Insuring Your Teen Driver

Teenage years are a trying time in a child’s life, but they can be just as challenging for the parents of a teenager. What often goes overlooked during the teenage years is these are the times that your child is going to start to drive.

Teenagers want to be independent while still being totally dependent on their parents. This basically means they are going to want to drive your car, and perhaps their own car, while still being under your auto insurance policy. It is no secret that insuring a teenage driver is costing more and more money these days, but you really can’t neglect to insure your teenager. How do you go about insuring your teen driver?

Your Policy, Not Theirs

When your teenager finally starts to drive it is a better option to list them on your car insurance policy rather than taking out one of their own. Adding your teenager to your existing policy is usually cheaper than taking a new policy. This is applicable when you are going to be letting your teenager drive your car around from time to time. If you buy your teenager their own car, then you are going to want to take out a separate insurance policy on that car. Technically anyone driving your car with permission is insured by your company, it is still a wise idea to add your teenage driver to your policy.

Teenage Expenses

Why does teenage car insurance scare the living crap out of most parents? Because it is expensive! Teenagers are viewed as irresponsible drivers, just check out the following facts:

• The majority of teen drivers use cell phones while driving.
• Almost 70% of teen drivers say that they speed or speed up when approaching a yellow light.
• Teen drivers account for almost 13% of all fatal accidents.
• 16 year olds have the highest rate of auto accidents than any other age, and are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than any other age of driver.

Divorced Parents

What if you are divorced, whose policy does your child go on? Usually the child goes on the policy of whichever parent has custody, or the most custody. These issues can usually be worked out by divorced parents. If both parents have policies with the same company it is possible that the teenager will be covered by both of these policies.

However you decide to insure your teenager make sure you educate them on car safety, because they are a driving risk. If they get into one accident your insurance rates are going to skyrocket. It is very possible to get lower insurance rates on your teen driver if they receive good grades in high school. Just remember, insurance rates drop when one turns 25, good luck if you are still insuring your child by then!

Additional Resources:

• Insuring Your Teen Driver
  
• Teen Driving Stats