<p>I have a friend who had her son get his own insurance policy because she was told it was better then if he was on the family policy. If he was in an accident it would just affect his rate, not the family’s policy rates. I thought that made sense but it was so much cheaper for us to have us add our kids that we didn’t do it. My point is that perhaps, dreemz, you should investigate how much it would cost to get your own insurance and also think about saving up for a car. Perhaps if your mother sees how important it is to you she will let you start driving a bit. </p>
<p>It’s not as if you don’t have any driving experience after your driving last summer and passing the road test. From what I understand that’s more then what kids have to do to obtain a license in some states.</p>
<p>Wow, so, to distill this, your mother is violating laws and is in violation of her insurance terms by having teen drivers that she doesn’t insure. You feel that since she’s breaking the law, it’s okay for you to break the law by driving uninsured, too, and you’re unhappy that she won’t let you. </p>
<p>You should be on the insurance. Your brother should be on the insurance. And until that’s true, neither one of you should be driving. End of story.</p>
<p>I think it’s much better for most to learn to drive when they don’t really ‘need’ to drive. HS is a good time for this. They can get their license and start out with simple trips to school and back or to their friend’s house a few miles away. They can ramp up when they get a bit more experience. I think learning at the time you really need to drive can sometimes be less safe since you might need to drive in heavier traffic or hectic freeways with little experience behind you. I don’t think forcing the kid to wait until they’re 18 is necessarily doing them any favors.</p>
<p>To the OP, don’t drive if you don’t have insurance. Just because your mother apparently condones illegal driving doesn’t mean that you should. If you were in an accident where you were at fault it wouldn’t be fair to the person whose property or person you hit. Remember that accidents aren’t always with other cars. Sometime they’re with pedestrians like kids or some kid on a bike and sometimes it’s other property damage like taking out someone’s bushes and lawn. If you were caught it would cost you and you’d lose your license.</p>
<p>I see that the OP’s real problem here is that her mother doesn’t want her to grow up. She’s being very overprotective, probably thinking she’s doing what’s best for her daughter, but in the long run it is not helping her to become a competent adult. She let her get a lisence but won’t let her drive (and won’t get the insurance needed to let her drive) and discourages her from getting a job. If the OP has no money, she can’t get insurance or a car, can’t go anywhere… she’s still “in the nest” where mom wants her.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you can convince your mom to trust you and let you grow up a little bit. Have you done anything in the past to make her think you can’t be trusted? (drinking, sex, etc)</p>
<p>You are approaching 18, and soon you’ll be at college. Assuming you’re living at school you’ll be free to make some decisions on your own. Find a part-time job so you’ll have some money and can do some things on your own. </p>
<p>Eventually you’ll graduate, get a job, and be able to pay for your own life and your mom won’t be able to stop you. I know that’s a long way off right now, and probably doesn’t make you feel much better. I understand your being frustrated having to ask your friends for a ride everywhere you need to go, but flat-out rebelling (ie sneaking out with the car) would probably be the worst thing you could do, so don’t go that way. Just keep trying to reason with your mom and know that in a few years you’ll be on your own.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m missing something. Auto insurance for teens is EXPENSIVE. Maybe that is why the mom doesn’t want her teen drivers to drive the family car. At the same time, this OP is a boarding school student and (from reading other posts) is an ED accept to Dartmouth. Sounds like an intelligent young person. So…this mom may be making some financial decisions regarding insurance AND her car. That is HER decision. For the record…I didn’t get my drivers license until I was almost 22 years old. My family could not afford to have me drive the only car they had. When I was old enough (over 21), I asked a friend to teach me to drive…and he said yes. When I graduated from college, I bought my own car and my own insurance. I never berated my mother for making a financial decision that really would have made a difference in HER financial picture.</p>
<p>AND we have four drivers on our insurance (DS, DD and the parents). If we took DS and DD off of our insurance and got rid of the OLD cars they drive, it would save us $3500 per year…yep…they are the major cost of our auto insurance. DH and I are not expensive at all.</p>
<p>^^ And maybe present to your mother the downsides of not having insurance including a possible loss of most of her bank account if there’s an accident. Also maybe present the downside I mentioned earlier of the danger in you not getting more practical driving experience now when you can drive more locally rather than when you’ll eventually be forced to drive in more dangerous conditions with little experience.</p>