<p>Anyone knows what is the best way to lower car insurance premiums when you have 2 kid drivers (between 18-21)in the policy? We have 4 cars, 3 are older than 6 years , one is brand new. What are the recommended coverages (100/300 or 250/500 for liability? how about uninsured/under-insured motorist 100/300?). We already have the deductibles at $2000; so no room for improvement there. Right now we are paying about $670/month for 4 cars!!!</p>
<p>Own fewer cars! Seriously, afaik, the kids only need to be insured on the car they actually drive. In our case, the high risk kid (male, 18) is only isured on an 11 y.o. SUV. It’s long paid for so no collision, but extra liability, etc. Having a talk with your agent and asking for competitive quotes may be a good place to start. Much depends on where you reside and the make/model/year of your vehicles. My agent freely gives us advice on which cars/trucks are affordable to insure for the kids and we buy with that in mind.</p>
<p>If your “Deep South” state is Louisiana, I’d say you’re doing pretty well already. (The last time I checked, the per-car auto insurance averaged about $3,500.) Otherwise you might consider A<em>m</em>i<em>c</em>a, which has an interesting way of assigning cars to drivers … which save our family a lot of money when our kids were 18 to 23.</p>
<p>I am not sure it will help a lot, but check to make sure you are not being insured for more mileage that you put on the car. A seldom used car does not need to be recorded as using 12,000 miles a year. </p>
<p>Do you have good student discounts for the kids? Non smoker also have a discount with some companies. If you were paying a premium because one of you had a ticket or two and that time frame has since expired, make sure your agent has removed those premiums.</p>
<p>We got S to buy his own insurance & AAA as well as pay for all his car-related costs, gas & maintenance as a condition to owning a car. He pays about $500-$1000 every 6 months for his CA policy, even tho he had one accident in which no one was harmed but a motorcycle was totalled. He got a good student discount & had his license for several years before he got his policy but he was still under 26. Not sure what happened when he told them he was moving to VA, but the company who carried his insurance has offices there as well & since I didn’t hear complaining, I am assuming rates were OK. We have the maximum coverage & also have an umbrella policy & homeowner’s with the same company, which supposedly allows us the max # of discounts. We are still asking for competing quotes.</p>
<p>Our policy is just for H & me & is $1800/yr for 3 cars, 2 of which have collision coverage. One car is 1998 Volvo sedan, one car is 2000 Toyota Van & one is 2005 Volvo sedan. H commutes & the other 2 cars are leisure. D is not on any policy as she is generally in CA, 2500 miles from our home. When the kids visit, they are covered under our policy as visiting drivers. My sister pays $1200/yr for 2 cars, covering herself & her D who is over 26. Her car is a new Lexus SUV & her D drives an older Honda van.</p>
<p>If you get ALL your policies from the same company, it can be cheaper. </p>
<p>I would have the kids get their own policies, if possible, which will generally lower your policy by A LOT.</p>
<p>Different companies also have different policies on how they handle claims–some are more forgiving of the 1st claim & don’t raise your rates sky-high, which might be a consideration if you have youthful drivers who MIGHT hit something. It is worthwhile to check around to several companies & find one that works well for you, comparing from time to time to see if rates covering you may have changed with the competition.</p>
<p>Some swear by USAA, but I’ve never used them. Have used Liberty Mutual over the past few years & they’ve been OK, but a bit confusing. Prior to that, use a local insurer that only has offices in HI.</p>
<p>We have Amica and live in Massachusetts close to Boston. S’s 2009 Kia has full coverage and maximum liability. It is registered in my name which saved us about $600 per year, but still cost us about $2800 a year. Because we have 3 cars and 3 drivers he has to be listed as the primary driver on one of the cars. When he goes to school in August I will have him removed from the policy and expect to save some money there, but man it is a killer.</p>
<p>We switched from State Farm (we had been with them for 30 years of marriage and husband’s folks had them their entire lives) to Progressive. We live in Florida. State Farm dropped our homeowners coverage ( and about 200,000 others) and we dropped them when they eliminated the discount we had for having both home and auto. We saved a ton. But I have a 19 and a 21 yo as well, and four cars. One car is new, one is a 2008, one a 2003 and one a 1999. The 21 yo has never had a ticket or an accident. The 19 yo got a speeding ticket out on a rural road during a speed trap, and then was in a minor fender bender a year later. OUCH the rate was horrible after that. But it’s better with Progressive. </p>
<p>And she knows if there is one more incident, it is either no more car or she pays for the insurance. She is getting a full ride for school, and will be a TA in the fall as well, so as long as the GPA remains where it is (3.9) and she has no more driving incidents, we will pay for the insurance.</p>
<p>We switched house and car ins to coverage through AAA and saved HUGE. Added an old car (from a fam member,) had both kids get their licenses and still came out under what we were paying before through a major name company, for one older car. (And, we are in a high insurance-cost city.) Have collision on the better car. Deductible is $500, I think. Once the kids started college, the company listed them as primarily living away, which reduced it further, first for kid 1, then for kid 2. </p>
<p>When we knew we needed to add the kids, quotes from our prior and from other big names were roughly double what we now pay. We now also get a discount for paying 2x/year, (these are 6 month policies and we “pay in full” at the beginning of each new renewal period.) Likewise, the house portion dropped almost 25% for identical coverage to what we had before. </p>
<p>We might be helped by the fact that we own two cars, so each is “assigned” to an adult- and our kids are girls. But, bottom line, you have to ask many questions- maybe google some cost-savings tips. Good luck.</p>
<p>tuitionsaver, it’s not a matter of changing your coverage as it is changing your company. Shop around and get quotes at different places. You’ll be amazed what you find.</p>
<p>I have full coverage on my car and I pay 570 per year.</p>
