Have a teen driving? How much did your insurance rate increase?

[KentuckyDoulaMama]

Just wondering how much your vehicle insurance rates went up when you added a teen driver to the policy?

I'm afraid to call and find out, just wondering about others experiences.

[PajamaMama]

I do not have a teen driver, but if you are afraid to call and find out, you can get quotes on the internet from different insurance carriers. No human interaction required!

My dd is only 11 and is already on my case about taking good care of 'her' Honda...we told her if it's still around when she gets her license we're going to give it to her, it's already paid for and we've got 5 more years to drive it before we give it up, but they are very reliable cars! Unless something tragic happens to it I have no doubt it will still be around in 5 years.

We've already explained to her what we pay for car insurance, how she will be expected to contribute to the costs of maintaining and insuring 'her' car in exchange for the privilege of driving it, etc.

What a milestone!~

[aisraeltax]

im curious too. my son will be 16 next week. i havent even allowed him to take drivers ed yet though, so im still a few months away but he is obsessing about it right now.

[smillerhouse]

how much insurance went up

This is very timely for me. I was shocked last week when I went to insurance agency and it would be 3000 dollars increase without good student dsicount. Of course my son does have a Mustang.
I was quoted one price over the phone and then it was a lot more becasue I homeschool and did not realize all the doucmentation I needed to get him the good student discount.
State Farm has a Safe Driver program-it saves hundreds a year. You document trips,supervised and unsupervised. Also,there is a huge discount for good student. For homeschooled that means top 20 per cent on a standerdized test. I just got the CAT from Seton Hall Homestudy service for 25 dollars.
I paid for 3 months (it was 700 dollars!!!!) and the goal is have for the safe driving course and the test results -this will save a thousand a year.
It will cost 2000 for 16 year old driver (male driving a red Mustang It does help al ot to have him driving-lots and lots-he drives himself to activites,he is helping me with grocery errands. He gets bored easily and needs lots of stimulation so he can run his car up to get vacummed,etc. Sallie

[LDSmomma6]

Our's went up $50 a month and that's with all the discounts...good grades, no accidents (yet!), etc... We put him on the cheapest car we had (93 or 94 Honda), and it from $19 to $69. I told him if he gets in accident or his grades drop, he was paying me the difference.

JMHO...don't allow your high school teen to get his/her own car. Some think it's fine, and that's ok. I just know from past experience (oldest child of 8 children), that if the parents own the car, and pay for the insurance, it's easier to take driving priviledges away when your teen's grades drop, or he has a smart mouth (aka disrespectful), or he's late on his curfew. See how many times he does any of that after he gets the car taken a away a time or two for the whole weekend or not being able to drive to school & has to take the bus!

[PajamaMama]

Talking to a friend last night with two teenagers, she said it went up by $200 a month for the teenage son and only $75 a month for the teenage daughter. The son was 16 when he was added, the daughter is 18 and was just added recently. (The daughter was not interested in doing the requirements to get a license until recently while the son was raring to go.)

Both kids drive their own cars, by the way, so they have 4 cars on their policy now. This is in Florida, and I'm sure that the son gets a good student discount and that the daughter does not.

[talk de jour]

Originally Posted by LDSmomma6

JMHO...don't allow your high school teen to get his/her own car. Some think it's fine, and that's ok. I just know from past experience (oldest child of 8 children), that if the parents own the car, and pay for the insurance, it's easier to take driving priviledges away when your teen's grades drop, or he has a smart mouth (aka disrespectful), or he's late on his curfew. See how many times he does any of that after he gets the car taken a away a time or two for the whole weekend or not being able to drive to school & has to take the bus!

A minor cannot own anything on his or her own.

If they buy a car on their own, a parent must be listed on the title. You have the right to take away a car from a minor regardless of who pays for it.

[jeanieloz]

har, my son has to have a job before I will let him get his license, he will be paying for the difference in insurance, and his gas.
We have at least 300 different places he could work at all within a 2 mile walking distance! We live a mile from the mall! Yes he will walk or ride his bike to and from work, if he really wants to drive, he will have to earn it!
Donna

[NiBeKa]

I have twin 17 yo DSs. Our insurance has increased by $300 per month. They each pay $100 and I cover the extra $50. Each has his own very used car, 98 Ford pu and 87 BMW. Each pays his own gas. I do give them the gas coupons I get. DH thinks they should pay the full amount of insurance but I want them to be able to put some $$ in a savings account for college. In CT a child is covered in all the cars in the family not just the one they primarily drive. We also increased in great amounts an umbrella policy.
I must say I was not prepared for the first worry filled summer with a driver's liscense.:

[LDSmomma6]

Originally Posted by talk de jour

A minor cannot own anything on his or her own.

If they buy a car on their own, a parent must be listed on the title. You have the right to take away a car from a minor regardless of who pays for it.

True, but also at the same time, if the teen is paying for it, and paying for his own insurance, then it's really more like his car, right? At least that's the way I see it. My DH was allowed to "buy" his own car (his parents did co-sign), but because he was paying for it all, his parents felt like they couldn't take it away.

At least with my parents, they paid for it all (we did help with gas), so it was easier to take the car "away". I feel the same way.

But to each their own...

I'm about to take driving away from my son! His room has been a mess for weeks, and his Nike shoes are stinking up his room! I called him at lunch and told him this weekend I was starting to clean it up, and he better be in there with me, or everything was trashed!! :

[talk de jour]

Originally Posted by LDSmomma6

True, but also at the same time, if the teen is paying for it, and paying for his own insurance, then it's really more like his car, right? At least that's the way I see it. My DH was allowed to "buy" his own car (his parents did co-sign), but because he was paying for it all, his parents felt like they couldn't take it away.

At least with my parents, they paid for it all (we did help with gas), so it was easier to take the car "away". I feel the same way.

Eh, I don't know. Would you let your kid wear a bikini out to the mall or something, if they paid for it? It's one of those things.

[Bestbirths]

I still can't believe our car insurance bill. it went from $72 a month to $191 a month just from adding our teenage son as a driver on our minivan. We homeschool, and don't have all of the good student test taking and all that done. yikes.

[JuJuBazooka]

Originally Posted by LDSmomma6

that if the parents own the car, and pay for the insurance, it's easier to take driving priviledges away when your teen's grades drop, or he has a smart mouth (aka disrespectful), or he's late on his curfew. See how many times he does any of that after he gets the car taken a away a time or two for the whole weekend or not being able to drive to school & has to take the bus!

So true. Cars are very important to teens.

[JuJuBazooka]

My teen has excellent grades, is female, and has a clean record. She has a mid '90's vehicle and the insurance on it is about $60 a month.

I really think it depends a lot on where you live as well as if you have a boy or a girl.

[greenwest]

Probably also depends on where you live.

[doctorjen]

Our insurance went up $400 every 6 mos ($67 a months) when our ds started driving. It would have been cheaper if we could have listed him as a secondary driver, but our insurance required us to list him as the primary driver on one car because we own 3 cars and had 3 drivers. This was for liability only on a 1998 Saturn SL with 190,000 miles on it.