[blparent] more questions about car insurance for sighted teen driver

[Star Gazer]

			Can the boy's father foot some or all of the bill? 
Also, can you explain to the insurance company that you will be the keeper
of the keys so your son will only have access to them when you say so? Maybe
if you explain that you do have access to other adult drivers that will
help? 


-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of dawn
stumpner via blparent
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2015 8:52 AM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Cc: dawn stumpner
Subject: [blparent] more questions about car insurance for sighted teen
driver

First the good news: One of my sons got his driver's license on the first
try! This involved a lot of work on his part, but it was also a challenge
fitting in driving practice with my dad, who lives in another state, and
also getting him to driving classes, since I do not drive or have a car.
The next challenge was finding an affordable car.  I'm a single mom of 3
teens, and though I work as a teacher, money is tight.  My dad again came to
the rescue, offering to buy a car and let me pay in installments as I get
tax refund money each spring.  I couldn't believe we would actually be able
to drive places on our own soon, and my sons were really excited about the
prospect too.  Then I re-visited the insurance issue.  I'd checked into it
somewhat before, but now we actually had a real car that my dad saw to run
by the numbers.  The first company I checked with wanted a whopping $1,000 a
month for comprehensive and liability (much more than the price of the car).
My dad said it would be better to have a newer car, so we were looking at a
2010 model.  I checked with other companies, and the rate got better, but
the lowest rate was still $564 a month, which is way beyond my means.  
I asked if I got a cheap old car and just insured for liability, not
comprehensive, how much the premium would be, and the $381 per month quote
was still out of my ability to pay (as it is
$4,572 a year, and I have a mortgage, grocery bill, etc.).  This quote was
with the discount for home and car being on the same policy, for the good
grade discount (his GPA is over 3.0), he has a squeaky clean driving record,
and I even said we would agree to use Snapshot.  I can't imagine if his
grade point ever slid between 3.0 or he got a parking ticket what would
happen.  A friend of mine has insurance for 4 people, two adults and 2 teen
drivers, and she pays $200 a month! The insurance companies I talked to said
that because my son would be the primary driver, and even though I insisted
he wouldn't be using it for school or even driving every day, they said he
had accccess to it every day, so his rate is sky-high because of his age and
the fact that I'm not a driver.  I don't quibble over the fact that young
people are riskier drivers.  I agree, and I wouldn't complain about paying
double what adults pay or even a little more, but to argue that he would
drive more because he's the only driver in the household and so be more of a
risk than 2 teenage drivers who happen to have sighted parents because he is
the only one in our home that drives is unreasonable to me.  My dad and
brother are in other states.  They could not be the primary driver of my car
were I to get one, and it's hard to ask someone else to put your child on
their insurance because I wouldn't want their rates to go up were anything
to happen, God forbid, but I'm feeling a bit trapped and frustrated.  I
talked about this issue a bit with some of you and got great suggestions
when I was figuring out how to find a car for him to practice driving in,
but I'd like to re-visit the issue again now that he has gotten his license
to see what advice people might have.  If anyone who has experience working
for an insurance company or finding affordable insurance for their own
sighted teens has advice, it would be much appreciated!

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