Paying for a Vehicle
Should you buy a used or new vehicle? What's the difference between leasing and owning? Explore the process of paying for transportation, including financing options.
Paying for a Vehicle
Your students likely hope to buy a car. This module will help them explore whether they should get a new or used vehicle. They will also learn the difference between leasing and buying a vehicle, and consider the benefits and tradeoffs of various options.
Supplemental Resource Links
Purchasing an Automobile
In this lesson, students research and select an automobile for themselves or a fictional character. (To access these resources, you will need to register for a free account and verify that you are an educator.)
Convertible or Clunker: Automobile Purchases
Students examine how much they can afford to spend on a vehicle, what to expect with maintenance and insurance, and whether financing options such as loans and leases are appropriate to their situations. (To access these resources, you will need to register for a free account and verify that you are an educator.)
Earning Credit
Students are assigned an auto loan interest rate based on credit scores received from a series of activities. They calculate the real cost of buying a car and compare the total costs for individuals with high and low credit scores. (To access these resources, you will need to register for a free account.)
Buying and Owning a Car
At this site, students can learn about buying, leasing, renting, and maintaining vehicles. Use the video in the "Are Car Ads Taking You for a Ride?" section to launch a class discussion.
Car Smart App
Are your students planning to get a car soon? This app walks them through the car buying process in a fun and engaging way.
Renting or Buying a Home
Help you students know when it makes sense to buy a home. They will explore the benefits and tradeoffs of renting and homeownership.
Supplemental Resource Links
My Housing Plan
This six-part online course helps students analyze housing expenses and opportunity costs, decide whether to rent or own, and prepare their finances before living on their own.
Crash Pad: Homeownership and Renting
With this curriculum, students weigh the benefits and tradeoffs of buying or renting a home. They consider a variety of scenarios and justify decisions or offer better options. (To access these resources, you will need to register for a free account.)
Is It Better to Rent or Buy?
Deciding to buy a home is often the biggest financial decision most people will make. By adjusting the variables on this calculator, your students will learn factors to consider when deciding to rent or buy.
Buy vs. Rent
This infographic provides rules of thumb for buying and renting and explores a decision between an $800 rent or a $1,000 mortgage payment.
Understanding Insurance
Students will explore the reasons people buy insurance and factors that influence the cost of various types of insurance.
Insurance, Risk, and Costs
After discussing why people buy insurance, students estimate the cost of auto insurance given nine different factors. In groups, they research what influences the cost of other types of insurance. Students discuss whether they think insurance is worth the price and ways to reduce their future insurance costs.
Supplemental Resource Links
InsureU
Your students can explore information by insurance type, life event, or life stage. A special section on teen drivers includes additional educator and parent resources.
Insurance
Four lessons explore risk and how insurance works. One of them focuses on what students should do if they are ever involved in an auto accident and need to file an insurance claim. (To access additional educator resources, you will need to register for a free account and verify that you are an educator.)
Insurance
This complete unit plan includes lessons, activities, projects, and a case study on insurance including auto, health, and renters insurance. (To access these resources, you will need to register for a free account and verify that you are an educator.)
Choosing an Insurance Plan
How do you select an insurance plan? Compare and contrast plans and examine personal insurance needs to better understand the options available to students.
Choosing an Insurance Plan
Your students will explore factors to consider when selecting an insurance plan and ways to reduce costs including staying on a parents’ plan.
Insurance: A Family Conversation
This guide will help parents discuss their family’s insurance plans with their teens. Parents will also find tips on reducing teen driver insurance costs and links to insurance information.
Supplemental Resource Links
Insurance Comparison Activities and Project
Students complete activities to compare auto and health insurance policies. In the “What Insurance Should I Buy?” project, students select insurance and then face scenarios where their choices have consequences. (To access these resources, you will need to register for a free account and verify that you are an educator.)
Selecting Insurance
In this lesson, students use the jigsaw method to research different types of insurance and share information with their group. Students also decide if they would purchase insurance for a cellphone and defend their decision. (To access additional educator resources, you will need to register for a free account and verify that you are an educator.)
Can You Afford Not to Have Health Insurance?
Students can explore this infographic to learn the average costs of common health procedures and consider if health insurance is worth the cost.
Life Happens
Students can calculate how much life insurance they might need and learn why life insurance is important for people in different situations.
Understanding Your Consumer Rights
How do you stand up for your rights? Discuss the concept of consumer protection with your students and have them collaborate to create their own definition.
Understanding Your Consumer Rights
Your students will learn about making informed decisions and the importance of being an informed consumer, who carefully examines the source of information.
Protect Your Rights
After discussing what consumer protection might mean, students search for definitions online and then collaborate to create one using their own words. Students then work in small groups to research a consumer protection agency and prepare a series of social media posts on behalf of the agency.
Supplemental Resource Links
Consumer Rights Resources
LifeSmarts offers a competition for students to show what they know about consumer issues along with resources for teachers to instruct students on consumer-related issues.
Consumer.gov
Introduce your students to the U.S. government's one-stop-shop for consumer financial issues with information on what to look out for, how to prevent fraud, and which government agency to contact if you have a problem.
Consumer Products Laws & Agencies
After completing this lesson, students will have a better understanding of consumer rights and responsibilities, consumer protection laws, and agencies that enforce consumer rights.
State Consumer Protection Offices
Use this site to locate the consumer protection agencies in your state. They often have additional resources, and some may offer classroom presentations and materials.
Fraud of the Month
Your students can find articles on the latest scams facing consumers. Most include links to additional information.