Insuring Your Car When Your Teen Driver Delivers Pizza
All parents are tasked with the responsibility of teaching and instilling positive behavior in their teenaged children: to ensure that they make responsible choices, treat others with respect, and learn the value of earning money through good, hard work. Often times, a teenager’s “rite of passage” to the world of work includes looking for a part-time job, such as bagging groceries or delivering pizza.
A job delivering pizza may not seem like a risky endeavor, but you may want to pay attention to its other implications: the increased amount of driving time, which may result in increased chances of auto accidents. If this situation applies to you and your teen driver, here are some ways to determine if your auto insurance policy offers the proper protection:
• Make the appropriate adjustments. When your teen uses your car for business-related activites, you must ensure that you have a commercial insurance policy to be properly insured. Personal auto insurance policies exclude a specific “pizza delivery” clause, mostly due to high risk (the majority of pizza delivery drivers are teens or young adults, a typically ‘high-risk’ group for auto-related accidents). Ask your teen to find out whether his/her employer’s commercial insurance covers your car on the job. If not, you must work this out with your personal insurance provider.
• Weigh your options. After talking with your personal insurance provide, you may realize that adjusting your insurance policy for your teen’s part-time delivery job may not be ideal for you, financially. After all, extra risks equal higher auto insurance rates, and you definitely do not want to be left holding a hefty bill for accident repairs—or worse—medical expenses. Make sure to talk to your teen about his/her decision to take on a delivery job, and whether this decision may be the best after all factors are carefully deliberated. Be honest about whether taking a delivery job may end up more costly than profitable.
• Be informed. Even with a commercial insurance policy in place, you may still need to compensate for any accident-related damages if it exceed the policy limits. You should also review your state’s liability laws to see if you will still be held responsible for your teen’s
