Blame guys for high insurance rates

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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:16AM

Dr. Wallace: I’m 17 and will graduate from high school in June. I’m a very good student and a good citizen. I have a part-time job on Wednesday and Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. and six hours on Saturday. I work at a flower shop, and I enjoy the money and the work. My parents allow me to drive my mom’s car to and from work, and they put me on their insurance policy just in case I would happen to be in an accident.

By adding me, my parents’ premium became substantially higher. I know some teens, especially guys, are reckless drivers, but why do all teens and their parents have to pay for the few bad teen drivers? It just isn’t fair.

Erin, Orlando, Fla.

Erin: It’s unfortunate, but automobile insurance companies set their premiums by age groups and not by gender. If gender was a factor, teen girls would catch a break. It’s the guys who are the reckless drivers.

The University of Southampton in England conducted a survey to identify risky teen drivers and found that 78 percent of accident-prone drivers were male and that in 81 percent of all fatal accidents involving teen drivers, the drivers were male. Unfortunately, these crashes often result in wrecked automobiles, bodily injuries and even deaths. All of these events cost the insurance company a huge amount of money.

Write to Dr. Wallace
at rwallace@galesburg.net