car insurance for teenagers

[pianistimo]

ok.  my son should get some kind of discount for the driving school he finished.  BUT, i hear from my own insurance company (if i understand correctly) that the first 6 mos. or so the rate is very high and then drops a little around april - because of this 'first driving experience' stuff.

does anyone know of a cheap teen driver insurance that would tide us over for the six month period?  or perhaps for a longer while.  we're just kinda wondering about $825 or something dollars per year for him to start.  is there anything cheaper? 

[thalbergmad]

In UK, it is common for teen drivers to be tagged onto their parents insurance for the first year or so.

Car insurance is mental over here. I is 41 years old and never had a claim in my life, but my insurance company still wanted £700 for me Skyline.

Thal

[johnny-boy]

That's about the going rate pianistimo. Don't think you'll find it much cheaper for a junior driver. It's a form of discrimination. If they continue to be accident free, the rate will periodically go down. Teenagers are on probation. They’ve been tried and convicted by the insurance companies.

If the insurance companies started charging 35 year olds more than anyone else there would be hell to pay. They know they've got these young drivers by the b***s - and they're squeezin' hard.

What if their research discovered black people have more accidents and raised their rates. The NAACP would come down on them like a ton of bricks. But who is going to stick up for a bunch of loony teenagers. What about diabetics? There’s the risk of insulin reactions while driving. I’m sure we all can think of higher risk categories. The insurance companies select their prey very carefully. Damn crooks!

What gets my dander up is you can make payments to the insurance company all your life. Then one accident comes along and they raise your rates to recoup their loss. Bitches!

John

[thalbergmad]

Johnny-boy has made some excellent points here and i totally agree, but I do think that women drivers should be charged more.

They may not be involved in many accidents and that is because they cause them. They drive everywhere at 10mph and people have accidents trying to overtake them.

Also, they take 1 child to school in a car that can take at least 9 and then park in the middle of the road to drop them off.

They should be priced off the road.

Thal

[jre58591]

not women, mike, but old people. they should have their rates go shy high. they drive 40 mph on the freeway and 15 mph on the streets. whats the problem? old people are the ones to be fed up about, not teenagers. i personally think im a good driver, and many people have complimented my driving, along with otehrs my age. why are we persecuted and not the old people, who are more dangerous?

[thalbergmad]

Me would like to thank the nice German policeman who let me off doing 161mph on the Autobahn.

This might have affected my Insurance Premiums.

Thal

[zheer]

  Well here in the UK you insurance is high for young drivers but drops rapidly once you reach the age ov 25.

   Sheesh thalb i thought i was a reckless driver , 161 mph 

[bella musica]

Johnny-boy has made some excellent points here and i totally agree, but I do think that women drivers should be charged more.

They may not be involved in many accidents and that is because they cause them. They drive everywhere at 10mph and people have accidents trying to overtake them.

Also, they take 1 child to school in a car that can take at least 9 and then park in the middle of the road to drop them off.

They should be priced off the road.


Thal

Haha!  That's because in England you guys don't have such a thing as school buses to take kids to school, or parking lots for people to park in, or even roads with room to pull off to the side!   ;)What are the poor mothers supposed to do, rent helicopters and have their kids parachute down to school?  I think there are probably Health and Safety Regulations about that though...  so looks like you guys are stuck with the problem.

[thalbergmad]

What are the poor mothers supposed to do, rent helicopters and have their kids parachute down to school?  

The earth shattering answer to your question is WALK.

This is why there are so many obese children. They get driven to school, eat crap meals and then get driven home again.

They are probably not allowed to do sport coz President Blair and his loonies have banned it.

Thal

[pianistimo]

wow.  such radical responses. 

here in pa the weather turns nasty once in a while - and i drive my kids to school.  otherwise they take the bus (which has no seat belts?).  maybe they are good bus drivers - but i'd sorta prefer the seat belt option.  occasionally, they have after school activities and they can't catch the late bus due to a large project they have to bring home.

otherwise - it's walk, i say, too.  i used to walk miles.  my kids think it's funny.  they don't want to walk because it's too far and they'd get sweaty.  well, i used to walk the distance in 10 above degree weather.  sometimes it would get warm at 15 above.  if i waited for the bus in that weather, i'd have frozen solid.  usually - i made it to school before the bus got there. 

about school lunches.  they ARE pathetic.  i think we need to rethink diet in both countries (UK and america).  more veggies and things that kids like to eat but are good for them.  around the college they used to have this van that sold 'organic' foods.  you know, sandwiches made with whole wheat bread and lettuce in them, or oatmeal-raisin-nut cookies that were huge.  why can't they do this for schools.  and serve milk and not have ANY soda machines.  do they want the kids to be sick for a certain number of days?  i don't know.  i'm learning a lot about diet from my kids.  toward the end of the school year they seem to get a bit sick from being worn down by diet, time, and exercise constraints.  i'm going to really try this year to keep up with their dietary needs.  children run off a lot of calories and need a lot of protein and b vitamins and all that stuff.  iron.  it's like gasoline for cars. 

ok.  i will consider that just attaching him on our policy is better than trying to find a singled out insurance company that will take him alone.  i was thinking about AAA - but i think they service seniors better.  not sure, though.  have to look into it a little - but probably won't work.

my son - so far - is a good driver.  i pray he's like thal and can talk himself out of any possible ticket that would cause OUR insurance to go up.  i want him on his own insurance ASAP.  not that he's a bad driver.  he's actually quite good. the only thing is that today - we had a sort of sunscreen over my four year old's window - so when he tried to get on the freeway, he couldn't adequately see and sorta stopped.  a truck right behind us almost ran into us.  i could do nothing but watch and just wait for my son to try to get to full speed and fit into the traffic pattern after stopping.  there was a huge truck coming -s o i'm glad he waited.  it's just that the people behind expect you to get to full highway speed.

the thing is that with driving lessons - they get one highway experience and figure the rest will be with the parents (oh yeah, thanks!)  he's been on the freeway a lot and usually doesn't do the complete stop - but this time he felt forced to.  i'm not sure if they guy behind would have an alibi if he had run into us.  the truck that was going past us was going about 70 mph and i don't think we could have pulled in front of him easily.