As an example of how the type of car you drive affects insurance rates let’s look at the Hyundai Tiburon.

The Tiburon is a sporty car that has good performance and is not very expensive. It was popular with young drivers since 1997 when Hyundai began production.

But there was a hidden flaw.

The Tiburon topped the charts for the worst rate of theft for 4 years in a row through 2003 (IBC data). And Hyundai did not even build any in 2002.

Because there was no anti-theft device thieves soon learned it was easy to steal. The low likelihood and high cost of recovering stolen cars made Tiburon insurance more expensive.

In 2003, Hyundai added a theft deterrent: an electronically coded vehicle immobilizer. As thieves discovered it was now hard to steal they moved on to easier targets. Insurance rates dropped dramatically.

If you are considering buying a used Tiburon you would benefit from picking models no older than 2003. Then the vehicle will be at lower risk of loss and you can get lower auto insurance rates.

This is good news if you are a teen driver. You can still consider this popular, sporty car but know that it won’t be the most expensive to insure. Since Tiburons from 2003 on have an approved anti-theft device you can get a discount and cheap car insurance.

Compare auto insurance and get your cheap teen auto insurance today.

Why teen vehicle insurance coverage is costly: Are teens bad motorist?

Putting someone on the judgement stand or wanting to make a judgment is a very common for us all. We all want to be able to pass on the responsiblity and make statements – Oh- teens are bad motorist – bad drivers. Lets not relly totally on what we think or believe. It is true that the accident rate for teen drivers is much higher. Everyday, we see the headlines – in any local area about accidents involving teens and it is painful to learn that it was a fatal accident.

Some time back I still remember the incident of Kylie Grayden, 17, of Shorewood, Minnesota, which made the headlines. She glanced at her iPod while driving with her cousin and a friend, both 17. When she veered off the road and flipped her car into a ditch, she and her friend were killed.

Car accidents would be the leading reason for dying of youthful people age range 15-20, based on the Cdc (CDC). Teens are four occasions much more likely than grown ups to stay in any sort of accident. They represent only 14 % from the driving population, but take into account 30 % of vehicle accidents, states the CDC. This statastics is as per the recent study conducted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on Motor Vehicle safety Teen Health which was a study conducted on teens by installing cameras in their cars to observe their driving behaviour, it revealed some very interesting facts which show the reason why teen drivers are not good on the road when compared to other drivers.

What is more imoportant is the reasons which they were able to attribute to the behaviour of the teens on the road and if you are also a parent this is something which is very important for you since you can guide and help your teen in these areas which are crucial.

Within the NIH National Institute of Health study, teens were five occasions more prone to participate in dangerous driving behavior than grown ups.Researchers led by Bruce Simons-Morton from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland, outfitted the cars of 42 new teen drivers in Virginia with equipment to record high g-force events, such as quick starts and sharp, screeching stops. The details of the research are something which you can read on the link. However the colcusion and the main points are of more important to us:

Teen drivers are bad drivers since they are more likely to be
*Very fast drivers. They like speed. Its their age and period where they would love speed.
* They like to speed up at the very start of the ride. A sign of having no responsiblity and care probably as per my thinking.
* They have difficult stops. – this is mainly due to the speed of the vehicle. A sign of being more engrossed or engaged in something else or inattentive – would be the conclusion I would draw.
* They are not quick to make a decision in case of an adversity on the road – this is mainly due to the lack of experience.
* They have peer pressure when driving. If they are carrying passengers with them there would be a pressure from their friends as to what to do or what not to do. This is a known fact and every parent would be complaining about this- for my teen what I think is not important but what his/her friend says is the most important thing.

What you can do as a parent to help teen car insurance rates and teen safety

As parents, we cannot change the cost of teen car insurance on day one- since we would be charged a higher premium for this cateogry for the teenager. However, the insurance companies do charge a lower premium if the teen is added to your car when compared to an individal policy for teens. Even Simons-Morton says that if the parent is a good driver it is most likely that the teen would be a good driver. He furthe, reminds parents that although learning the fundamentals of car management is rather easy, developing the judgment and focus on detail essential to drive securely may take many years of practice.

Secondly, it has been observed that age and experience bring about maturity since they become more repsonsible- good grade discounts is a sign of responsiblity as per the car insurane industry which is also based on research. Thus it would be a good idea probably to have your teen on your car insurance till they are atleast 18 or even 20, if you want them to learn the skills of driving and get cheap teen car insruance rates.

Teach them the small tips on how to brake, to park cars in the right place, to park them in the garage at home. The small guidance once in a while which we were talked to about by our parents. Make it a small story for them – everyone loves stories.

Take time to teach your child the driving skills under all weather conditions- for a couple of years so that he learns how to handle diffirent situations and make the right decieions. Your teen might not be saying it, but they are also afraid- you need not jeer them or laugh at their mistakes but be that friend that they want – who does not apply pressure.

Teen drivers are not bad drivers but inexperieinced drivers and you can help change this.

