Adding teen drivers to car insurance

[palmbeachmom]

Allright, I know teenagers are insanely expensive to add to your car insurance, but I am hoping to get some input from all of you wonderful parents with new drivers I called today to add our newly licensed son to our auto policy with USAA and they gave me a quote that would basically add $3,100 a year to our existing policy! And that's not even adding another car! We have perfect credit with USAA, I've been a member since 1983, neither my husband or I have had any moving violations and we haven't had any sort of claim since 1999. Our son would get the good student discount and the driver's training discount. I was shocked and called Allstate for a quote and for the same coverage, adding him would only be an additional $1,400 a year. That is a huge difference. So Disboarders, can I get some input from parents of teen drivers? I do live in Florida so I know we pay much higher rates, but it seems like different companies would at least be in the same ballpark. Any opinions?

 

[clh2]

Our DD, (now 19) got her driver's license the day after she turned 16. The car insurance for DH and me was about $600 every six months. It went up to about $1200 every six months. So-it doubled. We had 3-cars, 3 drivers. DD was listed the 10 year old Merc sable. She also had a good student discount. We have Geico.

I am totally rolling my eyes at our insurance policies now. DD has a car on campus in another state. I think it is outrageous. But - we didn't feel like we had an option - and didn't want to be underinsured, or not have the proper coverage in the state where she is in school. And - she is there long term (i.e. over the summer) and that didn't help either.

If I felt like I was being "had" I would totally go and get different quotes for the same coverage.

 

[Art 1]

Allright, I know teenagers are insanely expensive to add to your car insurance, but I am hoping to get some input from all of you wonderful parents with new drivers I called today to add our newly licensed son to our auto policy with USAA and they gave me a quote that would basically add $3,100 a year to our existing policy! And that's not even adding another car! We have perfect credit with USAA, I've been a member since 1983, neither my husband or I have had any moving violations and we haven't had any sort of claim since 1999. Our son would get the good student discount and the driver's training discount. I was shocked and called Allstate for a quote and for the same coverage, adding him would only be an additional $1,400 a year. That is a huge difference. So Disboarders, can I get some input from parents of teen drivers? I do live in Florida so I know we pay much higher rates, but it seems like different companies would at least be in the same ballpark. Any opinions?

The $1400 amount seems to be about what I remember. That $3100 is out of line. Now in Ontario, my friend has to pay I think $4400 to add her son, $8000 if he gets his own car. I thought Fla. rates were high.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

I can totally relate. Older dd had a car at school in Rhode Island. GEICO issyed a separate policy for her car. Now that she graduated and came back home, her car is back on my main policy, at half the premium.

Sent from my SCH-I800 using DISBoards

 

[tajz90]

Ours went up about $1300 a year on a vehicle with just liability.

 

[laurafergie]

It was about $125ish a month extra per kid for just liability on a crappy car with State Farm. I just got the dds22 off this past year, so we're good for a few years.

Eta..when they were on campus without the car, we were able to adjust the insurance for that and I want to say it went down to the 60-75 a month range.

 

[wvjules]

Adding DD and her car added $965 to our policy. And that's for full coverage for all 3 vehicles. It doubled our premium. I have a 2011 Altima, DBF has a 2006 Acura and DD has a 2004 Saturn Vue.

 

[Southernmiss]

Adding ds doubled our premiums with Allstate. One auto full coverage 2 autos liability only. $1600 every six months.

Yippee we get to add ds #2 this year and ds#3 in 18 months. Can you say poor house??? Bye Bye Disney.

 

[emilyltd]

Same experience here. We even priced it out with different companies, but they were all the same. Our insurance payment almost doubled.

 

[zippingalong]

We're with USAA also. Our insurance tripled when we added our 16 year old DD and her car. We pay around $3600 per year...

DH is in law enforcement and has defensive driving also. I've never had a ticket since I was a teen. (So almost 20 years)

Unfortunately for us, we live in the southeast near the coast. There are so few companies that will insure our home, we have no choice. Often here, the only way you can get homeowners is to get car also.

 

[Southernmiss]

Unfortunately for us, we live in the southeast near the coast. There are so few companies that will insure our home, we have no choice. Often here, the only way you can get homeowners is to get car also.

