Young drivers are charged higher rates of insurance rather than experienced drivers. Insurance companies will charge a higher premium when the teen is buying or leasing the car in their own name. Statistics have shown that more teens and first time drivers below the age of 25 years are involved in accidents than older age groups. They are considered a high-risk group for the insurance companies.
For this reason, taking a separate policy for teens can be very expensive. However if you add the teen to the family auto insurance policy, you can be sure that the insurance premium rates will go up by at least 50% if not 100%. Either way you see it, adding car insurance for the teen can be extremely expensive. The best way to get cheaper car insurance is to shop around for rates. You can always get multiple insurance quotes online.
Don’t get taken in by dealers that say that they are giving you the best deals, but will in fact charge you quite a bit. Since many teens don’t have the financial resources, they will only take the minimum amount of insurance as required by the state laws. However, it can be dangerous when there is a medical emergency during the accident. Or in case of lawsuits, it can become quite expensive for the insurer.
The Cars With The Lowest Insurance Premiums
Smaller cars tend to have lower car insurance premiums. These cars are less expensive. However, larger SUVs carry a higher insurance premium. Even though teens would love to drive SUVs, it can be difficult for them. Teens are extremely inexperienced drivers and can’t always handle big SUV’s. Even smaller SUV’s tend to be more unstable than the conventional sedan cars when driven by inexperienced drivers.
Best Cars to Buy For Teens
These are some of the recommendations for the teens, but these are not necessarily the only ones. These are some of the most popular cars when budget is an issue. Cars from Honda and Toyota are two of the best. These include the Honda Civic, Scion, Honda Fit, Toyota Corolla, Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Focus and many more.
Of course when cost is not an issue, these are some of the cars that teens would just love to drive. Among them are BMW 3 series, Mercedes C-Class, Audi A4, Lexus IS and many more. Of course, they carry higher insurance premiums.
Remember that teens will get extremely bored with their first car and would love to change their cars as often as possible. For this reason, don’t finance or lease cars for too long or else the teen could easily default on the lease or loan, making their or your credit history suffer.
Safety should be a big concern for teenagers, but is often one of the last things on their mind when driving around with friends in the backseat. Some of the most common safety features in cars are safety belts and air bags. These safety measures are incorporated to protect the driver as well as the passengers against possible grievous injuries at the time of accidents. However, it’s important to avoid the accidents altogether.
One of the newest features in many cars is known as Electronic Stability Control (ESC). This system prevents accidents and is now being used as a measure for reducing highway accidents as well. It specifically helps the teens and first time drivers, as they are still raw in executing emergency procedures that can help save the lives of the passengers in the car. This is why teens and their parents should look for a car that has the ESC system installed.
There are many considerations to take into account when leasing a car for a teen driver. Be sure that they are aware of the risks involved in driving, they are fully insured, and understand the responsibilities involved in hitting the roads.