Owning a BMW as a teenager

[justinca540i]

Hi everyone on Bimmer forums!,
I decided to make this poll to see if insuarance should be any higher for guys who own BMWs compared to girls who own them.
Also feel free to add what BMW was your first and when and if you had any others since.

My BMW was a 2000 BMW 540i at 16, no tickets or major accidents yet. What is your story?

[montaillou]

I don't understand the poll question. How can you put so much effort in your signature but not enough effort in forming a question?

Insurance companies don't set their rates because they don't like you, it's based on statistics. If young males didn't wrap bmw's around telephone poles 10x more often than young women, their rates would be more in line.

I'm driving my first bmw.

[KevRC4130]

Insurance premiums aren't just arbitrary numbers, they're based on statistics of what actually happens (or rather, what is reported). It's not a case of charging guys more because they're probably more dangerous.

And BMW is actually a good example of the differences of teenage guys/girls. Very generally speaking, when a high school guy drives a bimmer, it's because he wants a car that is fast, high performance, something to show off, something to get pussy. All of the above, when combined with a silly teenage brain, results in doing stupid things behind the wheel. When a girl drives a BMW, she gets it because it is "cute" - which does not result in reckless driving. Again, this is all VERY generally speaking.

[pizzaman09]

I have my first BMW (e39 M5), I don't know what you definition of a teen is but I bought it last year when I was 22. I have not gotten a ticket in it.

Very recently I was pulled over in my Oldsmobile for careless driving. I have not not yet received the ticket but it should be coming in the mail. The entire experience has kind of ruined all desire to drive anything but the speed limit and to take corners with respect. The cop very much made an impression on me and I will be doing all future spirited driving on tracks. I have finally come to realization that driving hard on public roads it quite dumb.

[e39hamann]

I've been driving my e39 since junior year of HS and still haven't gotten a ticket (almost 23 now). I've had 4 minor accidents. The first was when someone backed into me in a parking garage, then second when I was rear ended at a red light, the other happened when my car slid in my neighborhood during a snow storm and hit a curb and the last was in September when I hit a deer.

[E39Chris525i]

I was 18 when I got my first BMW, an 87 528e. Got pulled over many times in it for ghey stuff as tinted windows and having black outs up front (yeah, back in 1996 I thought it was cool). Had that car since late 2012 lol. In between I had a 92 535i (few speeding tickets in it), 92 525i (no tickets), 99 528i sport (no tickets), 01 525i sport (1 speeding), 03 325x1 (no tickets), 01 M5 (pulled over many times for muffler deletes in NY state, though no tickets) and finally my current x1 (got pulled over for no front NY plate right before I moved to Miami though no ticket).

[BimmerBreaker]

I had a BMW when I was a teenager. Got a ticket (only one), no accidents though

I have my first BMW (e39 M5), I don't know what you definition of a teen is but I bought it last year when I was 22. I have not gotten a ticket in it.

I think the technical definition of teenager is someone aged thirteen to age nineteen though with how most people act nowadays it may as well be 13 to 30...

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

As per above, insurance companies look at statistical data, analyse it and look at trends and then use more algorithms based on many other factors to determine insurance rates for anyone who's legally allowed to drive. Part of this entire demographic are teenagers and those teenagers legally allowed to drive are 17,18 and 19 years old (I believe 17 is also the minimum age to drive in the USA like it is here in the UK? although I guess in some states its 16 as posted by justinca540i)

I'm a very frequent visitor to the USA, and I find the 'standard of driving' noticeably lower in the areas of the USA I've driven most often in - this being in major city areas, NYC, LA, Las Vegas, Detroit, Cincinnati. That said, even though I know it's the 'driver' that's insured in the USA, it still gets me that a 16/17 year old can get behind the wheel of a 286 HP car relatively easily. I also see posts on this and other USA forums where parents will say they're going to gift their son/daughter their older 530i or 330i, 540i and 735i etc etc - all relatively powerful cars. Over here, it's the 'car' that's insured and thus, the vast majority of people first driving in the UK simply cannot afford the premiums charged to run a 231 or 286 or sometimes more HP car. Obviously, some do pay the massive costs, one enthusiast I know has a E36 M3 GT2 at 19 and I vaguely recall him paying around £4000 a year for insurance - that's around $6400 USD, he also had a E39 530d and that for his daily commute, and that was a further £2300 - about $3600 a year. To me and many other's that was an insane amount to be paying, but credit to him, he had just started a well placed engineering career and doesn't waste money by drinking away every fri/sat night. In short, insurance costs are prohibitive to the vast majority of kids here so that's why you'll see little 1.1, 1.2, 1.4 litre super mini type cars being the first choice. Now that I've been over to the USA so many times, and spoken with my many relatives, friends and ex work colleagues there, I know the differences in road culture/driving there. It still disturbs me about how many kids can and do run around in powerful cars as their first though!

