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The facts. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year olds. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,467 drivers in this age group died in motor vehicle crashes in 2005 and an additional 281,000 were injured. Drivers age 15 to 20-years old accounted for 12.6 percent of all the drivers involved in fatal crashes and 16 percent of all the drivers involved in police-reported crashes. Twenty-three percent of teen drivers killed were intoxicated.

Teach your kids that drinking and driving isn't cool!
Immaturity and lack of driving experience are the two main factors leading to the high crash rate among teens. Graduated licensing laws, which include a three-phase program that allows teen drivers to develop mature driving attitudes and gain experience behind the wheel, have been successful in reducing teen motor vehicle accidents.

Vehicle choice is also particularly important for young drivers.
If your teenager has just gotten a driver's license, chances are he or she is looking forward to driving to school this fall. It may be hard to imagine handing them keys to your brand new car, but that may be the smartest vehicle to choose.

While getting a driver's license is an exciting rite of passage for teens, it can be enough to make a parent frantic. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Insurance Information Institute say there's something worried parents can do to protect their teens - choose a safe vehicle.

Teenagers should drive vehicles that reduce their chances of a crash and offer state-of-the-art protection in case they do crash. The first years teenagers spend as drivers are very risky. In fact, teen drivers have the highest death rates of any age group.

Teen drivers not only lack experience, for many of them immature behavior, such as speeding and reckless driving, is common. They may drive cautiously when mom or dad is in the car, but when they're on their own or with other teens, bad driving is often the norm. Keep this in mind when you decide which vehicle your teen will drive and avoid vehicles that encourage reckless driving.

Avoid choosing vehicles with a performance image. Sports cars and other vehicles with performance features, such as turbocharging, are likely to encourage speeding. Choosing a vehicle with a more sedate image reduces the chances your teen will be in a speed-related crash.

Don't let your teen drive an unstable vehicle. Sport utility vehicles, especially the smaller ones, are inherently less stable than cars because of their higher centers of gravity. Abrupt steering maneuvers - the kind that can occur when teens are fooling around or overcorrecting a driver error - can cause rollovers in these less stable vehicles. A more stable car would, at worst, skid or spin out.

Even if your teenager drives a car with a sedate image, chances are still high that sooner or later he or she will be in a wreck. This is why it's also important to pick a vehicle that offers good crash protection.

Don't let your teen drive a small vehicle. Small vehicles offer much less protection in crashes than larger cars. However, this doesn't mean you should put your child in the largest vehicle you can find. Many mid- and full-size cars offer more than adequate crash protection. Check out the safety ratings for mid size and larger cars.

Most of today's cars are better designed for crash protection than cars of six to 10 years ago. So avoid older vehicles. For example, a newer mid-size car with airbags would be a better choice than an older, larger car without airbags. Before you make a final choice on the car your teenager will drive, take advantage of the wealth of consumer information available on car safety from the US Department of Transportation, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and Insurance Information Institute. Check it out; it just may save your teen's life.

Many insurance companies offer identity theft coverage with various maximum limits and some with no deductible to cover expenses to clear up the havoc that identity theft can cause.

These costs can include costs of executing affidavits, lost income replacement (limitations apply), loan re-application fees, attorney fees, and even the cost of long distance phone calls.

Insurance companies also may offer additional free services to assist you in identifying fraudulent accounts, notify credit reporting agencies, help you file police reports, offer legal support, translation services, contact creditors on your behalf and many other helpful areas.

Also, some insurance carriers may offer free credit monitoring services that will be able to keep a constant watch on your credit report and alert you of any unusual changes to your accounts.