Teen auto insurance

Why a $469 car repair now costs $9,051 –get teen auto insurance to transfer risk?

Cost of car repairs is becoming more expensive along with the rise in cost of auto insurance or teen auto insurance. However, it is still sensible to pass on the risk to the insurance company and get a cheap teen auto insurance quote for yourself.

Cost of car repair.

A few years ago, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) set out to really test car bumpers – to put them through the paces of a real-life crash. Engineers smashed bumpers into other bumper-like objects, instead of into walls, and set collisions at angles and different heights.

Some of what they found is hardly a surprise, like the fact that many of today’s bumpers don’t align. Anyone who’s seen a diminutive compact next to an SUV could tell you that.

But engineers also reached a troubling conclusion, especially given the dramatic improvements in vehicle safety over the past 40 years. Bumpers, it seems, haven’t kept up. In fact, they may have gotten worse.

“Bad bumpers,” the IIHS summed up, “are the norm.”

To understand just how bad, consider this: the bumper that provided the best protection, by far, in the low-speed crash-test was on a 1981 Ford Escort. After four impacts – two corner hits at 3 mph and two full-width hits at 6 mph – the 30-year-old Ford sustained a total of just $469 in damage, all from the 6 mph hits.

By contrast, each of the new vehicles – 17 new midsize models in 2007 – sustained damages ranging from $4,277 (the Mitsubishi Galant) to $9,051 (the Nissan Maxima). For each vehicle, at least $1,800 of that damage was the result of the two corner strikes at just 3 mph – the speed equivalent of a moderate walk.

“Automakers could equip new cars with bumpers that are every bit as good as the 1981 Ford Escort’s, but they choose not to,” IIHS president Adrian Lund stated  in the report.

Later, he added: “There’s no excuse for this. Safety equipment like headlights shouldn’t be damaged in impacts at a mere 3 mph.”

Car insurance,

The results of such crash tests are important to anyone who drives. Or, more specifically, to anyone who pays for auto insurance.

A significant portion of your auto insurance premium is based on the likelihood you will have an accident and the anticipated cost of that accident. Car insurance companies that expect to pay $9,000 for a fender bender will charge you accordingly, through higher premiums and higher deductibles.

The average cost of all collision claims – excluding repairs that aren’t submitted to insurance – has risen 38 percent in the past decade, to $4,047, according to the IIHS,

“It’s quite amazing that we have the system that we do,” says Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute, an IIHS affiliate. “We’ve got vehicles that are increasingly safer for us, that protect us in larger crashes, but they’re increasingly fragile” in low-speed crashes.

Today’s vehicles have remarkable safety designs, says Hazelbaker, “but none of that engineering translates into the ability to take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’ at the low end.”

Part of the problem dates back to 1982, when the Reagan administration rolled back federal bumper regulations. Put in place in 1971, they required that bumpers protect safety equipment and sheet metal parts in collisions up to 5 mph.

In the IIHS tests, the headlights on the 1981 Ford Escort did not sustain damage in the front or corner hits, thanks to a wide bumper. All of the new cars did.

The Ford’s bumper also extended out far enough to protect the grille and the sheet metal. Not only that, the energy-absorbing material within the bumper was still good for another crash. Modern bumpers often must be replaced after a single incident.

In the front full-width crash, only the Ford’s bumper was damaged, at a cost of $86. By comparison, the Subaru Legacy sustained $3,911 in damage in that 6 mph hit.

Adding to the problem: the cost of repairs is climbing by the minute.

You don’t have to be very old to remember when you could pick up a headlight for $20 and pop it in yourself with a screwdriver. Those days are gone.

Even if you can reach the components, a halogen or krypton headlight could cost hundreds of dollars; a new, steerable light may cost thousands.

Auto makers mount cruise-control sensors on front grilles, and cameras on front and rear panels. Those spots easily are crushed at 6 mph or less.

“We’re going to pay for a lot of sensors in a lot of low-speed crashes, because it’s in an area that’s easily damaged,” Hazelbaker says.

Meanwhile, that ultra high-strength steel that makes today’s cars tough yet lightweight can’t just be punched back into a shape with a hammer, or even welded using traditional techniques. Paint, too, must be color-coded and applied in shops with equipment that meets health and environmental safety standards.

“Even the small-level crashes require a high level of repair, a high level of skill,” says Denise Caspersen, collision division manager for the Auto Service Association.

Get your cheap teen auto insurance quote and pass on the risk- your are better off with this.

