New Vehicles For Teens

By Author: Marcus Stalder
Total Articles: 491
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In one sense, it may make no sense to suggest buying a new vehicle for your teen to drive. Something secondhand and already marked by previous brushes with opposing vehicles may seem better value. If you buy a new vehicle, you immediately lose the sales tax and depreciation will be steep if there are accidents. Selling something damaged in a serious crash can be a challenge. You may be forced to keep this vehicle running for many years to get value for your money. Buying something cheap from the sales lot that can be thrown away if there's an accident is usually the best solution. There's only one reason you might think about buying something new.

Vehicle design is improving all the time. Go back fifty years and, comparatively speaking, the cars of the day were death traps with poor suspension and worse brakes. They might have looked good but, in a crash, they caused more injuries than they prevented. Modern design is based on crash testing. It has areas designed to crumple and so absorb the energy of a collision. There are airbags to cushion the driver and passengers should there be a more serious accident. Since the ...
... statistics tell us that the most common cause of death for teens is driving - beating all the diseases by a long way - you might feel you owe it to your teen to buy the safest possible vehicle, i.e. the latest model with all the safety features.

The first thought might be an armored vehicle or a large truck. This gets the maximum amount of metal between your teen and any other driver. Since they may well be talking on the cell or, worse texting, something strong will protect them. This is true for straight-line collisions. But it's less true for side impacts and, if a driver loses control of a large vehicle, it can cause a lot of damage. So the better buy is a midsize sedan. This gives you a reasonable amount of protective metal, but it's also more nimble and easier to drive out of danger, particularly if it has antilock brakes and electronic stability control. New, there are good value vehicles under $20,000 such as the VW Jetta, Kia Optima and Hyandai Sonata. These have consistently performed well in the crash tests and are fitted with all the main safety features as standard. They are also treated sympathetically by the insurers when it comes to teen drivers. If you want secondhand, the results of the government crash tests are available online showing you the safest cars for the last ten years.

It's always going to be a challenge to find affordable let alone cheap car insurance for your teen. But it all starts with picking the right make and model. If you also look for vehicles that come with bluetooth technology, this allows handsfree phone calls. Finally, get your teen into one of the approved driving courses. Auto insurance quotes come with discounts if your teen has put in the right number of hours leaning how to drive safely. Then it all comes down to the power of prayer. The statistics are not on your side. There are thousands injured every week. All you can hope is your children will survive and grow into safer adult drivers.