<p>Interesting. I’ve been with 21st Century for 21 years. When S, now 22, got his permit at 15 1/2, the policy was that it was not necessary to have the child on the policy until he got his license. So a few years later, when my D was nearing 16, I got one of those notices as you describe. I called 21st and explained that D just had her permit, not her license, so she didn’t need insurance yet. 21st replied that, no, we would need to pay the insurance or exempt the child. I asked her to check with a supervisor, because that had not been the case with our son a few years before. So she checked, and came back to say they had changed their policy, and now existing customers would have to pay insurance for the teen driver with a permit, but they were changing the policy back to the old policy for new customers only. (!?!) So my response was: “I see, so you are telling me that it would be best for me to become a new customer…with a different company…no problem, I can do that.” She told me to hold while she talked to her supervisor again, and lo and behold, she came back to the phone and told me that yes, they would make an exception for me, that D would be covered for free until she got her license. Which is exactly what happened.</p>
<p>Fast forward to now: D is away at school w/o car, we exempt her, and 21st issues a waiver, meaning they will cover her for free for 30 days when she’s home, up to 4 times a year. Last summer she was only home for 6 weeks, so we drove her around for two weeks before asking for the 30-day waiver. This summer we’ll end up adding her to insurance, but we’ll exempt her again in the fall.</p>
<p>S now lives with his girlfriend, not with us, but we still have him on our insurance, since that saves him $. The gf does not have a license, but does have a permit. 21st asked for the permit # of the gf, they have her listed on the policy, but not rated, and they do not charge for her. When she gets the license, then she will have to be rated.</p>
<p>So, what I’d do would be to get some quotes from other insurance agencies, and if they beat 21st then go with them. But first I’d call 21st and tell them that you will change to X company unless 21st matches the deal, including the policy re not insuring the non driver. But really, if your kid isn’t driving anywhere , then it’s no big deal to sign the requested paper. It simply asks that you acknowledge that your teen isn’t covered.</p>