Teen auto insurance

Teen auto insurance

vanessa bryant : My teenager is always arguing with me, when I try to teach him how to drive or anything on car insurance.

Response : Vanessa, it is true that you are not the only one, most of us are in the same boat. In fact, we are also wrong on certain things, since car driving concepts are changing fast. As Parents of teenagers we need to listen up. The rules of the road have changed since you first learned to drive, and increased auto insurance  premiums may be the least of your worries if your teen becomes involved in a collision.

The teen fatal accidents are aon the decline yet, in 2009, eight teens ages 16 to 19 died daily as a result of motor vehicle injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Things change and what I typically ask my students is ‘When is the last time your parents took driver’s ed – if they even did?’ It’s nothing personal… they’re just not updated on the correct methodologies,” says Sharon Postigo Fife, president of The Driving School Association of the Americas.

Learn what you can do — or not do — to retain cheap auto insurance rates  and to keep your teenager safe behind the wheel.

“Research shows that children’s driving records are related to the records of their parents,” says Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Teens whose parents had three or more crashes on their records were 22 percent more likely to crash at least once when compared with teens whose parents had no crashes, according to IIHS data. Children whose parents had three or more violations on their records were 38 percent more likely to have a violation on their own records compared with teens whose parents had none.

 Parents need to re-evaluate their driving habits and drive the way they want their teens to drive, Fife says.

“Whether or not parents realize it, their teen is going to drive like they do,” she says.

How can you set a good example for your children? “Don’t speed, don’t make turns at 25 miles an hour, don’t talk on the phone, eat dinner and all that other stuff when you’re driving,” says Fife.

James Solomon, program development and training director for the Itasca, Ill.-based National Safety Council’s defensive driving courses, agrees that “parents need to set the proper example for teens in the vehicle.”

Here are five old driving rules — and the new rules that can help keep your child driver safe.

Old: Hands at 10 and 2

New:  Hands at 9 and 3

Experts used to recommend driving with your hands in the “10 and 2″ o’clock position on the steering wheel. However, they have since learned that “the better position is 9 and 3, which gives you a full 180-degree turn of the wheel,” says Solomon.

“You will find that some people push an 8 and 4 position. This is a very dangerous position if you are large-chested or large-stomached because your arms are trapped and cannot turn properly. Also, reaching that low on the steering wheel pulls your shoulders down, causing fatigue on the body,” he says.

Old: Two-second rule

New: Four-second rule

After much research, the old “two-second rule,” in which drivers allotted a two-second following distance between their vehicle and the vehicle in front of them, was replaced with the “three-second or three-second plus” rule, according to Solomon.

If you’re more familiar with the old method of estimating car lengths to maintain a safe driving distance, you may not even know how to execute the “two-second rule.” You  choose a fixed point that is even with the car in front of you. For example, pick a road sign or a building. If you reach that same fixed point before you can count to three, you are driving too close to the car in front of you and you need to fall back a bit.

According to the new rule, drivers should leave a minimum of three seconds following distance between vehicles, and add on additional seconds for factors such as speed exceeding 65 miles per hour and poor “light, weather, road traffic and vehicle conditions,” says Solomon.

But teenagers and senior citizens “should always maintain at least four seconds following distance,” says Solomon. “With seniors, there are hearing and vision situations, and with teens there is a lack of experience. A lot of high school driver’s ed curriculum is set at four seconds.”

Old: Left-foot braking

New: Right-foot braking only

Solomon says left-foot braking is another common mistake parents make when teaching their teen how to drive.

“If I have one foot on the gas and one on the brake, I have moved the center of my body to the right, so that in a quick, evasive maneuver I will be off balance. The left foot should always be off to the left to help counterbalance the body,” says Solomon.

Solomon says that in newer cars, the brake pedal and accelerator are very close together. That allows you to use your right foot for both, he says.

Left-foot highway driving can be especially problematic. “Not only is it not very economical – drivers are literally burning the brakes off of their vehicles – it also sends false signals to the driver behind you. After a while, their brain will override the braking signals and a collision will occur,” says Solomon.

Old: Pump the brakes

New: Don’t pump the brakes

In the past, drivers were taught to pump the brakes if the wheels lost traction on a slippery road.

“That’s no longer the case with modern, antilock brake systems,” says Rader.

Antilock brakes are designed to prevent the wheels from skidding by monitoring the speed of each wheel and automatically pulsing the brake pressure on any wheels where skidding is detected, he says.

