As teens we remember the excitement of receiving our driver’s license. We no longer had to ask parents or older siblings for a ride anywhere. Now the tables have turned and it is your daughter or your son experiencing their own independence with a driver’s license. Before handing off a set of car keys make sure you and your teen driver sit down to discuss two important things – good driving habits and car insurance.
Adding your teen driver to your auto insurance policy will increase your rates. Your teen driver’s lack of experience as well as the possibility of speeding can result in accidents and/or tickets. Therefore, many insurance companies see teenagers as a higher risk. You may think I can save money by not insuring your teen as there is no way my insurance company will know who is in the household. Insurance companies will look for individuals over the age of 14 living in a household that have a license. Insurance companies require individuals over the age of 14 be insured or excluded from being covered under your policy. If you do not abide by this requirement insurance companies can automatically add them to your policy without your permission.
Managing How Much Your Insurance Will Increase When Adding your Teen Driver
There are ways to manage how much your auto insurance will increase. Purchasing an inexpensive and safe vehicle for your teen driver is a way to lower your auto insurance. You can lower your auto insurance as well by verifying your current insurance discounts, choosing the type of coverage and of course encouraging your teen driver to follow all traffic laws are a few ways. A vehicle of lesser value or several safety features will be less expensive to insure. A helpful website is iihs.org it is has researched vehicles with the most losses or accidents and top safety picks for vehicles. You can use this webpage as a great tool for purchasing a vehicle.
Furthermore, you can check with your insurance agent if you qualify for teen driver discounts. For example, insurance companies such as Progressive will offer a 10% good student discount for those who maintain A’s or are away at college. Progressive offers 10% discount for their Snapshot Safe Drivers program that monitors an insured’s driving behavior. Check with your insurance agent for available discounts. In addition to these discounts your insurance company may also offer multi-car, married, prior coverage, and homeowner’s discount.
Choosing The Right Coverage for Your Teen Driver
You can also save money on auto insurance by choosing liability coverage over full coverage on your vehicle. Liability coverage is the lowest, state minimum required for a vehicle to be insured. Liability coverage pays only for the other driver’s vehicle and medical bills, leaving your teen driver unprotected. Full coverage is more expensive than liability coverage. At least with full coverage your teen driver is protected in case of an accident or other collision. A benefit of purchasing full coverage is that it protects and repairs your vehicle when the other driver does not have insurance coverage.
And as always, you as the parent can encourage your teen driver to follow traffic laws and practice safe driving. Your teen driver can be safe on the road by simply staying off their cell phones and lowering the radio. You can regularly drive with them to ensure they practice safe driving. Monitoring their driving habits will help keep their driving record clean of accidents or tickets.
Contact us on how much you can save or if you want more information on types of coverage for your teen driver.