You can still get cheap teen auto insruance here, by comparing teen auto insurance, keeping a good driving record and taking all the steps given in our article : Getting cheap car insruance for low income families.

I am a teen driver- what is accident forgiveness? Should I opt for this?

Accident forgiveness with teen auto insurance

Response :An excellent question. Basically, I would be in favor of teenagers, new drivers or young drivers wanting to go for accident forgivness, this is one sure way to keep your car insurance low rather than getting into the high risk zone very very early if you get involved in an accident.

First lets get the facts about Accident Forgiveness with relation to teen auto insurance ?

Your car insurance rate is based on a number of factors. One of the most crucial is your driving record including whether you have had speeding tickets, moving violations or an actual collision. This risk you pose is considered high risk to the insurer. This would determine how much they require you to pay. If the insurer offers accident forgiveness it is an incentive to purchase your insurance policy from them. Possibly, this will convince you to switch your coverage from another insurance company to their insurance company.

Teen car insurance and Accident Forgiveness
An offer of accident forgiveness is not the company overlooking the fact someone has an accident on his or her record. It is however, an offer to compute the amount you will pay for insurance without including that fact in the computation. This is a good reason for you to take out insurance from them to save money over insurance from a company that does not offer accident forgiveness.
It is not a way to remove your accident history from your record. If, at a later time you decide to change to another insurer, the accident may not be “forgiven” when that insurance company calculates your premium. This is a good incentive for you to stay with the insurer that does offer it. If enough drivers take their business to them, they will actually profit from giving this price break.
How much would the car insurance cost reduce by ?
As you may know, only liability car insurance is required by law. This protects the other driver in case of accident. You may elect to purchase collision coverage, which covers your own vehicle’s damage. This usually includes fire and theft coverage as well as towing insurance. Therefore, you must analyze the entire cost when comparing prices from company to company. The insurer who includes accident forgiveness does not necessarily charge the lowest premium for your total insurance package.
Eligibility for the accident forgiveness feature is not automatic. Not every driver is going to qualify to receive it. Different insurance companies may have different requirements.
However, do not forget that the cost of this additional coverage would be taken into consideration by the present insurer and also in order to get this benefit you would have to stick with the present insurer for a definite period of time. You might be missing on the other cheap car insurance options by other insurers. Think wisely before you take the step on this.
Get your cheap car insurance quote here. Let me know if you still have any concerns.

Thanks.
Kamlesh

car insurance who is covered

Surprise! Find out who is not covered by your car insurance

Nobody likes to discover what’s not covered in their policy while trying to make a claim. Here are some situations in which you think you’re covered but your car insurance company might not.

Get teen auto insurance quotes now.

Scenario 1. Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute, says auto insurance policyholders are often confused about when to add a child who has gotten a driver’s license.

“Some insurance companies will not cover drivers that are under the age of 18, unless they are specifically added to your policy,” Worters says.

To be on the safe side, she says, contact your car insurance agent to make sure your policy covers a teen driver.

Scenario 2 Holly Anderson, spokesperson for State Farm Insurance, says all drivers living in your home should be listed on the car insurance policy.

A teen driver who wrecks the car is still covered even if you failed to add him or her to the policy. But “you could then be subject to an underwriting review and lose your coverage because you didn’t report the child as a driver in the household.”

Allowing a friend to occasionally borrow your car is allowed under a car insurance policy. If the friend has an accident during one of the rare times when he or she drives your car, you’re covered.

But it’s a different story if a friend drives your car all the time.

Scenario 3“If you do not reside in the vehicle owner’s household and you drive the vehicle with any kind of regularity, in order to be covered, you will need to be listed as a driver on the vehicle owner’s policy,” Worters says.

Scnerio 4:If your pet is injured in a car accident you caused, the pet’s medical expenses may not be covered. Even though collision coverage pays for repairs to the vehicle, your policy may have an exclusion for damage to personal property – and pets are considered personal property.

But if your pet is injured in a car accident caused by someone else, you could make a third-party claim for its medical bills. When a pet is killed in an accident, you can usually make a claim for the market value of the pet.

Scnerio 5 :Sometimes car insurance customers specifically exclude a family member from their auto insurance policies.

The excluded person may be someone with a DUI conviction for whom insurance coverage is prohibitively expensive. In other cases, the excluded person could be a teenager who hasn’t gotten a license yet or who isn’t allowed to drive because of the high cost of insuring him or her.

If an excluded driver operates your car and gets in an accident, you – not your car insurance company – will be liable for the damages. There are no loopholes! Once a person is excluded, make sure he doesn’t driver your car – not even to pull it into the driveway from the street.

Yes, car insurance poilcy are tricky and not explicit. Get your cheap car insurance now, if you have missed this-start saving today.

The worst driver on the planet just walked out of the local DMV.

Take young Hannah Abrams. In March 2009, she drove herself to school with her brand-new license. After school, she headed to the Ballston Mall in Arlington, Va., with a friend. Despite her mother’s warning to avoid the circular ramp in the parking garage, Hannah decided to give it a try.

