I need the help of smart people right now

My youngest took/stole one of my cars at 2:30 this morning and wrapped it around a tree. He is 15 and just has a learners permit. He wasn’t seriously hurt. Got two tickets, one for driving alone with the learners permit, the other for failure to stay in his lane.

How do I proceed with my insurance company? I want to do anything possible to not have my rates jacked up. From what I read on-line, I need to make sure the boy is also charged with taking the car. Since he only has a learners permit, it doesn’t look like he is actually on the policy, but the car is covered since it is assumed an adult is riding with him.

How do I approach insurance with this?

Please don't charge him. Its bad, but that would be worse.

Dang Danny, I am no help with the question but I hope it turns out ok for you-
That’s a tough situation-

It’s not his first time taking the car. The more I protect him at this point, the worse I’m making it. I’m trying to minimize the damage with my insurance. It might sound harsh, but it’s time to let the system play itself with this one.

Depends on the value of the vehicle

Well, that certainly changes things. Payers for wisdom.

call your agent and tell them what happened and ask what they recommend.

and yes, time for tough love.

hope it goes well for ya.

Might be worth a consultation with a lawyer as son as possible. Know your options.

I’m sorry to hear all this and I’m glad he is not seriously injured. I don’t have any advice for you on the insurance issue.

Yes. This could have been far worse, he needs to know and understand that. At this point he may think he is invincible. We all have thought that to some degree at some time in our youth as well. But he needs to somehow know this was his second and last chance. But each personality is different, it will be all up to you.

If you continue to let him go un punished in some way he will always think you’ll cover for him . Is there a reason he’s doing this , is he really trying to test you or get your attention ? It’s time you really get to the bottom of why he did this . Find out the real reason and you can solve the problem and this maybe no choice except by letting him face the consequences.

So, what does having him charged with taking the car involve? May be a learning experience for him. At the least, no driving until he's 18 and can buy his own car.

Man, that’s a tough one
I’d be putting “The Club” or similar device on all steering wheels

I may know someone who at 15yo got a speeding ticket at 4:30 in the last 5 yards of a non marked school zone while driving their moms car without permission

Paying for the fines from lawn money and working at McDonalds taught this person a lesson

But, the cars had “The Club” on the steering wheels after that—which was the real deterrent

Well, the barn door was open and the horse got out. ^ ^ ^ ^ T H I S ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
You _can_ remove people in your household from the policy, although it might be too late for that.
Buy a gun safe and lock up all of your guns and vehicle keys whenever you do not have direct control of them.
Driving is a privilege, not a right.
Son just lost that privilege.

He's probably bored and needs a constructive outlet.

Or he is a [censored] and needs an [censored] whipping and a night in jail.

Your a dip [censored]

Honesty is a solid policy.

tough love is hard, especially when it involves kids. after 30 years of auto claims, i will say your agent will have very little pull with the claim. sure he'll take the claim, go over policy and procedure but the adjuster/claim handler will be making the decisions. then the claim handler may or may not flag it to send to underwriting for evaluation for cancellation or increased rates. all in all, that police report is gonna be asked for or you can try a story, but chances are, with a story, the tickets he got will show up sooner or later, most likely along with a cancellation notice

p.s. with those tickets, the kid will still, most likely, not be driving till he's 18

but then again, i could be wrong about all of this, an attorney might be a good idea

I am not planning on making up a story at all. My plan at this point is to call my agent in the morning and tell him what happened. From what I am reading online, it seems that I need to have the boy charged with taking the car on top of the tickets he was given. From what I read, that can help me some how. I don’t know what I’m doing. I just know tomorrow I will be calling the State Farm man and get ready to pucker up.

This never happen to me. I have a close friend that has teen boys, this was years ago. Basically the same thing happen. Only the boy spent many weeks in intensive care.
They charged the boy that 16 with theft,, failure to yield,,, unsafe speed for conditions, no adult driver, I cant remember all the particulars.
I do know, His father Insurance was never the same. And the boy to this day doesn't drive.

I have no advice,but thank God he wasn't hurt very bad. And hope it all works out for you and your family.

It should be "You're". Got some anger today?