Adds Solomon: “The onboard sensors [on antilock brakes] are pumping the brake a lot faster than you ever could

Rader says antilock brakes haven’t been found to reduce overall crashes. “But these systems are the basis for electronic stability control which research shows is significantly reducing crashes,” says Rader.

Old: Flashing headlights to send a message

New: Don’t use headlights to communicate with other drivers

Drivers sometimes flash their headlights as a way to communicate with other drivers. Depending on the situation, headlight-flashing can mean: 

·         Speed-trap ahead

·         Accident ahead

·         Turn off the high-beams, you’re blinding me

·         I’m giving you the right-of-way

·         I’m not yielding, so watch out

·         You’re going way too slow for the fast-lane

·         Nice car, buddy! I have one just like it!

There are three reasons to avoid flashing your headlights: the intended meaning can be misinterpreted by other motorists, it can make it difficult for other drivers to see and it is illegal in some states.

Because there are so many different meanings for flashing your headlights, doing so can backfire by confusing your fellow drivers.

In cases where you want to tell an oncoming driver to turn off their high-beams, flashing your lights can be dangerous. The North Dakota Parent Guide to Teen Driving, for instance, advises drivers not to flash high-beams because headlight glare can “temporarily blind you.”

In addition to confusing motorists or making it difficult for them to see, flashing your lights is also illegal in some states. For instance, in North Dakota it’s against the law to flash headlights when there is oncoming traffic. In Washington, it’s illegal to flash lights within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle and within 300 feet as you approach another one from behind.

More safety and cheap teen auto insurance tips in the next post.

Drive safe and do not worry about teaching your teen driving. You might be better off letting the driving scholl do this job.

Enjoy your cheap teen auto insurance here.

Kamlesh 

Teen auto insurance

Teen auto insurance

7 Ways to keep your teen driver crash-free.

There is good reason to be nervous when your teenager learn to drive.

Compare teen auto insurance quotes now]

The crash rate for 16, 19 per mile driven is that four times of the risk for 20 and older, according to the Insurance Institute for highway safety (IIHS). These figures explain why auto insurance rates for young people are so high.

Fortunately, you can help to protect your child in the early years of driving. The following are seven ways to keep a teenage crash-free:

Search for a driving school, certified trainers, containing practical exercises with experienced, even if your condition behind requires the wheel instruction. Inexperience is the main reason why teens are risky drivers.

Still, not the ability to scan the road and to anticipate danger developed new drivers. They tend to their keep connected to the car in mind and assume that as long as they obey traffic rules, are all the others, to.

“The real key to crash free drivers is the use of our eyes”, says Hale Gammill operations in Southern California for DriversEd.com and a past Director of the school, executive Director of the driving school Association of the Americas.

Young people have not also experience with handling vehicles different Situationen–how fast a car on wet ground or how far comes to a halt, that it distracts, when suddenly his steering wheel is enabled.

These skills have become so instinctive for adults who are not even be consciously, or able, to explain and demonstrate them a teenager.

Good driving instructors teach young people, what are you looking for and how you respond.

New drivers need much practice. The crash rate for 16-year-old is twice as high as that for 18 and 19, according to the IIHS.You spend as much time as you accompany your young people as they learn to drive, they exposed to different conditions.

“We know, these children have more time behind the wheel, they are the better,” says Gammill.

California, requires, for example, 50 hours of practice for young people, before they can be licensed. Gammill recommends at least 100 hours.

It does not well young people not to text and drive, if you do it. So, you avoid messages to check and your phone in the chat, while driving your kids to school.

Maria Wojtczak and her husband, Richard, DrivingMBA, a driving school in Scottsdale, Arizona, founded after the death of nine students from their local school district in car wreck in 2002 and 2003.

“We have often to break young people habits, which have picked up by MOM and dad to work”, says Maria Wojtczak. “Parents need to consider their own performance.”

Take out the first time not shy new driver on a congested, four-lane Avenue. Start in the empty parking lots and quiet streets and work, says Gammill.

Your teen feel less scared and overwhelmed, and are also more comfortable, feeling.

“If it like Mr. Toad wild ride, then will the next time your son or daughter, to practice, go, go not to be,” says Gammill.

Parents and young people on the same page may not even after talking about expectations, limits and sanctions. A parent-teen prevents ambiguities and clear guidelines in writing.

Contracts parent-teen driving are available through insurance, AAA, centers for disease control and some State departments of motor vehicles the contracts outline expectations for youths and their parents.

