends were with they would like to hang out the windows and grab onto the luggage rack while I was driving on the back roads. I believe my parents thought I was more responsible than I really was. Then I remember one day I was under the influence of “something” and my friends were bugging me to take them to this one place in the desert. While driving my old Sentra, I mistaken a small hill for a road and almost hit a church building which sat on top. I’m so glad that my friend pulled the wheel because if I had hit the church, I could only imagine how embarrassed my mother would have been. We live in a town with less than 8000 People so everyone knows everyone. My mother was also attending the church across the street from the one I almost crashed into. While in high school I made a number of bad choices with many of them being driving choices. I remember one day I was taking a friend home. Our town was divided by a 2 Lane Highway. I remember being stopped at the stop sign getting ready to cross. I looked left and then right. There were no cars except for an old truck coming to make his turn into town. The truck slowed as he made his left onto the road which I was coming from. After he made his left I proceeded across with no idea that there was another car hiding about 30 yards behind the truck. As I pulled out the Driver of the car hit the brakes for about a second before crashing and spinning my car round and round and round again. My friend and I came out of the crash with no injuries. The lady that hit me came to me and asked if I was okay and then asked if she was okay. I guess she wanted a second opinion other than her own. She wasn’t bleeding but her eyes looked all weird. I replied, “Yes, I don’t see anything wrong with you.” My friend later on told me that the other Driver’s eyes were always that way. I guess he had seen her before; in our small town. I remember seeing what was left of the front wheel on my car. It kind of reminded me of the car from that movie “back to the future”, all twisted horizontally. This was the first mistake of many which caused the first major increase in my car insurance rates and my overall premium.
I’ve paid for these mistakes for quite a while. Even into my mid-20s my insurance rates were pretty high. I’ve made a number of driving mistakes in the past most being between the ages of 16 and 21. When you make mistakes like this, it forces you out of the option to ever finance a car. If you can only afford liability, you will be stuck in anything that is given to you or you can pay for out of pocket since lending institutions require collision and comprehensive. I am now coming up on 30 and have earned lower premiums; something that can only come with time, safe driving and smart shopping. I added volume 1 to the title of this post because, believe it or not, there are many more stories to tell. When I finish posting my next volumes, I’ll make sure and link to it from here below.
Next Volumes: Coming Soon…
If you’re and looking to add a Teen Driver to your policy one of the best things to do is get a comparison quote online. It’s free, quick and could save you hundreds. Just click the image above if you would like to compare quotes today.
