Jumping Off the Student Lot and Into the Commuter Pool
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Car Insurance Articles
By: Clifford F. Berman
Posted on: Mar 24, 2009 - 9:04:19 AM
Jumping Off the Student Lot and Into the Commuter Pool
Buying Car Insurance After Graduation
As May and June are rapidly approaching, hundreds of thousands of high
The average college student graduates $20,000 in debt. Car insurance helps keep that number from getting any bigger.
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Car insurance isn't usually at the top of a teen's priority list. As a matter of fact, it tends to fall dismally low on the scale, somewhere behind the latest cutie at the front of their history class and what they're going to wear to Friday night's party. That's why teens are covered under their parents' policies! Unfortunately, that also means that obtaining car insurance of their own may not be at the top of a graduate's to-do list.
Whether you're the graduate or parent of a graduate, it's important to understand exactly how essential car insurance is after graduation. Statistically, younger drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents as a result of their inexperience and the tendency to enjoy the freedom of flying down the highway at a rate of speed slightly higher than posted limits. This has been true since the days of the Model-T, and it's going to continue to be true a century from now! What's important is making sure these young drivers are protected if and when an accident occurs.
Car Insurance is Your Front Line Defense Against Bills Greater than Your Student Loans
Today's college students are graduating thousands of dollars in debt due to rapidly rising tuition costs and the need for student loans. No matter how bad your student loans are, however, they pale in comparison to the bill you're going to be looking at if you're involved in a major accident and haven't yet purchased your own car insurance policy. The average emergency room visit starts at a thousand dollars and goes up from there-and I'm not talking about your bills. When you're in an accident you're responsible for the medical expenses of the other people involved, as well as the cost of the repairs to their car.
The average car costs $20,000. You do the math.
The good news is, liability car insurance coverage will pick up the expense of the damages you cause and leave you paying a two or three hundred dollar deductible rather than going to court to set up a payment plan for a bill you may spend the next ten years trying to pay off.
Car Insurance Minimizes the Amount of Time You Spend Stuck in the House Instead of Out on the Town
Being responsible for everyone else's astronomical bills doesn't mean you're not also responsible for your own after an accident. Somewhere in there you have to pay to fix your car so you can get back and forth to work and make the money you need to pay off your bills. Welcome to the endless loop of adulthood! If you can't get to work you're never going to be able to make the money you need to afford your repairs. Collision and comprehensive car insurance protection will pay to fix your car after it's been involved in an accident (whether that accident involved another driver or a kamikaze deer and his five closest friends), helping you get back on the road as quickly as possible.
You May Actually Qualify for Cheaper Car Insurance on Your Own
Many teens and young adults dread having to buy their own car insurance because they don't want to have to pick up the bill for their monthly premiums. Did you know, however, that you may actually qualify for lower insurance premiums off your parents' policy than you did on it? Chances are, you're not driving around in a $20,000 car right now. The lower value of your vehicle, combined with the fact that you're only driving one car and that (for a while anyway) you're probably going to be doing less commuting than your parents, goes a long way toward lowering the cost of your monthly payments.
To keep your car insurance as cheap as possible, keep your driving record clean and choose to raise your deductibles a bit in exchange for a lower monthly premium. It's easier to sack away a couple hundred dollars out of your graduation money to pay for any deductibles that might come up than to pay extra each month. You can always change that when your face is on every television screen from Tallahassee to Seattle!
Graduation inevitably brings change. You're going to be saying goodbye to friends, teachers, coaches and classmates, many of whom you may never see again. The step from child to adult can be an overwhelming one. The step from your parents' policy to your own doesn't have to be.