These documents may include rules on the wearing of seatbelts, obey traffic rules and – for parents – respectful and constructive feedback on driving technique.

Once you have set the boundaries, they enforce with follow. Randy Bleicher, chief instructor for the Ford driving learn for life, the clinics of the country and a former racing driver and teacher with the Bob Bondurant continues high performance driving school in Phoenix, Arizona says driving privileges and behavior monitor after young people receive their licenses,

“Not only they throw the key,” says Bleicher. “Knowledge, wherever they are, go to what they do and the number of friends in the car.”

Straight-A students pick not necessarily driving skills more quickly than their peers. In fact Wojtczak which not says well, can service provider first drive with a perfectionist, excessively analytical approach, on the streets.

Just like other children, talented daughter must good guidance and much practice.

Go together with young people for the first time, the you somewhere new, car also if they already have their licenses. Make sure that your teen has a similar road traveled before him or her drive, which is the only forward to have.

Car wrecks are the leading cause of death for young people, a third of all deaths from 16 to 19, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Remember that if you are crash free you get cheap car insuracne, cheap teen auto insurance.

 

Teen auto insurance

Teen auto insurance

Car insurance and speeding tickets.

Texas is a long way across, and the state allows speed limits of up to 85 mph on its most remote stretches of highway. The Texas Highway Patrol last year wrote 3,726 citations for drivers traveling a speed of 100 mph or more.

In July, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety ticketed 21 motorists for driving more than 100 mph. One driver was going 135 mph.

More than 300 drivers in Chicago clocked in at 40 mph or more over the posted limit in 2010.

We are a nation with a heavy right foot. But some of us have feet made of lead.

Not all speeding tickets are created equal. The heavier that lead foot gets, the more severe the consequences. In such cases, your speeding fine will be the least of your worries.

Get tapped for a 100-mph ticket, and in many states you’ll automatically face a reckless driving charge. Several states levy hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in administrative fees and penalties.

And your insurer will react exactly as you’d expect: with a dramatic increase in your car insurance rates .

Speed increases the distance a vehicle travels before its driver can react to an emergency, and it increases the distance needed to stop once a driver can hit the brakes. And it greatly increases the amount of energy released in a collision. When impact speeds rise from 40 mph to 60 mph–an increase of 50 percent–the force generated increases by 125 percent, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Speeding was a factor in 31 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths in 2009, the IIHS says. That’s 10,591 deaths related to speed.

It would be impossible to tell you how much any given ticket might cost you. It varies with the laws of the state, the jurisdiction within the state and even the mood of the specific officer who pulled you over.

In most states, the fee associated with a speeding ticket increases in proportion with the degree to which you are exceeding the speed limit.

At the low end, there is great tolerance. For instance, you may get off with a warning or a small fine if you’re driving 52 in a 45 mph zone. Texas won’t put any points on your license for infractions less than 10 percent over the speed limit, and insurers generally don’t penalize you for a single minor violation.

Of course, it also matters where you speed. Keep yourself in check in school zones and construction zones, or expect hefty fines.

On the upper reaches of your speedometer, your wallet becomes fair game.

Georgia last year passed a law targeting “super speeders.” Who is a super speeder? Anyone caught driving more than 75 mph on a two-lane road or 85 mph on a freeway. Those drivers get to pay an additional $200 on top of the speeding ticket fine (which can reach $1,000 all by itself). Tennessee is reportedly considering a similar law.

At a certain point, you’re not getting a ticket for speeding anymore.

In California, if a driver is caught at a speed above 100 mph, the infraction becomes a misdemeanor and possibly a reckless driving citation, says Pete Moraga, spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California. Being caught at that speed also results in an automatic suspension of the driver’s license for up to 30 days, a stiff fine and 2 points on the driver’s record. Four points in 12 months will also result in suspension.

Speeds that are de facto reckless driving include:

Over 80 mph in Virginia, North Carolina and HawaiiOver 85 mph in Oregon, Connecticut and ArizonaOver 100 mph in Minnesota and California.

Other states look at how much you’re over the posted limit before labeling you reckless, ranging from 15 mph over the limit in Arkansas to 36 mph over in North Dakota.

In all states, your license can be suspended or revoked if you have enough points on your record or the offenses are severe enough. Some states up the ante by charging drivers with bad records an annual “driver responsibility fee.”

At least four states–Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Texas–charge an annual fee to drivers with excessive points. In Michigan, drivers face yearly fees that range from $100 a year for seven moving-violation points to $1,000 a year for a DUI. Other states’ programs are structured similarly.