Entering the ramp, she hit another car on its way up, also being driven by a teen driver.

Hannah was devastated, as was her mother, Tamar. Repairs totaled more than $3,000. But the Abrams were lucky. Nobody was seriously injured, and thanks to accident forgiveness with USAA, Hannah’s car insurance rates didn’t go through the roof.

Are teens really bad drivers or only inexperienced-Can we justify teen car insurance?

Your teen — and your insurance premiums — might not be so lucky. No parent wants to believe his or her child is an irresponsible driver, but according to a recent study, newly minted drivers are some of the most dangerous and risky drivers in the world. They are certainly among the most costly to insure.

The U.S National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted the first observational assessment of teenage risky driving by tracking 42 teen drivers and their parents in the Virginia cities of Blacksburg and Roanoke for the first 18 months of licensure. Their vehicles were outfitted with internal and external cameras, along with a system that collected data on acceleration, mileage and GPS positioning.

“The first six months are by far the most dangerous,” says Bruce G. Simons-Morton, senior investigator and chief of the Prevention Research Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the NIH. “New drivers are 12 times more likely to be involved in an accident during their first month of driving than they will be just one year later.”

During the course of the NIH study, the teens were involved in 37 accidents while parents had only two. Near-crash statistics were just as dramatic: 242 for the teens and 32 for the parents. While crash and near-crash rates for teens consistently dropped over the 18-month period, they never approached the rates logged by the parents.

While crash risk drops off dramatically during these first six months, risky driving continues and accident rates don’t drop to adult levels until drivers are in their mid-20s.

It is well-documented that driving is one of the most dangerous acts that a teenager performs.

Auto accidents are the leading cause of death of young people ages 15 to 20, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Teens are four times more likely than adults to be in an accident. They represent only 14 percent of the driving population, but account for 30 percent of all car accidents, says the CDC.

While it’s not startling to hear that teens engage in risky behavior on the road, you might be surprised at the frequency. In the NIH study, teens were five times more likely to engage in risky driving behavior than adults.

Fast driving, rapid starts and hard stops were quite common, but sharp turns were recorded at extraordinary rates. Teens took corners sharply 25 to 30 times more often than parents did. Combine risky behaviors with modern distractions like texting and it is small wonder teens logged such high accident rates.

Simons-Morton recounts one teen accident during the study: “Teens drive fast and brake late. In this case, the driver got up to speed between stoplights, looked at his phone and rear-ended a car in front of him that had stopped for the next light. Inattention is a huge factor in teen accidents.”

The NIH found that while teens improved at driving as time passed, their risky behavior continued even after they were involved in a crash or near-crash. Crash rates declined as they gained experience, the study found, but not because they were driving more safely. They simply learned to control the vehicle better during dangerous maneuvers.

Prepare to pay the car insurance man

All of this risky driving comes at a financial price. Adding a teen to your teen car insurance policy will usually double or even triple car insurance rates. (And yes, you do have to add them to your policy, or specifically exclude them. See our articles on the Mistakets parents should not make. While young drivers’ car insurance needs will vary, premium increases will be significant in most cases. Nancy Donahue, spokesperson at Dowd Agencies, says parents can expect at least a $1,500 annual increase.

In fact, it could be more. Analysis by Carinsurance.com found even bigger increases were possible. In Culver City, Calif., adding a teen to a typical policy upped the premium a whopping $2,854 annually, a 232 percent increase.

These figures assume that your teen driver manages to keep his or her record clean. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), a 16-year-old gets a traffic ticket at about 1.8 times the rate of the average driver. And a simple rear-end collision can raise the rates an additional 25 percent.

New-driver car insurance rates will drop over time as teen drivers gain more experience. According to Steve Witmer, spokesperson at American Family, rates start adjusting downward at 19, 21 and 25 years of age, assuming a clean record.

Delayed driving and parental involvement are the best ways to keep a teen safe during the first years of driving.

When a parent is in the car, the NIH study found, accident rates drop dramatically. In most cases, they fall to levels matching the parent group. Parents help manage the vehicle as well as keep attention focused on the task at hand: driving the car.

Simons-Morton also advises parents to delay licensure as long as possible. “A 17-year-old is more mature than a 16-year-old. GDL (graduated driver licensing) programs are the best and most effective thing that states and parents can do to keep teen drivers safe.”

GDL programs delay full licensure by dividing the licensing process into three stages: a supervised learner’s period, an intermediate period with limits related to driving in high-risk situations, and finally a full-privilege license.

Simons-Morton reminds parents that while learning the basics of vehicle management is fairly easy, developing the judgment and attention to detail necessary to drive safely can take years of practice.

Not all driving conditions are equally dangerous; Simons-Morton recommends restricted driving during the following conditions for at least the first year:

Yes, you as teenager drivers should pass on the message to Insurance companies that you are smart drivers with your smart cars- and Get Your cheap teen auto insruance rate.