<p>My son is eligible to get his license and has been for months. I’ve been putting it off cuz I know that will mean an increase in insurance. Just called the agent and got some figures.</p>
<p>Right now, he’d be an occasional driver and the premium would increase $255/6 months. If we were to get a third car, the agent says he’d have to be listed as a primary driver on one of the vehicles. If we picked the oldest vehicle, that would be $419/month and then, of course, the cost of insuring a third vehicle on top of that.</p>
<p>Just wondering whether this sounds about right to y’all based on experience? Is there a way to reduce these premiums? I hate dealing with insurance and so don’t understand it as fully as I should.</p>
<p>Your occasional driver premium sounds pretty good to me. When S1 started driving they quoted $1700 extra per year to be parttime on my 99 minivan. We found an old (1990) Isuzu Amigo for $600 and only insured for liability and minimum required. So with that car he was fulltime and insurance was an added $1100 per year for him.
Fast forward to renewal and the bill dropped to $360 per year extra for him! I was thinking - this has got to be wrong, but yeah! it wasn’t. Third year driving and it’s still right around there even though he was involved in a minor accident that we finally proved was the other person’s fault.
This was with Wawanesa. They’ve been great for us but people have said that if you ever are in an accident that is your fault they are prone to dropping you. Haven’t seen that. Hopefully won’t.</p>
<p>You might check and see if there is a good student discount. We are with GEICO and they give a discount for good students provided that you supply the HS transcript.
Also, you are always better off, obviously to list the child as an parttime and not primary driver.
Premiums are going to vary by car and location so it is hard to ask online to compare if those are good rates.
Our DD has a 2002 mustang and she pays about what you mentioned 225/6 months. She is listed as parttime driver and car is registered to us.</p>
<p>^I’m with AllState and I get a good student discount as well. It saves my parents about $300 every six months. And my older sister gets one as well.</p>
<p>I think girls get better rates. If I recall correctly 16yo D was around $1,500 for liability only. Rates declined by more than half after two years of no accidents no tickets.</p>
<p>I called a friend who also has a 16yo son. Their insurance carrier did not make their son become a primary driver on their third car. However, they had insured the car months before he turned 16 (it was an old car her parents had that they knew he would be driving eventually). That might be the difference.</p>
<p>3 cars = 3 primary drivers in my experience, they figure there’s opportunity, regardless of parental rules. Going > 150 miles away from home for college helps (even a little less than the magic number), they figure student will be too far to use the car much. Good student discounts do make a difference.</p>
<p>We have Geico and don’t pay a cent for both kids (now 19 and 22). They attend a college just over 150 miles from home and don’t have a vehicle with them. They are covered for free including over holidays, and summer break. Dd delayed getting license until in college; DS got his license summer before senior year - so I only had to pay the additional premiums for one year. DD is now graduated but will be studying in foreign country, so the deal continues…</p>
<p>I agree with anxiousmom.
According to our insurer (now Geico) we do not have to add our sons to our policy. They can drive our cars, as can any licensed driver, and are automatically insured since both cars are insured.
Other friends have added their kids to their policies. Not sure why.</p>
<p>We have Liberty Mutual and they automatically assign a driver to each vehicle, no matter what. Like if you have 3 cars and 3 drivers, then each person is assigned as a primary driver to one of the vehicles. When our S got his license the rate went up a LOT. However, one D moved oos for college w/o a car, so her premium share went down almost enough to cover the increase for him, but not quite. How do you get away with not listing the kid on the policy? What are the liability repercussions of that if the kid causes a wreck?</p>
<p>We also get a discount for good grades, another for drivers ed, and a third for multiple policies as we have our homeowners and some other stuff with Liberty Mutual. They are very easy to deal with and don’t drop you if there is an accident. Plus, if you go accident free for 5 years, and then there is one, they don’t raise your premiums and you sort of get that one “free”. Voice of experience speaking.</p>
<p>Not only do companies automatically assign each person to a car, they assign the highest “risk” person to the most expensive to cover car, even if that is not the car they drive.</p>
Actually my kids are listed on my policy! Their names and ours are on the “proof of insurance” paper that we keep in the glove compartment of the car, so they are definitely insured. But they meet the criteria of being more than 150 miles from home at a college w/o a vehicle, so we aren’t charged for them - and they are covered all year round. :)</p>
It saves my parents about $300 every six months. And my older sister gets one as well.</p>