On the flip side, I had one road trip in the USA back in 2005 or so. NYC to Cincinnati to Detroit to Toronto Canada, back to Detroit and then back to NYC all in the space of around 10/11 days. I had 6 police stops in all those legs, 5 actual tickets and four of those were for 'speeding' and one was driving too close to the moron in front supping on his giant soda can and yapping on his mobile/cell phone ! One of the stops I was let off as the female police officer loved the fact I was from near London where she was planning to visit for her next vacation! A lot of my family members and friends out there are proud of their 'no tickets' or 'one/two tickets' in 10-15 years of driving and are astonished I racked up 6 police stops in 10 days or so!

To any youngsters driving BMW's in their teenage years and especially some of the more powerful models, please - just be as careful as you can

Cheers, Dennis!

[tock172]

I wrecked two e46 330is before I turned 22. One when I was 19 and another at 21. I never had a ticket in either one. I did however get a ticket in my '86 535i when I was 18 and another in my B6 S4 when I was a bit older.

[cky751]

I didn't own a bimmer in my teens. But I did in my early 20's. As far as I am concerned you will get tickets.

[justinca540i]

Yeah I guess your right on it being from statistics but they should do something like if you drive well and not wrap it around a pole than you get cheaper rates and if you wrap it around you get higher rates. But it seems like teens these days are driving cars with V8s and lots of power.

[BimmerBreaker]

Yeah I guess your right on it being from statistics but they should do something like if you drive well and not wrap it around a pole than you get cheaper rates and if you wrap it around you get higher rates. But it seems like teens these days are driving cars with V8s and lots of power.

You do get cheaper rates if you dont have an accident over a period of time. But when your a teenager, that period of time is too short to validate that you are a safe driver and you are still not completely developed mentally and you will still be more inclined to take stupid risks than an adult would be.

I'm not sure how much you actually know about insurance because it does get cheaper the longer you dont have an accident and it gets more expensive when you do have an accident. Safer, slower and cheaper cars are cheaper to insurance because if they are safe you are less likely to get hurt, if they are slow you are less likely to hurt yourself and if they are cheap they are cheaper to repair too. That is how insurance works. But when your a teenager your rates will be higher because you are inherently a higher risk. Talk to your insurance co if you want to lower your rates, sometimes if you take a defensive driving class it will help out.

[extra]

I'm driving my first car - and am 16. It's a 2000 540i/6. Bmw's are sporty/performance cars and if an inexperienced teen doesn't know how to properly handle such a vehicle and drive it responsibly, he puts himself at risk of having a collision and/or getting a ticket. I know the principles of car maneuvering and have taken a driving/car handling school; the tire rack street survival school put on in part by the bmw cca. At the school, they provided a parent packet to the parents of the student drivers, and it had a section about car selection for a teenage driver. It talked about how front wheel drive and all wheel drive cars are easier to control for an unexperienced driver. They also said to chose automatic over manual transmission. It said to stay away from rear wheel drive and manual transmissions, since rear wheel drive cars are a little bit harder to control in slippery conditions, and that manual transmissions can be a distraction. It also said that V8's should be out of the question (which doesn't necessarily make sense, since the v8 in my 540 probably has less power with 180k miles than my mom's lexus with a v6, and some of the new sportier cars with turbo fours like the ford focus st.). However, it did say that once the driver has experience, a manual transmission can be useful in learning car control.


An M5 or even a 540 at that, is, of course, going to be more of a handful to drive than a camry in certain situations. However, you can still get in a collision or get a ticket in a camry. It really boils down to the person; how responsible they are and whether or not they know how to properly handle a car.

As far as insurance goes, just look at the statistics. Male teenage drivers are greater risks than female teenage drivers. As far as the car goes, it all boils down to which model, year, potential discounts, etc.. You have to talk to the insurance company about that.