Teenage Drivers

Ok Mags, here’s the deal. I have twin teenage daughters. They got their provisional drivers licenses back in November. Here in NM, the age requirement is 15 years, 8 months to drive solo, which they have been doing.....Until now. Thing One got two speeding tickets in the span of two weeks ( one for going 67 in a 35!!!!), and Thing Two failed to yield and got t-boned in an intersection (she’s fine, thank Dog)......My insurance is gonna be fucked, and I’m arguing with my whole goddamned family that they aren’t ready to drive right now......What says the collective? What are the laws where you live? How did you navigate the teenage driver saga????????

Haven't had to navigate that but I have two boys who will be driving in few years.

Would making them pay the additional insurance costs because of their fuck ups be reasonable?

Get them large safe vehicles, they’re going to crash them.

I've got a 20yo, 19yo, and 16yo (all boys) on insurance presently. Fortunately, they have all been "late bloomers" in that none of them got their actual licenses to drive solo until well after their 16th birthdays.

But yeah... even 16 is too young, IMO for solo driving.

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Originally Posted by The Tortoise

Haven't had to navigate that but I have two boys who will be driving in few years.

Would making them pay the additional insurance costs because of their fuck ups be reasonable?

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That’s the plan but they don’t have jobs yet so......their allowance is my money anyway....

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Originally Posted by BobMc

Get them large safe vehicles, they’re going to crash them.

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I was actually pleasantly surprised with Thing Two’s Elantra......It took a shot and was still drivable, the other car not so much......

Wasn't your insurance fucked *before* all this poor-driving fuckery??

I'd personally suspend the speeder's driving privileges and only allow the crasher to do supervised driving...

By its very definition Auto Insurance is fucked.

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Originally Posted by Bunion 2020

By its very definition Auto Insurance is fucked.

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You're not wrong. My monthly insurance is *way* more than any car payment I've ever had.

Two daughters..(now 20/19).....Subaru Forester and a Crosstrek....

I always had Erie Insurance (auto/home) since forever....but when I had to put girls on insurance a few years back, the rates went so high I had to switch to Progressive. Hated to switch, but just had to because the rates skyrocketed.

Still using Progressive and have not had any issues......the app is convenient as well.

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Originally Posted by skaredshtles

Wasn't your insurance fucked *before* all this poor-driving fuckery??

I'd personally suspend the speeder's driving privileges and only allow the crasher to do supervised driving...

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Lol yes it was, but now it’s gonna be super-fucked.......And yes, that is what is happening, and it’s a goddamned shitshow in the Seano household.

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Originally Posted by skaredshtles

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Heh, exactly. It’s compounded by Mrs. Seano arguing that not having to be parental Uber drivers (practices etc.) needs to be considered.....Fuck it, I’m officially day drinking.

New Mexico drivers will speed like a madman thru town and do 50 on the open highway. Thing one appears to have the first part figured out.

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Originally Posted by seano732

Heh, exactly. It’s compounded by Mrs. Seano arguing that not having to be parental Uber drivers (practices etc.) needs to be considered.....Fuck it, I’m officially day drinking.

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Is she arguing this *after* said speeding and t-boning incidents?? If so... Dog speed, my good man... Dog speed.

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Originally Posted by skaredshtles

Is she arguing this *after* said speeding and t-boning incidents?? If so... Dog speed, my good man... Dog speed.

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She is indeed....We both work full time, so the very brief time period they could drive themselves was good, but I’m drawing the line in the sand.

in VT you are eligible to get a learner's permit at 15 which does not allow solo driving. You need to have that for a year plus take drivers ed and log supervised hours. You have to be minimum 16 to get a junior operators license. Can't take passengers. After 3 months you drive around immediate family members. At 6 mos you can take other passengers. You don't get a real license until 18. We had to force the 22yo to learn to drive and she was well into 17 before she got her license. Our 18yo was well into 16 when he got his. Thing #3 turns 16 tomorrow and is the one we are worried about. He has made sure that he got his permit as soon as possible. He tests for Jr Op on Thursday. Unless he keeps being an ass. He's on notice that his behavior has been less than stellar and that we can and will pull the plug on the privilege to take the test if he keeps it up. He's calmed down a little this week. The older two kids were mellow, responsible, and compliant. He's always testing us. Fortunately they all get good grades, so far, which gets us a small discount on sky high insurance. I could have a nice ski vacation in Europe for what we pay, and it's gonna go up next week.

