I got a DUI in Cape Coral, Florida and blew a .22. I know I will have many fines to pay, but I would like to know if I am going to jail for a longer period of time. This is by the way my first offense and I am a senior in college?

Jake

Cape Coral, Florida

According to the Florida law, DUI is one violation, proved by impairment of normal faculties or unlawful breath alcohol or blood alcohol level of .08 or above.

The fine for a 1st DUI offense is not less than $250 up to $500. With Breath/Blood Alcohol Level (BAL) of .20 or higher or minor in the car: Not less than $500, up to $1,000.

So with that information there is the possibility of imprisonment that may be one of the penalties handed down to you from the court. Because of the seriousness of this violation you may want to seek legal counsel in Cape Coral, Florida for your DUI offense.

Next time, I suggest that you call a taxi or a friend.

I just turned 17 last week and just received my driving licence. Im still thinking of what car to get. What is the cheapest car insurance plan for me?

Allan D.

Good question.

The less expensive car you have, the less amount you will be paying for your car insurance. Popular cars like Honda Civic,Ford Focus etc are some examples of less expensive cars but not really advisable for young drivers since light vehicles have the highest death rate. You might also want to consider setting up safety features on your car like side air bags, anti lock brakes etc. These features can lower and provide you discounts on your auto insurance plan.

You can also save a lot if you stay on your parent’s policy. It will increase your parent’s premium but still less expensive if you start with your own policy. Young drivers like you can also avail for discounts if you have good academic record.

Just try to get a clean record for driving. In time you will notice having good credit history and clean driving record will lower your insurance rate.

Goodluck

-MariCAR

• Shop around. You may call these insurance companies directly or you can surf the net for quotes and prices. Make sure to check for any discounts available for teenage drivers like “good student” discounts or discounts for taking driving class. Compare rices that will give you an overall lower price.
• Keep a clean driving record. Obey traffic rules and drive safely. Rates will go down substantially in years if there is no accidents and tickets. Keep your driving record clean and you’ll be okay.
• You may be listed as the secondary driver. It makes the price of the insurance less than half of what it would normally be.
• ask an expert. Talk to any of your local insurance agents. They will be able to help you paired up with one that best meets your insurance and your budget.

Goodluck!

-MariCAR

I just started college and I’m going to be buying car insurance for the first time. I’ve never done this before. How do you do it?

Miranda

It’s easy.

Lucky for you, your generation doesn’t have to deal with buying car insurance the way that your parents did. Car insurance can be bought, nowadays, in less than twenty minutes if you know what you’re doing, and in that short amount of time you can still inform yourself the most and get the best price quote. How do you do it? Easy. Do you have a computer?

• First step: open up your browser.

Once you’re online, half of the work is done. The first thing you want to do is get some rate quotes. These will tell you how much each company wants you to pay for your car insurance premium. It’s very easy and free to get these, since there are about a thousand sites out there that offer free rate quotes. You might have seen commercials from some big companies such as Progressive about giving quotes at their websites, but I would avoid this. The reason is that they don’t give you as big a selection as other sites do.

• Second step: take the quotes and run with them.

Now that you know what companies are offering you good prices, you need to find out more about these companies so that you can decide which company will give you the best deal. Don’t just go with the cheapest price. Some companies that have the best price also won’t provide you with good service or good coverage. Do a quick web search and look up information about each company. Read up and decide from there who you think is best.

• Third step: do you take coupons?

One of the ways that you can save the most on your insurance for the student driver is by getting discounts. Your starting college, so that means there are a lot that are available to you. Consider what you’re doing. Do you live on campus? Work there, too? Then you probably won’t be using a lot of mileage. There’s a discount for that. Do you get good grades, like at least a 3.0 GPA? There’s one for that, too. Also, what are you majoring in? Degrees in fields like mathematics can get you a significant discount. Sometimes the types of discounts that a car insurance company offers can be the factor that sways you towards going with them.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

My son is sixteen now and he’s going to need to get teen car insurance. How do I do this?

Amelie

Glad you asked.

Dealing with your little child growing up is hard for any parent who is used to their kid depending totally on them for all of their wants and needs. When a child comes to that age where he or she is able to drive a car, whether it belongs to them or not, a whole new avenue of freedom opens up that many parents find it difficult to deal with. Not only does your kid need you less than ever before, but you now have a whole lot more to worry about, considering that one of the leading causes of death among teenagers in the United States is a traffic accident.

