By Robert Abbott
How to Teach Your Teen to Drive: The Plan Nobody Hands You
Every guide says start in a parking lot and log your hours. That advice is correct, and it's exactly where most families go wrong.
Articles for parents
Teaching a teen to drive, from the passenger seat. Practical, specific, and written by a parent who has done it four times.
By Robert Abbott
Is a Teen Defensive Driving Course Worth It?
One Saturday on a skid pad won't make your kid a safe driver. It might make them a humbler one. Here's what these courses actually do, what they cost, and the insurance question nobody wants to answer straight.
By Robert Abbott
When Your Teen Doesn't Want to Drive
Some parents are holding the keys back. Others can't get their kid to pick them up. Here's how to tell what's going on, and how to help without pushing too hard.
By Robert Abbott
Should Your Teen Wait to Get Their License?
Sometimes “not yet” is the right answer. Waiting only helps if you spend the time driving, and waiting too long has a catch most parents don't know about.
By Robert Abbott
Are You Still Driving From the Passenger Seat?
The goal of the permit year is to make yourself unnecessary. Most of us never get around to firing ourselves.
By Robert Abbott
What a Crash Actually Costs: The Bill That Keeps Coming for Years
The repair is the smallest part. An at-fault crash can raise the premium by about half, for three to five years, on a policy that was already expensive.
By Robert Abbott
Who Pays? Teaching Your Teen What Driving Actually Costs
A car looks free from the driver's seat. Showing a teenager the real bill, and handing them a piece of it, changes how they think about the keys.
By Robert Abbott
Driving-Tracking Insurance for Teens: When It Helps and When It Backfires
An app that watches how your teen drives can cut the premium. It can also raise it, and it grades the driver you have, not the one you're building.
By Robert Abbott
Liability Limits: The Number on Your Policy That Matters Most Once Your Teen Drives
State minimums were set to make insurance affordable, not to cover a serious crash. With a new driver in the house, the gap is your problem.
By Robert Abbott
Add Them to Your Policy, or Get Them Their Own?
A separate policy looks like a way to protect your rates. It almost always costs more, and it doesn't protect you the way you'd hope.
By Robert Abbott
Their First Ticket: What It Costs, What It Changes, and What to Do Next
A ticket during the first year can raise the insurance bill, extend license restrictions and, handled right, teach more than a lecture ever could.
By Robert Abbott
The First Fender Bender: What Your Teen Should Do, and What You Should Say
Most teens will have a minor crash. The call you get afterward, and how you handle it, shapes whether they call you next time.
By Robert Abbott
Staying Involved After the License, Without Hovering
Teens whose parents set clear rules and stay supportive crash about half as often. The trick is being involved in a way they'll actually accept.
By Robert Abbott
The First Car: What to Look For, What It Really Costs, and Where to Buy It
Teens are the riskiest drivers on the road, and they tend to end up in the least protective cars. You can fix most of that before you ever talk price.
By Robert Abbott
Following Distance: Teaching the Space Nobody Thinks About
Space is the cheapest safety feature in the car. New drivers give it away constantly, because nobody taught them how to measure it.
By Robert Abbott
Highway Merging: The On-Ramp Is a Runway, Not a Stop Sign
The most common merging mistake is being too slow, not too fast. Here's how to practice it in stages, starting with the quietest ramp you can find.
By Robert Abbott
Left Turns: The Most Judgment-Heavy Thing Your Teen Will Do All Day
An unprotected left turn asks a new driver to judge speed, distance and gaps all at once. It's learnable, but only with a lot of reps.
By Robert Abbott
Skids, Blowouts and Brake Failure: Teaching the Emergencies Before They Happen
Every instinct in a driving emergency is wrong. The only fix is to replace the instinct before the emergency, not during it.
By Robert Abbott
The Parent-Teen Driving Agreement: Decide the Rules Before Anyone Has the Keys
Most family driving arguments start with an assumption nobody said out loud. Write the rules down while everyone is still calm.
By Robert Abbott
How to Choose a Driver’s Ed Course: Online, In Person, or Both
The certificate is the same either way. What you want to know is whether the course will fit your kid, your schedule and your state's rules.
By Robert Abbott
Is Driver’s Ed Enough? What It Does Well, and the Part That’s Still Yours
Driver's ed is one of the best tools you have. It's also a few dozen hours in a process that needs hundreds of decisions on real roads.
By Robert Abbott
The First Drive: What to Do in the Parking Lot on Day One
The first drive sets the tone for the whole permit year. Keep it short, keep it empty, and keep it boring.
By Robert Abbott
Feedback Without a Fight: How to Coach Your Teen Without Wrecking the Car Ride
The car is a terrible place to have an argument and a great place to learn. The difference is mostly when you say things, and how.
By Robert Abbott
Two Rules With No Exceptions: Seat Belts and the Safe Ride Home
Half of the teen drivers killed in 2024 weren't buckled. One rule fixes that. The other makes sure they call you instead of driving.
By Robert Abbott
Speed: Teaching the Number That Isn’t on the Sign
Speeding shows up in a third of fatal crashes involving teen drivers. The fix isn't a lecture about limits. It's teaching speed for conditions.
By Robert Abbott
Phones and Distraction: The Rule Is Bigger Than “Don’t Text”
A new driver doesn't have attention to spare. The rule isn't about texting. It's about the phone getting none of it.
By Robert Abbott
The Friend in the Passenger Seat
One friend raises a new driver's risk. Three can quadruple it. An adult in the car cuts it sharply.
By Robert Abbott
The First Six Months Alone: A Handoff Plan, Not a Finish Line
The license is when the risk peaks, not when it ends. Here's how to hand over the keys in pieces.
By Robert Abbott
Night Driving: The Practice Most Families Get Two Hours Of
Practice it on purpose before the license. Limit it on purpose after. Most families do neither.
By Robert Abbott
Road Test Day: What the Test Proves, What It Doesn’t, and What to Do That Afternoon
Twenty minutes with an examiner ends the permit year. The most important drive of the day is the one after it.
By Robert Abbott
Ready Isn’t a Feeling: How to Know Your Teen Is Ready to Drive Alone
The state decides when they’re eligible. Whether they’re ready is your call, and you’re not exactly neutral.
By Robert Abbott
The Most Dangerous Thing Your Kid Will Ever Do Is Get a Driver's License
Four kids in, here's what I got wrong the first time — and what the research says almost everybody gets wrong.
By Robert Abbott
What a Teen Driver Actually Costs — and Why Doing It Right Doesn't Lower the Bill
We did the work. I expected the insurance company to notice. Then I got to ask the people who actually set the prices.
By Robert Abbott
The 50-Hour Myth: Why the Number in Your Log Is the Wrong Number
Your state wants hours. The research says the hours aren't what's doing the work.
By Robert Abbott
The Six Environments Every Teen Needs Before They Drive Alone
A thirty-second test, and the two your family is almost certainly skipping.
By Robert Abbott
The Permit Year, Month by Month
Most families run the year backwards. Here's the order the skills actually build in.
By Robert Abbott
Rain, Snow and Ice on Purpose
Almost every state counts your teenager's night hours. Two count rain.