The Auto Channel
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
Official Website of the New Car Buyer

What to Do When Your Teenager Asks: 'Can I Borrow the Car?'

CHEVY CHASE, Md., and WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 -- What is one of the scariest questions your young teen driver can ask? At the top of the list is, "Can I borrow the car?" GEICO has invited high school parent groups, PTAs, and civic groups in Montgomery County and Washington, D.C. for a video premier of "Can I Borrow the Car?" to prepare parents when that question comes up. The video premier takes place Wednesday, Oct. 16, 6 p.m. at GEICO's regional office, 5260 Western Ave., Washington D.C. (on Western Avenue, one block west of Wisconsin Ave.) A discussion and question-and-answer session will follow the video.

The video offers specific rules that parents need to establish for students just learning to drive and makes the case for parents to take charge of their teen's early driving habits. GEICO's purpose in premiering the new video is to help reduce fatal teen accidents.

Parents need to be aware that:

more than one-third of all teenage deaths of 16 to 18 year-olds are due to auto accidents

"When you look at the statistics like we do," said GEICO Chairman and CEO Tony Nicely, "we knew we had to do something to help parents become better informed and give them some real information to help keep their children safe."

GEICO is offering the video, brochures and other related safe teen driving materials free to high school organizations and civic and community groups that will get the message to parents of young teen drivers. The video was originally developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) as teen crash statistics painted a grim picture of teen driving behaviors.

More than 150 representatives of local, county and district parent organizations in Montgomery County and Washington, D.C. have been invited to attend the GEICO premier of "Can I Borrow the Car?" GEICO's Executive Vice President Bill Roberts and Susan Ferguson, vice president of research at IIHS, will address the guests that evening.

Interested parents are welcome to attend the Oct. 16 video premier at GEICO and they can contact Christine Tasher, public relations director, at 301-986-2266 for more information on the premier.

To learn how to obtain GEICO's free teen safe driving materials, go to the GEICO Web site, http://www.geico.com and open the link to the Information Center.

GEICO is the fifth largest auto insurer in the country and uses television, radio, print media and direct mail to attract customers to call its 1-800-841-3000 number. GEICO offers sales and claim services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is the largest direct marketer of auto insurance. It insures more than 4.8 million policyholders. For more information, readers can go to http://www.geico.com .