The experience was pretty smooth. It was a good experience.
Kathy S.
Hastings, MI
By Beatrice E. Garcia, The Miami Herald
Nov. 1--The safest way to keep teens safe is to keep them off the streets and highways.
But living in South Florida often requires teens to drive to school, sporting events and part-time jobs. Once they get behind the wheel, they need insurance coverage.
Adding a teen driver to a family's auto insurance policy can easily double and triple the annual cost.
Auto insurance rates are high because teen drivers are risky to insure.
"The data on teen deaths and accidents is astonishingly bad, especially for males. That's why rates are so high," says Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America.
Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of death among teens in the U.S. The fatality rate for drivers age 16 to 19 is four times that of drivers age 25 to 69 years.
Nowadays, it's not just alcohol and drugs that could impair teens behind the wheel. Texting on their cellphones or fiddling with their iPods could also distract them. Insurers are making a big push to point out the dangers of driving with these distractions.
A group of six teens in Parkland convinced the City Council to impose a ban on texting while driving within the city limits. The teens are now working with two state legislators to expand that ban statewide.
Hunter says it's important for parents to explain the connection between accidents and impact on insurance rates. The number of accidents a teen reports can be a big factor in pushing rates higher.
So, too, can the kind of car a teen drives. Agents recommend a safe car -- not new, not a sports car and not an SUV because of the higher rollover danger.
But many auto insurers offer a few discounts that can significantly reduce the cost.
The discounts include those for good students -- with a B or higher grade average -- and safe drivers -- no moving violations or at-fault accidents during the previous three years. Many insurers have also developed their own education courses for teens and their parents.
The various discounts State Farm offers, for example, can shave as much as 25 percent, says Guy Brinkman, an agent with State Farm in North Miami Beach.
If your insurer offers discounts, meeting all the necessary requirements is worth the effort.
That's what Michele Feinzig of Parkland is counting on. She knows she will face a big jump in her auto insurance premiums when her twin sons, Adam and Josh, get their driver's licenses in a few weeks. The 16-year-old boys, who have already had their restricted licenses for more than one year, will then be able to drive on their own.
After shopping around, Feinzig found the set of discounts offered by Allstate will best suit her. Her annual premium for one car will go up from $940 to about $1,600, including her teens' completion of the smart teen driver program the insurer offers to qualify for a discount. Otherwise, the cost would be about $130 higher.
"I want to educate them but I also have to get that discount," adds Feinzig.
Stacy Kagan, an Allstate agent in Coral Springs, also recommends her clients take advantage of the accident forgiveness program the insurer offers. Allstate sends policyholders a check every six months if every driver in a household stays accident-free.
Although parents are often eager to find the company with the lowest auto insurance rates, agents say they shouldn't scrimp on liability coverage.
Guy Brinkman, an agent with State Farm in North Miami Beach, says it's important for parents to have adequate liability coverage to protect assets such as their home.
He suggests buying liability coverage with these limits: $25,000 if one person is injured, $50,000 if more than one is injured and $50,000 for property damage. Brinkman says buying as much as $100,000/$300,000/ $100,000 is even better protection.
What happens when your teen goes off to college?
If you keep your teen on the family's auto policy, be sure to let your agent know that your son or daughter is attending school outside the South Florida area.
Auto rates are based on a variety of factors, including the geographical area where a person does the bulk of their driving. Rates are lower in a less traffic-congested area such as Tallahassee or Gainesville. The lower rates also reflect the probability that students on campus do less driving.
Once your teen hits 18, many agents advise buying auto insurance in their name. That lowers the need for high liability coverage because teens usually have far fewer assets to protect than their parents do.
To buy auto insurance in their name, your teen needs to be listed as the owner of the car he or she drives. A trip to the local office of the Division of Motor Vehicles is required to transfer the title of the car to his or her name.
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Car Insurance News: TEEN DRIVING's A HARD BARGAIN -- HERE's HELP: Insuring a Young Driver is Expensive, but Insurance Companies Offer Discounts That Can Take the Sting Out of the Premium Bill....Get an auto insurance quote!