<p>H called our auto insurance company and informed them that S will be going to college at the end of this month. They claimed on the phone that we will save 2,000/year. I believe this part, since our premium doubled once he was licensed. We may take him take him off our policy, since he will not have a car at college this year, and he may continue to drive during holidays/summers WITHOUT our putting him back on our policy. Does this sound right? I had some red flags go up when I heard the latter part. It sounds too good to be true. This means no extra cost for the months he is home. This is contrary to what I have read on cc. Anybody have a plan like this in NJ?</p>
<p>i work for an insurance company and that doesn’t sound right to me at all… how can he drive your cars during breaks and holidays without being on your policy? it sounds like he would be driving uninsured… </p>
<p>if you’re in NJ it does make sense that your rates would go down by about 2000 if you were to take him off the policy completely because i know ins rates in NJ are about 2x the rates of everywhere else… but i do not understand how he would be insured to drive your cars during breaks and holidays if you take him completely off your policy.</p>
<p>Maybe they meant you can just add him back on during those breaks and holidays and the savings will be 2000 over the course of the year since he’s not on it all the time?</p>
<p>When S1 was in college 200+ miles away, he was off our car insurance for the academic year; he was put back on whenever he got home (Thanksgiving, Xmas, summer, etc…) My H just called the insurance agent, I believe. It saved some money, but not the whole amount!</p>
<p>Edit: S2 just got onto our car insurance. Because he took driving classes in hs, he got a reduction. Adding him on with the reduction costs $500 (not $2k).</p>
<p>fendergirl, I have some real questions about this. I think that we will need to email them, and get the answer in writing. I had the same questions that you have, but 2,000 does make sense to me b/c our auto insurance rates doubled when our S got his license. In fact, we changed companies b/c the original company that we had auto insurance with actually wanted to charge…over 6,000 for our policy (3 drivers, 2 average cars, and no accidents/moving violations in our history). In fact I believe that figure was closer to 6500. Insane… Who can afford that?</p>
<p>yeah, new jersey rates are absolutely insane so the 2,000 dollar figure doesn’t suprise me at all… but like i said it sounds as if they are removing him completely from the policy.</p>
<p>i’m in PA and we have 4 drivers (2 parents, a 23 year old, and a 17 year old), 4 cars (03 subaru, 02 oldsmobile, 02 mitsubishi, 97 honda) and i believe we pay about $3,000 (and $2,000 of that is made up of my sister and I… and we all have collision and everything on our policies). I don’t have the exact figure because my parents take care of it… but NJ rates are usually about 2x so your 6,000 quote doesn’t suprise me… although for only 2 cars that’s really steep.)</p>
<p>under our old policy with allstate you didn’t have to be on the policy to drive the car, but you had to have somebody on the policy with you in the car… so maybe your company is like that… maybe your son can drive your cars and not be on the policy but maybe you have to accompany him… </p>
<p>I would def. come up with questions for your agent because unless that is the case, which would be really really inconvenient and i don’t even know why your agent would suggest it, i don’t think he’d be insured to drive your cars unless he was on your policy…</p>
<p>i know most companies can add drivers seasonally, so they could probably just put him on when he’s home and take him off when he’s gone which would save you a ton of money based on new jersey rates, but based on what you said it sounds like they are taking him off completely…</p>
<p>Wow… I’m in TX, not NJ, but when my parents talked to our insurance company when I was leaving for college, the biggest discount the insurance company would give us was a $200 “student away from home” discount. We asked about removing me completely from the insurance and then adding me back on in the summer and they said, they may or may not let me back on each summer</p>
<p>my insurance company did the same for my parents (until i brought the car with me to college) I live in NJ</p>
<p>ec, What do you mean by “did the same for my parents”? Did they need to add you back onto the policy for each holiday/summers?</p>
<p>northeastmom,