Then there’s the issue of being tossed in jail: Half of the states allow for jail time for speeding, with the maximum sentence ranging from three days in Nebraska and Washington, D.C., all the way up to a year in many others. In general, jail time is completely up to the judge in any particular case.

The nature of the offense determines the impact on your car insurance coverage, says Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

“A higher-speed ticket often includes additional charges, such as reckless driving, that also carry higher points,” she says. The citation “will likely affect your insurance premium and could even result in you losing your insurance, particularly with a preferred company that may consider you too high a risk.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the cost of speed-related crashes is more than $40 billion each year.

To get an idea of what a Dukes of Hazzard-quality ticket does to your car insurance  premiums, we ran insurance quotes for a 23-year-old male driving a 2011 Honda CR-Z, comparing rates for drivers with no violations to rates for drivers with a single speeding ticket for 20 mph or more over the limit.

We also ran quotes adding a prior violation, assuming that if you just got busted for 100-mph-plus, it’s probably not your first rodeo.

A single violation 20 mph or more over the limit is enough to move the needle in all five states we sampled, with increases in rates ranging from 14 percent to 44 percent. If we add a previous minor speeding violation to the mix, the jump is even more emphatic. A sample rate in Middleton, Ohio, went from $1,136 a year to $1,592, an increase of 40 percent. In Biloxi, Miss., the sample rate went from $1,918 to $3,014 a year, up 57 percent. This is just an estimation based on our information gathering.

Get your cheap teen auto insurance quote now.

 

 

Teen auto insurance

Teen auto insurance

There’s more to think about than just MSRP, financing arrangements and dickering strategies when considering the costs of buying a new car.

[Compare car insurance quotes now.]

Factor in auto insurance expenses, too.

Consider the following factors when you’re deciding which model to buy, and get car insurance quotes online once you’ve narrowed down your choices — you may surprised how much car insurance rates can vary among models and among car insurance companies.

Spending some time up-front getting car insurance quotes before you decide on a car model can help you avoid sticker shock on your auto insurance rates.

1. Safety features

A car’s safety features are designed for two main purposes — to help you avoid getting in a crash and to help you escape a crash with the least amount of injury. Larger, heavier cars tend to be safer than small cars due to the simple laws of physics.

“Small cars have twice as many occupant deaths each year as large cars,” says Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. “In crashes involving smaller and larger vehicles, heavier vehicles drive lighter ones backwards, decreasing the forces inside the heavier car and increasing them in the lighter car.”

But while there’s a big safety difference between small and mid-size cars, the benefits of size and weight diminish after a certain point, says Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Check the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s ratings online. Safety ratings among cars in the same class can vary widely.

Safety features that protect you include:

good vehicle structural design, which keeps damage away from the occupant compartment of the car restraint systems, including seat belts and airbags electronic stability control systems, which prevent rollovers — now standard in all new SUVs

Newer features include lane-departure warning systems and blind-spot detection systems. Make sure your auto insurance company knows about all the safety features of your new vehicle so that you can get discounts for them.

2. Other design characteristics

Cars designed to go fast typically have higher-than-average death rates. Combining a high-performance car with a young driver is a dangerous mix, the Insurance Information Institute says, not to mention an expensive one from the standpoint of car insurance premiums.

3. Cost of repair and replacement

Luxury cars are costly to insure because you have to pay a lot to repair and replace them. And if you drive a very large vehicle, like a Hummer, auto insurers also consider the cost of repairing the other guy’s car in case you cause an accident.

Although SUV safety has improved, thanks to newer, more compact designs and electronic stability control systems, they still can be more costly to insure because of the damage they inflict on other cars, Worters says.

4. Theft appeal

Your car insurance company also looks at how likely your car is to get stolen. Thieves tend to go after flashy, powerful cars, such as luxury SUVs and pickups. Check the latest data online from the Highway Loss Data Institute to see which cars have the best and worst theft-loss ratings.

In most states, you have to show dealerships proof of car insurance before you drive a new car off the lot. Your existing car insurance will generally cover your new car temporarily if you already owned a car, but policies differ from insurer to insurer. Your car insurance company may require that you notify it of the change within 30 days or less. As you compare auto insurance quotes from different companies, check with your current insurer about the rules for covering a newly purchased vehicle.

If this is your first car, you need to buy a car insurance policy before the dealer hands over the keys.

Teen auto insurance