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| Benefits of Waiting to Let Teens Drive |
Submitted by:
anonymous 05/12/2009 1:43 AM
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We had our teens wait until their senior year in high school to take driver's education and get their permits. As a result, the average age of our kids when they got their licenses was about eighteen and a half. We estimate our savings in car insurance was about $1,000 per teenager, or $4,000 for the four teens.
We saved in other ways as well. We did not purchase cars for them, or pay to maintain their cars. They did this on their own after they got jobs once out of high school. They also paid for their portion of the car insurance as long as they lived with us, or were in college.
We further saved by avoiding car accidents they might have had before the age of 18. We know teenagers from other families who totaled or seriously damaged more than one family car... many do it at least once. We also didn't pay any potential medical costs that could have resulted from accidents.
Waiting also may have saved the teens money. At least in our state, any accidents or moving violations stay on that kid's driving record until age 25, jacking up his insurance for many years.
Of course, the primary reason why we had our teens wait was not about money, but for safety. Most communities have had more than one teen or young adult killed or seriously injured in a car accident. I can't stop my kids from taking driving risks now that they are legal adults, but we did stop them from driving before they were 18.
Because we imposed this, it meant we had to be more willing to drive them places, which we did, within reason. It also meant that summer jobs had to be closer to home. Because we live rurally, it was sometimes challenging, but we made it work.
As you can imagine, the teens were not happy with us at the time. The youngest of these four is now 20. She now agrees that many teenagers are not responsible enough to drive, and that she will likely make her own teenagers wait to drive, as we did.
Of these four, there has been just one speeding ticket and no accidents of significance. They are all excellent drivers.
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