How Defensive Driving Class Could Lower Your Teen’s Premiums

Are there any discounts available for enrolling your teen driver in defensive driving courses?

Teens who drive take the greatest risk of their young lives thus far. In the United States, auto accidents are the number one cause of death for teenagers, claiming more than 5,000 lives every year. Statistically teenage drivers are an extraordinary risk, and since insurance is primarily a risk-driven business, the balance for their having to insure a teenage driver is realized in sky-high premiums.

In some states just having a child reach the age where they are legally able to drive is enough to allow the insurance company to double your car insurance rates or more. The state laws and regulations help to determine whether or not your child will automatically be added to your insurance policy. You will want to check with your insurance company before they reach legal driving age so that you aren’t caught by surprise by this possibility and can have the possibility canceled before you even started.

Defensive Driving Classes

Defensive driving classes are used by insurance companies to modify the insurance rates for drivers both adults and teenagers across the country. This is because these courses statistically decrease the rates of accidents for those that take them; adults and teenagers alike. Since insurance companies are concerned with risk, and defensive driving classes do, in fact, lower the risk of teenagers having an accident, most insurance companies will reward your effort in the terms of lower premiums or rates.

Not all insurance companies offer a discount for safe or defensive driving courses, so you will want to contact them before signing up if the savings is your primary goal. There may be specific courses or schools that they recommend you attend in order to qualify for a discount. At any rate, the benefit of taking such classes should exceed any discount you may or may not get from them and may make having your teenage driver(s) take the class worthwhile for safety’s sake if nothing else.

What to Expect from Defensive Driving Classes

Enrolling your teen in a defensive driving class means losing them for a few hours per day for several days, often over a weekend or perhaps one long day where they will spend time in a classroom setting learning more about automobiles, traffic, and the cause of common accidents and how to avoid them. Your teen will be tested at the end of the class likely as not and be required to pass this test in order to receive the certification that your insurance company will likely require as proof. Defensive driving classes today have evolved in technology from 1060s era technology in the simulators to high-tech classes offered by private firms looking to one-up each other in order to earn customers. You will want to shop around based on reviews and ratings of others who have taken the courses before you decide on one that is approved by your insurance company.