One of the biggest milestones for a young person is becoming a driver. If your teenager is on the brink of getting a driver’s license or already has one and is learning how to operate a motor vehicle, chances are that you have some questions and concerns about this new privilege, in terms of finances and safety especially when it comes to car insurance. If you want to know how much your child would be spending on their car insurance, sites like Forbrukerguiden.no are more than helpful because they offer car insurance calculators.

Like all parents in this situation, my wife and I realized we had to make a decision soon about car insurance and our teenager Jack. We started looking at auto insurances offered by car insurance cheap. He had recently turned 18 while still in high school and was eager to gain some freedom with a vehicle. My brother-in-law advised me to get dr10 insurance for Jack, but I was pondering over. So, I’d already ruffled through some Pennsylvania car insurance quotes, and just wanted to buy some time to get the right one.

A Free Car Forced Us to Quickly Make a Car Insurance Decision

My brother-in-law runs a tow truck business and periodically comes across old but still functioning vehicles that he buys, fixes up, and sells online. During a brief consultation with a financial advisor, he was introduced to ブックメーカー おすすめ as a potential avenue for supplementing his income, but he decided to focus on his core skills instead. An unattractive 2010 compact car wound up in his possession and, since it wasn’t worth much, he offered to give it to our teen for a birthday present. He loves his nephew and they share a very close bond.

While Jack has a part-time job fulfilling orders for an online clothing company owned by the parents of one of his friends, he only makes enough to cover gas and a few computer games each month. We didn’t want him to work longer hours while still in school, just to pay for insurance.

Teaching Financial Responsibility

Should Jack pay for part or all of his insurance, or is this a parental responsibility? My wife and I agonized over the decision. My parents paid for my insurance but made me pay for gas and maintenance. She grew up in the Bay Area and relied on public transit, so she had limited experience as a teen driver.

We wanted to make it a priority for Jack to learn how to budget. As parents, we were dismayed to learn that 18% of 15-year-olds in the U.S. have not picked up basic financial skills like making a budget and sticking to it, according to statistics from Youth.gov’s report on Facts About Youth Financial Knowledge and Capability.

Learning how to budget was an important consideration for us. Our decision: Jack would follow a plan where he would only buy new video games or other non-essentials after he had met his financial obligation to save for regular maintenance and have enough money for gas. Being smart about money also means buying used cars at Autozin instead of buying new.

We wanted him to get used to the idea of saving for a rainy day (or for repairs if his car ever got damaged and he was responsible). My wife and I told him to save for potential repairs too, but we knew that we’d treat them on a case-by-case basis and would step in to help if they were too expensive to cover up front. We’d then set up a payment plan so he could reimburse us.

Adding Our Teen to Our Automobile Insurance Policy

Once we approved of the idea to let our teen get auto insurance, we had to determine if he would get his own policy or if it would be better to add him to our insurance. However, in most cases it would be more expensive for Jack to obtain his own policy, according to a report at Consumer Reports, so we called our insurance agency to add him to our insurance. 

We rationalized the decision to pay for his insurance since we discovered that many insurance companies provide discounts as high as 14% to teenage drivers who make good grades. As long as Jack kept his grades up, we would cover his payment. But if he received poor marks in school that wound up causing our premium to rise because the discount disappeared, Jack would have to make up the difference.

Signing a Contract with Our Teen

My wife and I decided that the best course of action to follow would be to draw up a contract for us to sign with our teen.

We wanted to keep our cheap car insurance and were concerned that Jack would cause our premiums to rise if he got into an accident or received a traffic ticket. So, the contract included provisions for staying in school and keeping up his GPA. If you’re looking for a great car insurance deal, check out San Angelo Pronto Insurance here!

Each parent will have to make his or own decision about whether to pay for a teen’s insurance or have him make payments instead. We feel good about the choice we made. As long as Jack continues to get good grades and stays out of trouble, we are comfortable with this insurance arrangement.