We understand the stress you must be going through insuring a teen driver and we feel your pain. Insurance rates are based on how likely you are statistically to get into a crash. First-time drivers (16-19 yo) are four times higher to crash than older drivers.
Parents can save money on insurance rates for their teenage daredevils by:
- Adding your teen to your existing policy. An unpopular but sometimes needed evil, just make sure to have all your assets in an LLC! It’s usually cheaper to add a teenager to the parents’ policy, and you really need to notify the car insurance company anyway, if they are living in your household.
- Introduce your teen to accounting. Show them the auto insurance bill and help them to understand how much extra it would cost if they got tickets or into an accident. Few types are as cheap as budget conscious as students.
- Draw some boundaries. Make some guidelines (no drinking anywhere, speeding, etc.) and if they violate those, confiscate the keys.
- Tame the Beast. If you are tailgating, *saluting,* hot dogging, and expressing your inner road rage, don't expect your teen to be any different. Teens learn what they see, not what you tell them. Get a squeeze ball, snort lavender, count to 10, etc.
- Don't drink in front of your kids. They identify with your actions and no parent wants to extol the virtues of alcohol.
- Cut and run. If your teen has made some driving mistakes (accidents and/or tickets), You may need to get them on their own high risk policy, so every driver in the household doesn't have to pay more.
- Ride with your teenager. Your teen was safe when they got their license, now they are the reincarnation of Dale Earnhart. Three or more tickets and you could get your family policy cancelled or non-renewed (unless you specifically exclude your teen from your policy).
- Find out if the carrier offers student discounts. You could even pay your teenager however much you save. Most insurers offer a discount, some as high as 25%, for students who maintain a B average or higher.
- Get your teen more driver experience. A formal driver education or training course could get you as much as a 10% discount. Just call your car insurance company to find out which schools are covered. Don't confuse this with supervised driving, which most States now require.
- Drive a low loss (insurance friendly) car. Expensive (Cadillac Escalade) or high performance (Chevy Corvette) cars are often stolen and the savings is passed onto the insured. You may be the only one smiling if you buy your teen a Pacer, but it will be a smile nonetheless.
- Research crash ratings. These change from year to year. Never assume your car is still safe. Side impact airbags and automatic seat belts are standard on some cars, optional on many. Newer models might actually be safer (although more expensive to repair).
- Vary your coverage amounts. Go with a carrier that allows you to vary coverage among vehicles. If you put your teen in an older car, you'll be able to drop comprehensive and collision and just get liability. Also you will be restricting your new teen driver to very few miles per year, so they can learn to appreciate their driving privilege.
- Shop competing carriers. Comparison shop. Some carriers will accept responsibly driving teens at much lower rates than others.
- Vary your deductibles. While you comparison shop, take the same plans and play around with deductibles, to see which one affect the premium the greatest.
- Use common sense. Don't let your teen drive at night, especially on weekends. A DUI conviction on your teen drivers record will cost you a small fortune (if they aren't cancelled). And you'll pay through the nose for the next 3-5 years.
- Get your teenager hitched. Our least favorite way to get a discount and such a tender young age. But if a shotgun wedding were to occur (accidents happen!), be comforted in knowing that married drivers pay less than single drivers.
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