The difference may be wether it is determined to be your fault (driven with permission)or not your fault (driven without) My daughter was hit by a car that swerved into her to avoid an accident his insurance only paid 80% and hers ((State Farm) by the way, paid 20% they called it a not in fault accident and her premiums did not increase. Another feature of State Farm is they have a no cancellation rider for folks over 50 that have had insurance for some period of time. That is if you don’t commit fraud. If you are not 50 you certainly look like you are.

Is this similar to what you found on the Internet?

as in police report, yes, i'm talking about the call to the po-po that the car was "taken without permission"

i do wonder, (if your made of money and/or, if the car is paid off of course) if canceling the coverage to the car immediately before a claim is made, paying the owner of the tree for damages if restitution is needed and have your son pay you for the car value would work. that's just a thought of course to save you of any insurance issues. i guess it all boils down to, if the ins co pays out on a collision claim, it usually includes increased rates, but not all ins co's are the same and your son will still have to deal with the license issue

as far as insurance is concerned, tell the truth, that's all water under the bridge.
I would be more concerned about why my youngest is taking joy rides in middle of the night..and what I plan to do
to prevent this from happening again.

Having your rates raised is the least of your problems, having your 15 yr. old stealing your car in the middle of the night is huge. I would concentrate on fixing that problem first to prevent another accident or worse a loss of life. He is definitely in need of help. Prayers for you and your son.

I won’t get into the weeds on that, and am doing, and have been doing the best I can with this particular child.. The nature of my question was more insurance related than asking for parenting advice, but I appreciate your concern.

I don’t have a copy of the police report yet, but they know the car was taken without permission. I asked the officer why they didn’t take him to Juvenile Detention, which is what I wanted to happen and he told me they could but they wouldn’t take him since he was in an accident and had some minor injuries. I didn’t know the car was missing until the officer knocked on my door.

I will weigh the options of higher rates and the value of the car once I know more details.

To add insult to injury, my oldest son just bought a new car that has not yet been delivered. We kept him on our policy because it was going to be a lot cheaper. Now, it may not be. My other son is also in this same boat as he just upgraded his vehicle as well.

the other son/s, it's not a bad deal to have on your policy, it helps their rate amounts and you with multi car discounts till he/they get tickets or at fault collisions, at that point your agent should recommend splitting him/them off to his/their own policy/s to save yours but that is something to discuss with your agent. your joyride son will probably never be on your policy at this point

this accident, you should have received a report number from the police then. that's all your ins co will need, they can/will get a copy of the report or may ask you to go get a copy for them if you chose to file this claim

Thanks for the insight. I appreciate it.

I'm sorry you're going through this, Danny. I wish I had more advice to offer, other than what has, but I do not....Prayers for your family and I wish you the best...I'd definitely be shopping around.

it's a tough scenario, i hope the best for you and yours

Man. I’m thankful I never got caught. My folks would have killed me. Seriously. I used to take their truck and boat when I was 14-15.

As for the insurance questions. I have a son that drives like Stevie Wonder. He’s on his 3rd car in 6 years. Totaled the first two. This third car hasn’t been tore up bad enough to total, but it’s close. Ha. I feel for ya. I had State Farn for 35 years. House, boat, cars, etc. even used them for car loans. They cut ties with me like I was a tumor on my sons second at fault accident. I’ve been paying $900+ a month now for three cars and a boat with Allstate. I even have to pay an additional $150 a month to cover my daughter while she has a learners permit.

Yes it sucks. Yes it’s part of being a parent. I’m honestly just glad there hasn’t been significant injuries and that I can afford to pay premiums.

I dream of the day my kids are financially independent. Boy oh boy. I’ll have my ends meeting for sure! Ha

My daughter is in the insurance biz and my other daughter had something similar happen with her son who is on the autism spectrum and while he had his learners permit. Your insurance agent will advise you to not exclude him from your policy. You will need this protection in case it happens again because you can be sued since he is a minor. The insurance will pay for the defense. She says insurance costs are the least of your worries.

And it will happen again unless you hide the keys, disarm the battery at night, turn on alarms so you know if he leaves the house. Lots of ways to prevent but nothing is foolproof.