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Originally Posted by SKIP IN7RO

New Mexico drivers will speed like a madman thru town and do 50 on the open highway. Thing one appears to have the first part figured out.

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True story.

You said they got their license, but who taught them to drive?

Whatever you do, if it's easy for you, you're doing it wrong. I think I'd make the speeder drive me wherever mom and I needed to go for a month. And let her drive anywhere she wanted with friends with you in the back seat.

When my daughter totaled the car we were sued 3 years later for $1mil. My rates from State Farm didn't go up and they paid me 15% more than Blue Book for the totaled car. I don't know what the settlement ended up being. We just got sued for $1.5 mil on a 3 year old accident (wife fault) so here we go again. Zoom trial by judge next month. Guy is claiming back problems after 3 years of posting his mountain climbing and white water kayaking trips around the world in social media. A local Dewey Cheatem & Howe got to him.

Stay strong seano. You already know the right move.


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Originally Posted by wooley12

You said they got their license, but who taught them to drive?

Whatever you do, if it's easy for you, you're doing it wrong. I think I'd make the speeder drive me wherever mom and I needed to go for a month. And let her drive anywhere she wanted with friends with you in the back seat.

When my daughter totaled the car we were sued 3 years later for $1mil. My rates didn't go up and they paid me 15% more than Blue Book for the totaled car. I don't know what the settlement ended up being. We just got sued for $1.5 mil on a 3 year old accident (wife fault) so here we go again. Zoom trial by judge next month.

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Jeebus........They went through the mandated drivers Ed program....Vibes and good luck.

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Originally Posted by seano732

...Fuck it, I’m officially day drinking.

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Good strategy! Take away the keys AND be drunk so you can't drive them. They'll get sick of not going anywhere right quick made worse by having to hang out with drunk dad. There's always bicycles.

Our insurance didn't go up much at all when my 16 yo daughter got on. I was surprised. Of course I don't pay for collision, just liability. So far so good, no tickets or accidents. Knock on wood.

We had to do 50 hours of driving with her and we did that and more. Not sure all parents do.

Darling daughter - First car was a beat to shit salvage title Volvo wagon. Safe and going fast was not possible. Ran it into the ground and now drives a 2008 CRV. Going fast is still not an option.

Awesome son - First car was a '98 single cab four banger Tacoma with MT. Teaching him to drive a manual was hell, but it's really a brilliant move. None of his friends could drive it, makes it difficult to text and drive, and he can't load up a bunch of derelict friends into it.

We taught all three to drive MT. The girl was pissed. Then she started taking the MT because it was smaller and easier to manouver than the minivan. MT is an important life skill. If there's a social collapse I want her to be able to drive as many things as possible.

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Originally Posted by I Skied Bandini Mountain

Darling daughter - First car was a beat to shit salvage title Volvo wagon. Safe and going fast was not possible. Ran it into the ground and now drives a 2008 CRV. Going fast is still not an option.

Awesome son - First car was a '98 single cab four banger Tacoma with MT. Teaching him to drive a manual was hell, but it's really a brilliant move. None of his friends could drive it, makes it difficult to text and drive, and he can't load up a bunch of derelict friends into it.

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A four-banger Toyota pickup will also strongly encourage looking and thinking ahead, they don't exactly have a lot of extra power.

One of the few times I've seen my dad truly frustrated without someone in the household being intentionally obnoxious was when he was trying to teach me to drive stick in his Jetta. At one point, he made me switch back to the passenger seat so he could try to figure out how I was managing to stall a car he could get rolling in second with no throttle. (Spoiler: I just wasn't very good at it.)

Two days later, I picked up my first vehicle--89 Toyota pickup, 2WD xtracab with the manual transmission and the four-hamster engine, and drove it back to college. I wish I thought I'd be able to find one like it in 15(+?) years when my daughter needs to learn, but I don't think my wife would approve even if I did. If you can drive a 2WD manual pickup in the snow, you should be able to figure out any more appropriate rig.

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Originally Posted by seano732

Jeebus........They went through the mandated drivers Ed program....Vibes and good luck.

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My Drivers Ed showed this movie as part of the training. Family Movie Night? Your girls will think it's camp and funny at first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn5h-ksO63M

Wait...you’re in NM and have auto insurance? 1%er.

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Originally Posted by anotherVTskibum

A four-banger Toyota pickup will also strongly encourage looking and thinking ahead, they don't exactly have a lot of extra power.

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Elegant solution.

Another important skill parents need in regards to teaching teenagers to drive - finding and removing the ignition fuse.

