Learning to drive as a youngster is an incredibly exciting experience, but it is also one which can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety. Young motorists often end up focusing so much on their lessons and revising for the theory test that there are a lot of areas of motoring that are left uncovered, such as arranging adequate insurance and finance.
The importance of educating young drivers
This is problematic, as areas like this are hugely important and particularly for inexperienced drivers. This can sometimes lead to a new motorist being not entirely prepared to join the roads and this can result in nasty surprises and financial hardship if they are involved in an accident. It is for this reason why it is a good idea to have young driver education lessons given in schools where the areas of driving not covered by lessons are presented to pupils.
Talks in schools
As an example, a school could arrange for leading insurance companies to come in and teach pupils the ins and outs of insurance premiums. This should include what GAP Insurance is as this is a level of cover that a large percentage of motorists are unaware of but could save them a fortune.
GAP Insurance
GAP insurance is an optional type of policy that covers the shortfall between the insurance payout and the amount paid for the car or the amount left outstanding on a finance agreement if the car is written off. A comprehensive car insurance policy will only pay out the current market value of a car in this situation – due to depreciation, which can be as much as 70% after three years, this can be a huge amount of money and leave the motorist seriously out of pocket. Even a used car can lose as much as 2-% in six months and this is important because it is likely that a young motorist will be driving a used car and not have huge amounts of money to spare.
Providing young motorists with this information could be hugely valuable and ensure that there is a generation of well-educated drivers joining the roads in the near future. This is the side of driving that is, unfortunately, not taught and often down to the driver to discover themselves. More often than not, this will be when it is too late and can create financial difficulties for the young driver or for a parent. Learning to drive and the rules of the road are, of course, extremely important, but motorists should also be aware of finance and insurance to further protect themselves on the roads.