<p>Check USAA if you are eligible.</p>
<p>We saved the big bucks by not giving kids cars, and holding off on having them get licenses until senior year of high school (although starting them driving on permit younger.) Actually, due to being abroad so much, DD didn’t get license until 21, DS at 17. During the high school years we only paid for 7 months of insurance for son. </p>
<p>Our insurer, Geico, allowed us to cover kids for FREE during the four years of college as long as they were enrolled in college at least 150 miles from home without a vehicle. So we paid nothing for them even though they had full coverage over the summer at home, holidays, etc. - and yes, they were actually “named” on our policy. </p>
<p>Spring semester of DS’s senior year of college, we gave him a 2001 camry, bought DH a new vehicle, and subsidized son’s car insurance so he could do an internship. He is taking over his own insurance payments as of next week, when the policy renews, and moving to his own policy. </p>
<p>The reason I bring this up, is because it is a REALLY great strategy to save money for college expenses. Yes, I know that some kids must have a car in high school and college, but for many kids, it is not a necessity. We were able to pay for both kids college with NO PARENT LOANS and without any college savings to draw from, and part of this I attribute to not having given the kids cars. </p>
<p>If we had bought the kids cars when they reached age 16 - that would have been minimum $5000 per kid per car, plus $2000 minimum maintenance/gas/repairs etc. per year. plus minimum $1500 per year car insurance - TIMES 6 years (2 years high school plus 4 years college.) times 2 kids = at least $52,000. Well, instead of $52,000 or more (and a lot more, looking at the figures above!), we paid less than $2000. I know it does not work for every family, but it sure worked for us, and neither kid felt deprived. They got where they needed to go, have spotless driving records and one now has a usable, functional, reliable and bland 10-year-old vehicle to his name.</p>
<p><em>steps off soap box and turns quickly to leave</em>** ;)</p>
<p>I’m with you, anxiousmom. Both of my sons did not have cars in HS & we also had free coverage through GEICO while they are/were undergrads without cars. Now, S1 is a grad student in a major city & turned down our offer of one of our older cars because he didn’t need it & didn’t want the expense. S2 will be graduating soon & staying in the major city where’s he’s going to school & doesn’t need or want a car at this point. Depending on where your kid goes to college, a car is not always necessary or desirable.</p>
<p>I know it’s VERY expensive (paying for 3 drivers/3 cars and adding another soon), but isn’t it fraud if you name a kid as the primary driver of a car he doesn’t primarily drive? I’m all for saving money when ever possible, but I wouldn’t be willing to scam the system to do it.</p>
<p>anxiousmom/shellfell, it does depend on where you live. I have a career and my kids would have missed out on so much without cars of their own. It’s definitely been a sacrifice, but I feel better with DS1 away at school knowing he has his own transportation and doesn’t have to leech off the other kids.</p>
<p>Do you have to have full coverage on all cars? We dropped collision and comprehensive for our truck as soon as it turned 6 years old. Most “accidents” caused by young drivers, thank goodness, fall into the category of minor things like smashed bumpers and dents, and with a $2000 deductible you will not get anything from your insurance for these repairs (it costs about $1500 to replace a typical bumper on an older car). See how much you can save by not having collision/comp. and do some math.</p>
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<p>Anxiousmom and I are on the same page. It’s not that I didn’t want my kids to drive because of insurance costs–but neither got their license in high school and then went away to college thousands of miles away where they didn’t have a car. It just worked out to costing us nothing for extra insurance costs. </p>
<p>Older D now has her own job, owns her own car and pays for her own insurance. With luck, when it comes to younger D’s turn, it’ll work out the same way. We’ll see…</p>
<p>My advice is to keep a clunker so that the youngest and inexperience driver get assigned to one junk car. It lowers the insurance rate significantly. And it does not matter which car the youngest driver drives as long as he/she is assigned to a junk car.</p>
<p>allthis, most insurance companies actually recommend putting the kid on the oldest car to lower the costs because they know how crazy it gets with them put on the newest one. Sister owns a honda civic and the rep flat out told them to assign my dad to that car as a back up and put list her on my parents back up car. Both cars wind up with a similar amount of miles on them every year because she barely ever drives her car and they barely ever drive their back up but it cost about 1000 per year less in premiums. They can all drive each others it’s just how the rates are determined.</p>
<p>I’m always amazed by the car giving and stuff on here. My sister and I each bought our own car at 16 and I think we both paid about $4,000 for them. Neither of us had collision on our cars but I think we paid about 75/mo on insurance for each of us. Never once did our parents contribute a dime towards gar or repairs. Isn’t that all part of being a car owner??</p>
<p>No collision on older vehicles.
Possible to have college kids listed as away at school. (so infrequent driver)
Vehicles = “Pleasure” or “Commuter” (if commuter how far on a daily basis)
Some companies give discounts if you can show high school kids have made honor roll, taken driver’s ed, and the like.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the helpful advice. We’ll probably drop comprehensive in the oldest cars. Our S paid for his car, we are just covering his insurance. We bought car for D, she will be a senior in college (she is going to school with a full ride, so we felt a car was well-deserved). However, the insurance premiums are pretty stiff. We have shopped around and actually what we are paying is comparable to what most people pay here. Sigh… One day they will not be young drivers anymore and will cover their own insurance!</p>
<p>One thing that works for some is NOT having a car but having the young person use SMARTcars when needed, rented on or near campus by the hour or day. That’s what my nephew does & it is cheaper than him owning a car & having insurance. Worth investigating how that would work for your situation.</p>