TEEN DRIVING's A HARD BARGAIN -- HERE's HELP: Insuring a Young ...

By Beatrice E. Garcia, The Miami Herald

Nov. 1--The safest way to keep teens safe is to keep them off the streets and highways.

But living in South Florida often requires teens to drive to school, sporting events and part-time jobs. Once they get behind the wheel, they need insurance coverage.

Adding a teen driver to a family's auto insurance policy can easily double and triple the annual cost.

Auto insurance rates are high because teen drivers are risky to insure.

"The data on teen deaths and accidents is astonishingly bad, especially for males. That's why rates are so high," says Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America.

Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of death among teens in the U.S. The fatality rate for drivers age 16 to 19 is four times that of drivers age 25 to 69 years.

Nowadays, it's not just alcohol and drugs that could impair teens behind the wheel. Texting on their cellphones or fiddling with their iPods could also distract them. Insurers are making a big push to point out the dangers of driving with these distractions.

A group of six teens in Parkland convinced the City Council to impose a ban on texting while driving within the city limits. The teens are now working with two state legislators to expand that ban statewide.

Hunter says it's important for parents to explain the connection between accidents and impact on insurance rates. The number of accidents a teen reports can be a big factor in pushing rates higher.

So, too, can the kind of car a teen drives. Agents recommend a safe car -- not new, not a sports car and not an SUV because of the higher rollover danger.

But many auto insurers offer a few discounts that can significantly reduce the cost.

The discounts include those for good students -- with a B or higher grade average -- and safe drivers -- no moving violations or at-fault accidents during the previous three years. Many insurers have also developed their own education courses for teens and their parents.

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