When a kid does come to that age, though, one of the most important things is to make them safer and take more responsibility by purchasing car insurance for the student driver. Car insurance is required by law, even if you’re kid does not own the vehicle he or she is driving. If they’re driving your car, insurance with only your name on it will not suffice, although it does sometimes work when they get in an accident and you are making a claim. You shouldn’t take your chances, though.

Hooking your teenager up with car insurance may not make a difference in how they drive, but it will assuage your worries quite a bit concerning what happens to them on the road. If you buy car insurance for the student driver, you can be sure that if your child acts irresponsibly and damages your car due to teenage decision making, you won’t have to worry. Most importantly, you can also know that if your kid is on car insurance for the student driver then, if he or she is injured in a crash, they can get the medical care that they need.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

I’ve already added my 17 year old, Mike, to our car insurance policy, but I’m still worried that this won’t keep him safe. What do I do?

Greg

That’s a normal concern.

A lot of parents get really worried when it’s time for their teenager to get out on the road, and just purchasing car insurance for the student driver won’t make that worry go away. However, there is another way to make sure that you can feel comfortable with your child driving and making the most out of owning the car insurance policy, and that is by creating a parent-teen driving contract before purchasing a car and insurance.

Draw something up on a piece of paper and have your teenager sign it before you are willing to add your kid to your insurance or even just let them take the car around the block. It sould be understood that accidents can happen anywhere, and nobody should continue in the mindset that there’s no way that they could get into a car wreck, because even though it can be avoided in many ways, there are plenty of situations where it is chance.

Some important issues should be struck on in your parent-teen car insurance/driving contract, mainly:

• Drinking and driving. It should be part of the contract that your kid if not only unable to drink and drive, but not allowed to drive while there are drunk people in his car. Many traffic accidents happen because of the antics of drunk passengers who aren’t alert enough to understand the consequences of their actions distracting or interfering with the sober driver in some way.
• Attention. Being aware of your surroundings is especially important for new drivers, so special emphasis should be placed on this. That means no cell phones while your foot’s on the gas and no music so loud that you can’t hear the sounds of traffic.
• Obeying the law. It might seem okay to speed just once when you think there are no cops around, but there’s always one hiding. Your child keeping their driving record in good standing is important, both for you because you’re paying for his car insurance, and for him later on while he’s stll young and not making a lot of money and won’t be able to afford the higher rates for people with bad records.

When drawing up a contract like this, your teenager might not like the idea because they think they are responsible. That’s great, but if they’re responsible enough to follow these standards anyway, then it couldn’t hurt to sign off on it. It should be stressed at all times that driving is a privelege for your teenager, not a right. If they don’t want to practice safe driving behaviour, especially to the point where you can’t afford to insure them, then there is always he bicycle.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

I’m a junior in high school and have been driving my parents’ car for the last year. Now I’ve saved up enough money for a down payment on a used car. I’ll be making both car payments and insurance payments on my own policy, so obviously I want to get my car insurance as cheap as possible. What does the safety of the car have to do with how much I will be paying on my auto insurance?

Greg

You sound responsible.

It’s very refreshing to see a high school student who is taking his future into his hands as much as you are. It’s great that you’re both able to handle school while learning how to handle your own finances, because starting small with just a couple of things like car notes and car insurance will teach you a lot about budgeting and finances and you will need to draw on what you learn now in the future when your bills aren’t quite so few in number. The skills that you need to get a cheap student car with cheap driver insurance are the same ones that will help you save money for the rest of your life.

The base skill that all of this stems from is making yourself knowledgable. Whenever you make a purchase, you should know as much about it as possible. This extends to all kinds of purchases, even down to a candy bar–you should know what the nutrition facts are so that you can take care of your health. When buying a student car, it will cost you a lot to get it insured, although it being a used car will help a bit. But the one main thing that car insurance companiesare worried about is the safety of the car.

One problem with buying a used car is that, if it’s too old, it might not have all of the new safety features that many cars these days come equipped with. Things such as stability control can help you avoid bad situations and prevent accidents or lessen their effect even when you yourself are in a panic and don’t know how to react. However, if you do need to get a used car, you can still check out its ratings on the car crash tests at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website. It’s really hard for a car to be bad enough to get less than five stars, so try to get one of the cars that this site lists.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.