Same here. We are 11 miles inland and scared to rock the insurance boat for fear of losing our home owner's coverage

 

[mamacatnv]

When DS started driving, our company at the time, Farmers, gave us what we considered to be a "walk away" quote of almost $5K - so we walked away and went shopping. We, like you OP had perfect history etc.

We ended up with American Family for about a year and a half at approx $1900 a year until DH turned 50, then we went to AARP and we remain with AARP to this day. Son dropped to about $1200 when we switched but by then he was almost 18 and ticket/accident free. Son is now 23, his insurance is now cheaper than his Dad's who is 55 and we remain accident/ticket free.

DD starts driving in a little over a year, here we go again

 

[msmayor]

Have you looked at the details of the increase, i.e. which parts of the policy are increasing by so much?

I have to admit, for USAA that does seem like an excessive increase for adding one teen driver without adding another car.

I have USAA and not only did I add a teen driver but a male teen under 25 and I added a car with him as the primary driver. All cars have full coverage...and I live in NJ which has notoriously high car insurance rates...and my policy increased $1200.

I insure four cars and four drivers, all with full coverage...and my total policy is about $4700/year.

 

[clutter]

Our DD, (now 19) got her driver's license the day after she turned 16. The car insurance for DH and me was about $600 every six months. It went up to about $1200 every six months. So-it doubled. We had 3-cars, 3 drivers. DD was listed the 10 year old Merc sable. She also had a good student discount. We have Geico.

I am totally rolling my eyes at our insurance policies now. DD has a car on campus in another state. I think it is outrageous. But - we didn't feel like we had an option - and didn't want to be underinsured, or not have the proper coverage in the state where she is in school. And - she is there long term (i.e. over the summer) and that didn't help either.

If I felt like I was being "had" I would totally go and get different quotes for the same coverage.

I also have Geico. When I called to add DD's permit, insurance didn't go up. BUT they told me the increase would be $1,500/ six months. (That's WITH the good student discount!) I need to follow up since she gets her license in July. I know other parents that have said it's gone up about $2,000/year. However, it really is dependent on location.

 

[wvjules]

I will never complain about my insurance cost again. Some of these are outrageous. We pay @ $2000 for 3 fully covered autos. Before we added DD it was @ $1000 for two cars. That is the annual fee. We have Erie. DBF has been with them since he got his license. He added me when we moved in together then we added DD and her car as soon as she got her license/car. She doesn't get a "good student" discount but there is a "new driver" discount on there. Go figure! lol

 

[packofjedis]

I was told $40/month to add DS to my car, $60/month for him to have his own clunker that we're covering anyone he hits but not his car, $100/month for him to have an older Taurus or something. (all approximate)

I can't even imagine the rates for a couple of his friends...one has a used Mustang and the other a $28000 used BMW!

I can see now why some of my friends are holding off on the license thing. I had my eye on the part that I wouldn't have to constantly tote him around. Guess there's a price for everything.

 

[SpecialK]

Our insurance only increased $500 per year when I added our son. He's insured on two cars.

When Geico first came out, I called for a quote and it was almost triple what I pay with State Farm.

 

[yoopermom]

For the first time in my life I have to do monthly payments on our auto insurance, and it's the SECOND highest monthly bill that I pay due to having a teen driver, $225/month (3 vehicles, all with full coverage). And that's with an insurance company that's specifically for teachers in our state, known for its low rates...

Ouch, ouch, ouch...

Terri

 

[palmbeachmom]

OP here, thanks for the replies everyone. I knew I USAA was ripping me off! I did check several different companies, and they were pretty much in line with the Allstate quote. I kept getting told it was because we live in South Florida, which has frighteningly high rates, but I guess it's the price you pay to live in paradise

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm not sure what it's going to be for adding my son. I'll be calling next week to figure it out since I'll be taking him to get his Drivers License hopefully in 2 weeks.

He won't have his own car yet - we want to have my vehicle paid off first before we increase our insurance even more by him having his own car. That will only be for 3 more months and then we'll start seeking a car for him and he would have to look for a job and hopefully get one.

I'm afraid of how much it's going to cost and my husband wants us to stay with State Farm while I'm fine with switching companies if we need to.