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Car insurance giant backs curfew pledge
US premiums giant American Family Insurance has taken a novel approach to enforcing curfew car insurance policies - with a pledge.
In the States, the majority of graduated young driver car insurance involves installing a tracker device to monitor the policy-holder's movements.
By contrast AmFam has opted for a simple written document, signed by the driver and witnessed by their parents.
In it the new driver promises to wear a seatbelt at all times, to forbid drugs or alcohol in the vehicle, to limit the number of friends they carry and to observe their nightly curfew.
Additionally in the event of a speeding ticket, crash or any other run-in with the law, they agree to give up the car, pay any fines and, as a further deterrent, surrender their iPod and mobile phone if either were in use at the time.
The pledge has become the basis for fierce academic rivalry, fuelled by AmFam's promise of a $15,000 cheque for whichever school signs up the most pupils.
Perhaps counter-productively, AmFam is also offering individual prizes of iPads and Flip video recorders for any teenager who completes the document online.
Whether the pledge will be judged as a victory for the AmFam marketing department, or as a realistic alternative to black box-based curfew car insurance, remains to be seen.
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