Florida Bill Will Help Teens in Foster Car Pay for Car Insurance

As we know, teen drivers pay some of the highest car insurance rates in the country, but it doesn’t stop teens from longing for the open road. If teenagers are unable to earn the money to pay for their own car insurance, they can usually persuade their parents to add them on the car insurance for the family car. Even if it isn’t very cool, driving the minivan is better than nothing. However, many foster kids don’t even have the minivan, so lawmakers are trying to help.

When babies and young children end up in foster care, they are often adopted or placed in permanent homes, but teenagers typically have a much harder time finding a permanent home. Many teens live with several families, and most do not end up being adopted into homes. Most car insurance companies allow policy-holders to add any resident to their policy, related or not. However, even the most loving foster parents usually don’t add their teenage foster kids to their car insurance. The expense is high, and most foster parents can’t be sure how long the teen will stay with them. It’s also hard for any teen to earn enough money to pay for their own car insurance. All these factors lead to most foster teens being unable to have the freedom to drive.

Lawmakers Try to Help

Representative Ron Reagan of Bradenton wants to give teens in the foster system some help to pay for car insurance. He hopes that this “helping hand” will be able to give them more freedom to drive themselves to work and school. A car insurance stipend would help, but not shoulder the complete cost of car insurance. Teens will need to have a job or help from their foster parents in order to pay the full cost. Many teenagers in foster care are used to taking care of themselves, and the stipend will help them out without offering a hand-out.

The measure will also help foster parents who truly want to help, but have too many bills of their own. They may not be able to shoulder the entire cost of car insurance for their teen, but they might be able to chip in some. Reagan hopes that the bill will help everyone work together - the state, the parents, and the teens themselves.

One Solution to Many Problems

The detractors of the bill say that foster-care teens not being able to drive is far down on their list of concerns about the foster-care system. Many experts think that there are many bigger problems with teens in foster care, and those should be addressed first, and deride this bill as a “feel-good” bill that doesn’t really help the system. However, the bill’s supporters think that allowing foster kids the ability to drive will help them fit in more easily with their peers at school, and this will be a big step towards better adjustment.

Wherever you fall on this issue, it’d important to realize the high cost of adding a teen to your existing car insurance policy. If you have a teenager in your home, do some shopping around for the best rate on your car insurance. Most car insurance companies have different formulas for evaluating your cost, and you should be able to find a company who will be more lenient on teenage drivers. Start at carinsurancerates.com, and see how much you can save. Your teen will thank you when he or she gets behind the wheel.