I wouldn’t do anything to hurt my kids record. Bite the bullet on this one. I would also give him a verbal thrashing that he won’t want to ever see again. Let him know you don’t play. He ain’t scared or he would have never done it to start with. That’s my parenting style. Gave my kid everything that he earned. But he knew one thing, don’t piss of dad. As long as he did what I expected of him, life was good for him.

Damn, hope they turn out ok

Take the damn keys away guys. Lock 'em up.

I hope they get their degrees and a job. Lol. I feel a parent has succeeded if they raise their children to post graduation with the gift of a debt free start on life. That’s my goal. It sure is expensive for me though.

My 18 year old did something like this in nature, not exactly but still. She’s 18 and I gave her a choice. She decided to move out and I haven’t spoken to her since May. I think about it a lot but also know tough love might work. Just hope it does in this case.

Good luck

You have your ways but I would absolutely not have that child on my insurance. Hell no im paying for that and the mistakes he/she has made. Time to grow up! You gonna learn today......

I had to take my son off my policy. I had to go in person and sign a few things. FYI... the damage was done. The price remained the same. Was dropped at renewal. All the history followed me to the next provider. Was several years before the $$ went down.

Most of us get that one kid. At some point you do have to let them pay the piper. It's tough, real tough. If you're lucky, and blessed they'll come around. Dumb A$$ doesn't leave them till their about 25....late bloomers 30.

Good luck

Tough situation all around. Sorry to hear about this. Hopefully it'll be a wake up call for your son and some good can come of it some how.

I guess that is what I don’t understand. He has done this in the past, hide the keys. He could have killed an innocent person.

Kids are smart and will find away
Keys can be copied/duplicated
Agree with hiding the keys, but a physical barrier like “The Club” is very effective

He's young and he needs tough love, but at his age filing charges for theft of the vehicle would probably do more harm than good.
Locking the car and taking away the keys will probably not work too well and could lead him to taking someone elses car.
You don't need advise from this forum as much as you need to have counseling for him, or you both need to have a sit down draw the line type of talk and hoping it's not too late.
Him wrecking the car should have opened his eyes. Just my 2 cents.

At 16 my son got a speeding ticket for doing 105 in a 55. At his court hearing we forced him to surrender his license. He had to wait until his 18th birthday to get one on his own as an adult. He is now 35 and has never gotten another ticket since he got his license. Actions have consequences.

yeah, i didn't say mud's son was un-insurable, i did say he probably won't be on mud's policy. as in license issues his son will deal with, it's up to what the state and dps says now, dps can postpone him getting his license and the state may make him go on a high risk policy (sr-22). mud or the state can choose to pursue charges or not, and yes, mud needs to protect his own policy. as stated above, tickets, accidents, and cancellations will follow you around in the insurance world

Best of luck Mud.

I can't offer anything as for the insurance, but do be honest with them when making the claim.

Did he give you his side of the story? Personally, I'd give him an arse whupping as long as that story was and a new pair of walking shoes.

Sorry for your dilemma.

I would say do not do anything that puts your child, and decisions that affect him in the hands of law enforcement. The do not, and will not, care or have what is good for him as a consideration. Even if it makes the situation easier for you. Do not do this.

You do not have to provide him a car or insurance and can keep this from happening, but do not get LEO involved.

A claim is a claim is a claim if single vehicle. The pole probably did not jump out in front of him.

My sons truck was totaled last year by his "friend". Single vehicle accident into a very solid h-brace. No stolen vehicle report filed.

Insurance still payed and insurance still went up.

So far, State Farm has been pretty good to work with, the underwriters could still throw a monkey wrench in the deal, but since the boy had a learners permit but now has no car, they are telling me that he will bare the brundt of the pain, once he gets his real license but at this point it probably won’t be until 18. If he didn’t have the learners permit, then I would be in a much more difficult situation. We will see how things shake out in about a week or two.

Wow. Glad he is ok

you should have a blanket made from that picture for him.... a constant reminder.

Then wrap all his **** in the blanket and send him packing.

True. My insurance rates didn't go up until my son got his license. They assume a licensed adult will be in the car when they have a learners permit.

Did he ever give a reason why he took the car?

Dammit boy ! Some of us learn things the hard way ... looks like that’s the way it’s going to go . Hang in there mud !