There are apps out there that have behavioral feedback, alerts (even on distracted driving) and sometimes come with a discount if sponsored by an insurance company. Will help facilitate educational discussions when mom or dad gets the 75 in a 30 speeding alert and 30 minutes straight of phone handling while driving.

I put my 16 year old daughter in crosstek, I can track her on my phone, know the speed she's going etc. She knows I have the capability and as a result she hasn't fucked up yet. Here in MI kids can drive at 14 and 9 months with a parent. Can't drive alone until 16th birthday. She is solid, I'm not worried.

My 14 year old daughter on the other hand I would not trust to drive me to the end of the driveway. She is a full throttle, reckless, kind of kid. Always has been. She terrifies us skiing, biking, whatever. I'm leaning towards no permit for her until she turns 16, the longer I keep her out of a car the safer earth will be. Not looking forward to the conversation next month when she hits the age to get that permit.

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Originally Posted by easyrdr

I put my 16 year old daughter in crosstek, I can track her on my phone, know the speed she's going etc. She knows I have the capability and as a result she hasn't fucked up yet. Here in MI kids can drive at 14 and 9 months with a parent. Can't drive alone until 16th birthday. She is solid, I'm not worried.

My 14 year old daughter on the other hand I would not trust to drive me to the end of the driveway. She is a full throttle, reckless, kind of kid. Always has been. She terrifies us skiing, biking, whatever. I'm leaning towards no permit for her until she turns 16, the longer I keep her out of a car the safer earth will be. Not looking forward to the conversation next month when she hits the age to get that permit.

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Dude your 14 y/o and Thing One should go bowling together.....Two peas in a pod. I’ll drive.
ETA we use Life 360 for stalkering......

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Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper

Wait...you’re in NM and have auto insurance? 1%er.

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Also true story......Fucking Land of Enchantment brah......

I started out on a manual transmission Ford Pinto. A few weeks into having my license I was going through an uncontrolled intersection fiddling with the stereo volume, looked up and....OH SHIT! Boom.

My daughter seems pretty good about not messing with her phone when driving. I know this because when she gets home she sits in the car for 20 minutes catching up on texts and Snapchat or whatever.

My 15 year old is starting to talk about driving, getting permit, etc. I looked into insurance, and it looked like it was going to be $3k/year?!? WTF is that? I'm in Southern California so I'm sure there's some premium to that, but I'm shocked. I insure my two vehicles presently for $800/year.

She's a solid, level-headed young lady. She looked at the cost and was totally understanding that she's likely not driving at 16.

I'm bummed for her. I got my license the day I turned 16, hit the road to the mountains, and never looked back.

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Originally Posted by ate'em

My 15 year old is starting to talk about driving, getting permit, etc. I looked into insurance, and it looked like it was going to be $3k/year?!? WTF is that? I'm in Southern California so I'm sure there's some premium to that, but I'm shocked. I insure my two vehicles presently for $800/year.

She's a solid, level-headed young lady. She looked at the cost and was totally understanding that she's likely not driving at 16.

I'm bummed for her. I got my license the day I turned 16, hit the road to the mountains, and never looked back.

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A beater with liability only. Trust me.

My 16yo can’t be bothered to drive, nowhere to go...
Has not progressed beyond the learner’s permit

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Originally Posted by I Skied Bandini Mountain

A beater with liability only. Trust me.

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I was hoping my trusty 97 Rav4 with 240k miles would qualify but apparently I need to look a bit deeper in the field...

Chillin on mainstreet and someone i know walks up pushing a stroller

" cute kid, they're gona wreck yer car in 15 yrs eh"

My first car was a 73 beetle. No power, fuel tank literally just above my feet. Doors barely as durable as a soda can. No air bags. Manual. No power steering.

Makes you think a lot before you do something stupid as a kid, and even then you don't have enough power to do it.

Maybe buying the safest cloud out there isn't the best path.

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Seano--stick to your guns. I'd let both of them wait a year before solo driving. Neither one is ready yet.

Our kids learned to drive before cell phones were ubiquitous. Neither one had any significant problems while they were under our insurance. We consider ourselves very lucky.

One of our sons did Big Brother. He borrowed my car--told me he was teaching his Little Brother to drive, after the fact. Both our kids learned to drive a stick--because that was the car we gave them.
I took driver ed in HS. First day one girl says she knew how to drive so we all piled into a station wagon with her behind the wheel. Instructor told her to back out of the parking spot but she drove forward through a fence.