Your Teenager and Car Insurance Part 2: Best Car

On Wednesday, Woodinville Patch offered tips for purchasing car insurance for the teenage driver (). Today, we look at what to consider when buying a car for your teenager.

Experts agree the first thing to consider is safety, not image. The latest statistics from the Washington State Safety Traffic Commission show that 250 young men aged 16-20 died in traffic related accidents 2006-2010, and 99 young women in the same age bracket died during that same period. According to the Centers for Disease Control, traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers, accounting for one third of all teen deaths in the United States.

According to the Commission, teen drivers:

• Tend to drive with smaller gaps between vehicles
• Use seatbelts less often
• Are involved in more single-car collisions Are overrepresented in nighttime and weekend collisions
• Are more likely to: 

            - be at fault in a collision 
            - speed 
            - accumulate moving violations 
            - have teenage passengers, which increases crash risk
            - violate traffic signs and signals 
            - overtake other vehicles in a risky manner
            - fail to yield to pedestrians

For more information on how parents can help teenagers become better drivers, check the Washington Teen Driver Safety Week by clicking here.

“From an insurance perspective, your child’s car doesn’t really matter. It’s the fact that he or she is driving at all that’s expensive,” writes Des Toups at CarInsurance.com. The story includes information drawn from Woodinville’s 98072 Zip code, and explores how much an insurance policy is likely to cost the family that buys a used car for a teen driver.

The story also lists the top 20 best used cars for a teen driver, including information on pricing, reliability and fuel economy. Topping the list is the 2008 Audi A3, followed by 2008 Honda Accord 4-door, 2008 Mercury Sable, 2008 Ford Taurus and 2008 Subaru Forester. To read the entire list, click here.