Reader question:

I’ve been driving a couple of years now under the radar, even though I don’t have my license. I have experience and know how to drive, and I’m about to turn eighteen, so I’ll be able to get my license without having to take a driver’s ed course. Is it a good decision to avoid the course if it isn’t mandatory if I want to get good rates on car insurance?

Mandy

Nope.

I can’t really knock you, because I did the same thing. I was driving at fifteen but I didn’t get my license until I was eighteen. That was a bad choice I made, though, not only because I opened myself up to more accidents from lack of knowledge and possible loss of license in the future for driving without one then. I never got caught, but I was lucky, and I’m happy to be able to discourage others from doing the same. One of the most valuable things about your driver’s ed course, besides teaching you useful information that you will need out on the road, is that it will save you money by qualifying you for safe driver car insurance.

Did you know that, if you take a driver’s education class, they cost about two hundred dollars? You probably did. The cost is one of the main reasons that people avoid them. Did you also know that having that on your list of qualifications will save you that entire amount, if not more, in your first year of having auto insurance? That should change your mind a bit about taking a course.

Car insurance companies are very big on the idea of safety and responsibility. That’s why people can get discounts on car insurance for just being a mathmetician, because studies show that these people are more likely than not to pay more attention to their surroundings and thus more able to avoid crashes. If you’re not so lucky as to be a mathmetician or studying to be one, then you have to take extra measures to make yourself be seen as a responsible driver, and there’s more to those measures than just keeping your driving record clean. Taking a driver’s ed course not only helps you, but it saves you a lot of money over time.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.