Car Insurance Essay, Research Paper

The most exciting moment of our life is when we learn how to drive and actually get on behind the wheel. Who wouldn’t insist to learn to drive especially we turn to the age of 15 or 16. I was really excited when my dad taught me how to drive. When I actually started the first turn on the road, I realized that driving was not easy for me. Since that time, I had told myself that I should not drive so fast on the road because I might get an accident. In order to become better drivers, it is not really necessary that we are men or women. It is the skill of driving and how well trained of driving that person can achieve. We can always remember that learning how to drive is one thing, but learning to be a good driver is asking a person a lot of accomplishment. According to the article, “Women are better Drivers,” Phyllis Mcginley states that women can achieve a better accomplishment than men for driving an automobile. I do not believe the idea that the author had stated in the article that women are better drivers, that discriminates against young male drivers.

In North Carolina, car insurance companies base their prices on experience, charging more for less experienced drivers. The highest rates fall on the largest group of new drivers, male teenagers. Accidents increase the insurance rate of the person at fault. Each accident accumulates points on the driver’s policy, which raises insurance costs. For a three-point accident, which involves bodily injury or property damage of $2,000, the insurance rate would rise by 65%, according to the California Department of Insurance. The maximum point value is 12, which is given for driving while impaired, a hit-and-run or a combination of lesser offenses. The cost of insurance would then increase to 400 percent of the original rate for a 12-point offense, and insurance points remain effective for exactly three years.

Statistically, young male drivers have a significantly higher accident rate than other age groups. According to the N.C. Department of Transportation, drivers 16 to 19 were involved in 13.6 percent of all accidents in 1995, which is the highest accident rate of any three-year age range. Whitehurst Insurance agent Louis Whitehurst explains why rates for young male drivers are higher than for older drivers; “in North Carolina, insurance is based on years of experience. Once you have been driving for three years, insurance is the same for everybody,” he said. Whitehurst Insurance Agency charges $500 per six months for limited liability for a beginning driver, which goes down to $158 after three years, if the driver has not had any accidents. With such amount of money to pay for car insurance, some people just could not afford it. The Insurance Agency could not simply assume that all young male are risky drivers. There are elderly women who could be very risky on the road. This is why I do not agree with Mcginley that women are necessarily always better drivers because there are many women out there who do not drive very well. For example, my girlfriend’s mother, Mrs. Tram does not driver very well on the freeway. She drives too slow below the minimum requirement that posted, 55 miles per hour. She would cause a slow traffic, and she could get a ticket for that. Sometimes, she would just pass the stop sign because she cannot see very well. This is very dangerous for her as well as others. Based on the evidence that Mcginley stated in the article that simply women are good drivers because they are good to take advice, and another is women think that car is a means of transportation. Again, I do not agree with that statement, because I have known my girlfriend who would not drive a car that would look so old. Linh, another girlfriend of mine, answered me that, “I would not drive that old car, I would rather take a bus.” I think her examples were not statistically significant enough to prove that women are better drivers.

Today, young drivers have to pay such an expensive premium on car. Car insurance costs seem unreasonable to my best friend, Hau. “Obviously, since I am a teenager, I do not like it, but considering that teenagers make more accidents, it does make sense,” he said. Hau’s father, Mr. Trai also understands the reasons for higher pricing. “car insurance for teenagers is extremely high, but I can understand why it’s high,” he said. “based upon the accident rates for 16 to 21 year-olds, since this age group is involved in more crashes, and in more serious wrecks than any other group.” Based on their risk for driving, drinking and accidents, young men usually pay higher premiums than young women. Why would we (young drivers) have to pay so high since not all of us cause an accident? That wouldn’t be fair to us. It is fair to pay something that we damage, but we shouldn’t pay for something that we didn’t cause to happen. I believe that whoever causes the damage should pay for the fault. Why would the Insurance Company expect others to pay for somebody’s fault? I totally disagree with that assumption, because they are blamed for something that not all-young drivers have committed. The Insurance Company has violated our rights since they force all young drivers to pay such a high price.

Another girlfriend of mine, Dong, who has to work to support her car insurance, thinks the insurance pricing system is too expensive. “Car insurance is ridiculous,” she said. “When I started driving, my dad paid and it was only $200-$300 a year. When I switched to my mom’s car, my insurance tripled,” she said. Dong is one of many students at San Jose State University that I knew. There are many other teenagers have gone through a rough time dealing with this issue. They have to pay such a high rate for car insurance in order to drive to work, to school, or to run for their own errands. My another girlfriend’s father, Mr. Vo thinks that car insurance for teenagers is too expensive. Mr. Vo also thinks there should be more ways of reducing car insurance prices for teenagers. “They should give good students and safe drivers a discount,” he said. Actually, there is 15% discount rate for the students who would get B’s average. This would be depending to the Insurance Company policy. For example, the 20th Insurance Company does not have this policy.

Some students were forced to drive without paying their car insurance because they didn’t feel like they should have to, “I will not pay for something that I didn’t get into any accidents before.” But I do believe that a person wouldn’t learn if he didn’t pay for what he caused it. For example, Hau is responsible and willing to do whatever it takes. He caused an accident a year ago and is still paying the difference of the increase in his car insurance. “It was pretty high, like $150 more each payment,” he said. “I had to get a job to cover it.” Hau will have to pay about $1,000 more a year because of an accident he was recently involved in. “I don’t mind the fact that it goes up,” he said. “I mind the fact that it goes up when I pay money for my car to get fixed.”

There are good drivers and bad drivers. There is no different between men or women because the statistic is just a small sample to draw a conclusion the standard point. No one has a good overview, so we just cannot assume that “women are better drivers or men are better drivers.” We do not have enough proof or evidence to say to what our belief. I think the Car Insurance Company should lower the rate so that the customers (mostly the parents) would not get so upset to pay for their sons or daughters.