teens

FIRST CAR BUYING THAT

No matter what your budget, reliability, safety, insurance and education all play a role in buying a car for a teen to drive. BY ANDREA STETSON

What some parents or teens might think is a dream car could turn out to be a nightmare on wheels. Buying a teen a car is a big milestone and investment. There’s a draw to wanting to buy something inexpensive for a young driver’s first vehicle, but experts say that could become an expensive investment and one that is not safe. We talked to experts from a local repair shop, a national auto safety organization and an insurance company to get advice on finding a balance between budget and benefits of vehicles.

Reliability

Chris Miller, owner of Tuffy Tire & Auto Service in Bonita Springs, says finding a reliable car should be one of the top items to look for.

“You don’t want to buy the cheapest thing possible,” Chris says. “They are new drivers, and you don’t want the car breaking down on them. You want something reliable because they are going to be out driving by themselves. You don’t want it breaking down on the way to visit friends or on the way to school.”

Chris suggests having a mechanic examine the vehicle before the purchase.

“You want to make sure the technician looks at it to make sure it is not an up-north car that is eaten with rust,” Chris says. “Down here I do see a lot of the cars look nice from the outside, but once you get them in the air and see them from underneath, they are a rotten mess.”

Things such as brake lines and fuel lines can’t be initially seen without a thorough examination, and if they are rotting, it’s a safety issue and expensive to repair, Chris says.

“You don’t want to end up buying a $1,500 car and find out a week or month later that it needs extensive repairs,” he says.

“You don’t want to buy a car that has bald tires, bad breaks, leaks. You want something reliable.”

Safety

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety compiles a list of affordable used vehicles that meet important safety criteria for teen drivers. Prices range from less than $4,000 to nearly $20,000, giving parents and teens lots of options for various budgets.

Prices on the Best Choice list range from a Volvo XC90 from 2005 or newer for as little as $3,700 up to a Buick LaCrosse from 2017 and newer for $19,800. The list includes cars, SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks. There’s also a Good Choice list that ranges from the Volkswagen Jetta 2009-2014 for about $3,800 to the Ford Explorer from 2011 and newer for about $9,900.

“We always try to create a range there and create some options,” says Jessica Cicchino, vice president of research.

Jessica stresses that parents should not only look at the price, but also vehicle safety.

“The most important thing to think about is look for a car that is big, boring and slow,” she says. “New drivers like to take risks, and we don’t want to tempt them with a car that is very powerful. The big heavier cars are safer if a teen is involved in a crash.”

Jessica says the most important safety feature to look for is electronic stability control. That gives the driver better control if they do speed or drive on wet roads. All cars on the list have that feature.

“The newer the car, the more safety features,” Jessica says. “We wanted to look at a balance of cars that were affordable and have as many of these safety features as possible.”

Jessica wants parents to think big.

“One thing we found is most parents tend to give their kids small cars because they are cheaper and they think it is easier to control, so we try to steer parents away from the smaller cars to something bigger and still affordable,” she says. “It is not just a financial decision; we want them to keep safety in mind as well.”

Statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show teen drivers have crash rates nearly four times greater than drivers 20 and older per mile driven. Their report states that immaturity leads to speeding and other risky habits, and inexperience means teen drivers often don’t recognize or know how to respond to hazards.

The research also shows that teenagers often don’t drive the safest vehicles.

A large majority (83%) of purchased vehicles for teens were used, and the median cost of purchased vehicles was $5,300. The survey also found that many teenagers were driving older vehicles, which are less likely than newer models to be equipped with key safety features, or minicars or small cars, which provide less protection in a crash than larger vehicles.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety put together this checklist to help with vehicle buying: » Young drivers should stay away from high-horsepower models, which could encourage them to speed. » Bigger, heavier vehicles provide better protection in a crash than smaller, lighter vehicles, so there are no minicars or small cars on the recommended list. » Electronic stability control, often referred to as ESC, is a must. It substantially reduces fatal crash risk due to loss of control of the vehicle. » Vehicles should have the best crash test ratings possible. At a minimum, the recommended vehicles on the IIHS list have a good rating in the Institute’s moderate overlap front, side and head restraint tests.

Insurance

Insurance is also a factor when selecting a car for a teenager. There are insurance discounts for safety features, so older vehicles don’t usually get those reductions. There are discounts for everything from anti-lock brakes and power steering to the more recent safety features of lane control and automatic breaking when a vehicle gets too close to the car in front of it.

Bobby Pittman, a local State Farm insurance agent, says many insurance companies give discounts for students with a B average or higher. He also

FUN FACT: South Dakota allows teens at age 14 years and 90 days to drive unsupervised, with restrictions. New Mexico and South Carolina allow teens to drive at 15½ years old. In all other states, teenagers must be at least 16 years old to drive unsupervised.

BEST CARS FOR TEENS The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety compiles a list of affordable used vehicles that meet important safety criteria for teen drivers. See the full list at iihs.org/ratings/safevehicles-for -teens.

gives discounts for students who take driver’s education. Bobby recommends trying to get as many of these discounts as possible because insuring a young driver is expensive.

“The cost of the insurance will be the highest when they are young,” he says. “That 16 to 21 age is the highcost time. Male youthful drivers are the highest rate, because for some reason they have the most accidents. They take the most chances.”

The more expensive the car is, the more it costs to insure. Sports cars also bring the rates up.

Bobby suggests making sure the insurance policy has good coverage for liability because the parents are liable if their child gets into an accident.

“The parents need to understand they are at risk, so they need the liability that they need,” Bobby says. “Cars are the easiest things to insure. It is the liability and medical payments that all come into play.”

Preparation

Preparing a teen for car ownership is another important element that Chris stresses.

“With my son I went through where you check the oil and washer fluid. I had him practice putting a spare tire on, so if you are on the road, this is what you have to do,” Chris says.

Some older cars don’t have lights that come on when an oil change is needed or when it’s time for maintenance. Even with cars that have that feature, it’s sometimes ignored by those who don’t understand its importance, Chris says. New drivers must also understand the importance of checking the oil, rotating the tires and doing other routine maintenance.

“Honestly I see a lot of parents just give them the keys and say, ‘Have a good day,’ and they don’t know what it means when the light goes on, on the dashboard, so they keep driving until it needs a major repair that could have been a minor repair if they had it looked at when the light went on. I believe a parent should go through what routine maintenance should be on a car.”