and the downside to DD's license...insurance! About This Page:

[graygables]

I called to add her as a licensed driver and our policy went up $70 per month and that was *with* driver's ed and good student discounts!!! It doesn't kick in until January's bill, but that's such a big jump! With her "new" car, it's around $120 per month just for her. Breathe in, breathe out! I cannot think of it in terms of how much "Disney" that money would buy me every year!

[Tara O'Hara]

You are lucky Dawn! You don't even want to know what my insurance is with two teenaged drivers, one of them being accident prone!

[snoozy]

This is exactly one of the reasons I am making my kids 16 and 17 wait until they are eighteen to get their license. DS will be able to get his permit at 17 1/2 without going through the drivers training part. He will have to drive with either me or DH for six months and by that time he will be 18 and can get his license and a job and pay for his own insurance.

[rescuesk]

DS just got rid of his car and is now on our policy. BIG OUCH!!! How many years until he's 25??

[luvnwdwgal]

When we added DS our car insurance doubled! Then he managed to get 2 speeding tickets before he was 18 years old and another one 6 months later and our insurance company dropped him off of our policy. We told him he was going to have to pay his own insurance then! Sure was nice to get back to the lower bill! I'm happy to report that he has grown up in the last couple of years and has had no more tickets!

[DCLFANATiC]

I know how you feel - I have TWO teenage sons that are driving !!! My insurance bill is crazy !

[chezp]

Ouch!

[stretch2864]

It is nice to have them driving, but insurance is really the downside! After the accident that DD was in last year that wasn't really her fault, her premiums went up drastically. It is even harder to pay knowing that somebody else caused the accident but the insurance company wouldn't believe her or her friends because they were all 16 at the time!

[BritDisFan]

that's expensive!

Karen

[RobDVC]

Wow, times sure have changed. My sisters and I were all told that if we wanted to drive, we had to be responsible for all the costs. We were told it was a privelege, not a right. I know I won't be footing the bill when my boys get behind the wheel...

[graygables]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, times sure have changed. My sisters and I were all told that if we wanted to drive, we had to be responsible for all the costs. We were told it was a privelege, not a right. I know I won't be footing the bill when my boys get behind the wheel...

[/ QUOTE ]

For now, she pays $100 a month towards it, but when she moves to my parents in Jan, I told my dad that I would cover it out of the child support $$ I receive for her. Unfortunately, that's almost 1/3 of that...sometimes I think that the child support should be scaled so that it increases automatically when kids are old enough to drive, need band instruments, braces, etc.

[RobDVC]

That's cool. You're one cool mom to pay for her insurance. Hope she realizes how lucky she has it....

[minemoz1]

Oh yes, I remember how much my insurance was. I had to pay for it. As soon as I turned 16, I had to get a job and pay for insurance and gas. Good luck.

[Bert & Sully]

Try living in Florida!!!

[PhillyPooh]

This is the reason my almost 17 year old son (December 16) is not driving. Driving is a privilege not a right and believe me they will take it a lot more seriously and not take as many chances such as speeding, showing off etc... when they are financially responsible for insurance etc. My son doesn't want to get a job so therefore he can not get his permit. My 19 year old dd got a job when she was 16. She saved every penny and paid for drivers ed., in-car training and bought her own car with cash. She has a 1999 Hyundai Accent. You would think it was a Mercedes. She worked so hard for it that she VALUES it. She graduated with a 4.0 GPA, #4 in her graduating class. I am covering her insurance while she is attending Muhlenberg College but up until she left she covered her part of the insurance and paid for all her own gas, car registration, inspection etc. I personally think the driving age should be raised to 18. We have had far to many fatalities and young lives changed forever because of speeding and making poor choices behind the wheel.