Parents in Virginia might be interested to hear that adding their teenagers to their auto insurance policies could cause them to experience an increase in their insurance premium rates by 84 percent. According to recent reports, teens are the riskiest and, therefore, the most expensive drivers to insure. Parents will, on average, experience a hike of approximately $2,000 a year when they add their teens onto their policies.
According to the analyst, traffic accidents are the leading cause of deaths for teens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, factors that contribute to the likelihood of teens having car accidents are that they don’t have much experience driving, they tend to be distracted and they also tend to drive with many other teens in their vehicles with them. According to the latest statistics from 2010, almost as many teenagers died as a result of traffic deaths as they did from unintentional poisoning and firearm homicide combined.
However, there are measures that teens and their parents can take to get lower insurance premiums rates. One of the things that gets parents the biggest discounts is if their children maintain B or above averages. Good student discounts can reduce insurance premium rates by up to 25 percent. Teens who have taken defensive driving courses can get up to 5 to 10 percent off their parents’ rates. Additionally, keeping a clean driving record and driving older, sensible cars also contribute to lower rates.
Those who are injured in accidents involving teen drivers could choose to file personal injury lawsuits against the teens’ parents to attempt to get compensation for their injuries. Personal injury lawyers could help victims prepare their lawsuits and negotiate settlements for them.
Source: Market Watch, “Yet one more reason not to let your teenager get behind the wheel of the family car: It will cost you a trunkload.“, Jennifer Waters, July 11, 2013