We live in NY. Is Geico car insurance available in NJ? If so, it would be worth your while to check them out. We were very skeptical of their claims to save us money, but they were absolutely true. We literally cut our insurance bill in half when we switched to them. We have 3 drivers at this point, including a 20 year old male. No tickets for any of us. I know that the rate is lowered because he attends college more than 100 miles from home and doesn’t have the car there, but he does drive when he’s home on breaks and I’m sure that he is still listed on the insurance policy. I also do have experience having had an accident after we switched to Geico. It was with another of their policy holders (!) and was not my fault. They were quick and responsive and easy to deal with. I was shocked, frankly, always being the skeptic.</p>
<p>Okay, H clarified conversation for me. S will stay on the policy, and they will list him as an “occasional driver”. H did not say that he will save the whole thing. He is not sure yet as to what the cost may be for an occasional driver, but agent said that the savings will be approximately 2000.</p>
<p>momof3sons, Thank you. My last post just crossed with yours. I just sent a pm to you.</p>
<p>Father of one of DS’ best friend is our insurance agent. He arranged for us more or less as you described in the OP. “Student away from home” (I’m not sure of the exact designation) and acts as a “guest” driver when home for Xmas, etc. The college does need to be a certain minimum number of miles from home and (obviously) kid cannot have a car at school. In our case, DS was not home for the entire summer, so he even qualified as a guest driver during summer vacation. I don’t know how many weeks the kid can be home in order to need to be put back on the policy. I got the impression it is a judgment call. YMMV.</p>
<p>I have Geico, also - and I don’t/won’t pay a cent for DD - since she attends college more than 150 (? or 100?) miles away from home and she does not have a vehicle at school with her. She is named on the policy, and she is also covered when home for summer and vacations. (Except she’s rarely home!!!) It’s a GREAT change; Geico just changed their policy on this issue a few years ago. :)</p>
<p>I live in MA and my son is taken off the Insurance policy for the time he is at school and put back on for summers and vacation periods. The savings are significant.</p>
<p>We’re with USAA. Their away-at-school discount (he won’t be driving at school, only back home on breaks) will save us nearly $1500 a year! School, BTW, is 3000 miles away.</p>
<p>short holidays and breaks – yes; a 3 month summer vacation during which he is living at home… no. </p>
<p>It may vary from one state to another, and one policy to another, but generally there is a 30-day cutoff. If you own a car you have to include all licensed drivers in your household on the insurance, but you have coverage for occasional “permissive” use by a driver outside your household. The cut off for deciding who is a member of your “household” is generally 30 days. So if your out of town cousin comes to visit and stays in your house for a week, and you lend him your car… your insurance is still in force, because the cousin is a guest, not a member of the household.</p>
<p>Your company obviously does not consider a kid living 2000 miles away to be a member of your household any more. If the kid comes home for a 2 or 3 week break… it doesn’t hit the 30 day threshhold, and kid is treated like a guest. But if the kid comes home for the full summer… then I think you will need to put him back on the insurance. (But – read your policy, focusing on that magic word “household” – maybe you are lucky and maybe they have a different definition.)</p>
<p>But I’m in the same situation and my daughter is eager to get some sort of job or internship next summer that will keep her away from home…and given the insurance issue, I’m all for it. It doesn’t make sense for the kid to come home and get a job if it costs more in insurance than the kid is likely to earn.</p>
<p>calmom, Thank you. This helps.</p>
<p>We do the “away at school without a car” deal with GEICO. We saved about $1600 a year over Liberty Mutual’s deal. It continues as long as she is a full time student, up to age 25 I think.</p>
<p>i’m just amazed that your kids (or yourselves for your kids) are paying 1500-2000 for insurance on a car… regardless the company, that seems insanely high.</p>
<p>fendergirl - count yourself fortunate to live in PA where rates are lower. We’re in the south Florida area, have 4 cars (3 Camrys, 1 Accord), 4 drivers (2 are males, ages 20 and 17), 1 of those cars is in Gainesville so the rate is much lower for that one – and we pay $7124 per year for our car insurance with USAA. If you break it down by vehicle, the car driven by the 17 year old costs $2964 to insure (a 98 Camry).The other 3 cars average about $1385 a year. Rates here are brutal but the drivers are the worst. Many are uninsured, lots of immigrants who don’t understand the road signs or the rules of the road, etc. We can’t wait for the senior in HS to go away to college (sans car!) so our rates will drop!</p>