Auto Insurance - for a teen driver.

[dis-happy]

If he is driving a car owned by you, it doesn't matter that he has his own policy.

You'd be much better off to get a million dollar umbrella policy added (doesn't even cost all that much). I'm surprised your agent didn't mention it.

Then, just put your son on your current policy.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

That makes more sense. Some coverages allow for you to specify a specific vehicle and restrict them to just that vehicle.

Thats how it is in NC. It's pretty popular around here to have a clunker added to the policy and assign the teen to it. My husband has an old Chevy truck that doesn't run...we are probably going to put it on our insurance and add our DD 16 on it. And this came at the advice of our Farm Bureau insurance agent!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Thats how it is in NC. It's pretty popular around here to have a clunker added to the policy and assign the teen to it. My husband has an old Chevy truck that doesn't run...we are probably going to put it on our insurance and add our DD 16 on it. And this came at the advice of our Farm Bureau insurance agent!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. That is what we did.

We had a Bonneville that just had liability, paid off and it pretty much sat in the driveway. Now she is 18, her car is paid off, and her rates went down so we sold the Bonneville a few weeks ago.

DH was sad to see it go. We had that car for 10yrs.

 

[tinatark]

We just added our 16 year old to our policy- not sure how insurers issue policy in minor's names alone (not being legally old enough to enter a contract until 18)... but for his 2004 Toyota Solara, 4 cyl, it's $680/ 6 mos. for full coverage, $250 deductible. Farm Bureau doesn't discount for grades, driver's ed, etc. - they issue the lowest price available to begin with. Our agent did have our son come in to "meet" before we added him. I did have a life insurance policy added for myself - an additional "line" dropped our annual premium by $140 - my life insurance is $120/annually.

 

[golfgal]

He would only have his own policy if he has his own car.

First, he can't get his own policy, he isn't 18 and minors can't enter into legal contracts. Plus, that will cost you triple to do that if you could.

Ok so a few question based on replies, please!

It was my husband that decided our son would get his own policy. Our agent didn't suggest it but did discuss it with us when we brought it up. If he gets in an accident and is sued our assets are protected. Is that correct?

We have four cars on our policy I am assuming, because I haven't received the quote yet, that my policy would rise drastically by adding him. My thinking is it may be cheaper to have his own policy then to insure him on all the cars. I dont think I can add him and pick one vehicle only that he would be covered under. Can I?

He will get three different deductions, good grades, drivers ed, and defensive driver course.

Thanks for any insight!

No, having him on his own policy will NOT protect your assets. He is still a child under your support and they will go after your assets. You NEED a large umbrella policy--we have $2 million. As for it being less expensive for him to have his own policy-no, he would lose the multi-vehicle discount you have and that alone is going to be 20% or more. If you have 4 cars and 3 drivers, he will be listed as primary on one car and that is going to cost you more then $100/month most likely.

That makes more sense. Some coverages allow for you to specify a specific vehicle and restrict them to just that vehicle.

How insurance works is that a person gets RATED on a car. People are not insured, CARS are insured so as long as the car is insured technically ANYONE that drives that car is covered under your insurance (which is why you NEVER let anyone outside of those living in your house drive your cars). Technically most companies will want to rate a teen driver on the most expensive car but if you have a good agent they will put them on the least expensive car. Only one person is rated on each car. In our case we have 2 cars and 3 drivers so DS17 is rated on our least expensive car as an occasional driver. That added about $60/month to our policy. If we got a 3rd car he would be rated as primary driver on one car and that would add another $150+/month to our policy depending on the car (which is why we don't have 3 cars ).

 

[clh2]

DD, who will hopefully get her liscense next month will be adding about $550 every 6 months to our policy. We have a 3rd car for her, a 10 year old sable with ~150,000 miles on it.

This includes the good student disccount. She has also taken driver's ed classes and behind the wheel with certified instructors( whidh were a JOKE IMHO).

 

[golfgal]

Oh, and one nice thing in MN is that you don't have to officially list your new teen driver until your next renewal after they get their license--basically if you renew on June 1st and your child get's their license on June 2nd, you don't have to add them to your policy until Dec 1st (your next renewal date) . They are covered under the law and the the wording of the policy--any permissive user. It is a great feature in MN.

 

[dawson5]

We were in an accident with an unlicensed teen driver. She pulled out into oncoming traffic, it was 50mph speedzone. From what I understand, her mother did not have a lot of insurance and it only covered $10,000 in medical (combined, there were three of us in the car). She was 16 or 17 and she filed for bankruptcy--how I don't know, but this is what our lawyer told us. Our insurance picked up where hers left off.

I have a 17 year old, we use State Farm. I know they have a program that will lower your rates a bit, can't remember the name. I do know that boys are more expensive than girls. I have a Volvo XC90, I think ours works out to be about $70/mo. If we add him to it I think it goes up to around $200/mo. He bought an old mustang convertible, I think we can insure him on that cheaper or the same as what it will cost us to add him onto my car. When we priced these we had two vehicles and that would have been the least expensive way to do it. Then my husband got his own convertible for summer, they told us adding that third car meant that he would be considered a full-time driver on one of the cars. Luckily his lease ran out on his car and we're waiting until this fall/winter to get a winter car for him, by that time he will have finished working on his car and will be insured fully on it.

When he received his learner's permit, we went in and sat down for quite a bit and talked about all of the options available. It's nice to have an idea but best to go in and see all of the options available to you and all possible scenarios.

I think my brother in law said he added my niece to their car and he said it went up $30/mo. I think they just have liability on that vehicle.

 

[JessicaR]

Sorry I never updated.

First, thanks for all the great feedback! It helped to ask the right questions. It also helped me see that my agent didn't have the answers to my questions! I called around and am finally comfortable with the outcome.

We added an umbrella policy and upped our coverage to 250/500 and put our son on our policy. When he turns 18 and heads off to college he will be put on his own policy. In the end it added $175 a month to our premium. Some quotes were outrageous!

Thanks again.

 

[mamacatnv]

Side note to consider when applicable.
When DH turned 50 we switched from American Family to AARP's auto insurance thru the Hartford. They are actually teenage driver friendly. We saved an enormous amount of $$ - DS's insurance dropped from $1700 a year to $900 a year and all our other premiums dropped also AND we increased all our coverages to full coverage from Liability only on the older cars and still saved a ton.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

First, he can't get his own policy, he isn't 18 and minors can't enter into legal contracts. Plus, that will cost you triple to do that if you could.

That's not correct, I had my own insurance policy (my parent's requirement) since I was 16 years old. Yes it is more expensive, but it also is great for shielding ratings, etc.

 

[disykat]

We have 3 vehicles. It went from about $100 a month to almost $200 a month.

 

[golfgal]

That's not correct, I had my own insurance policy (my parent's requirement) since I was 16 years old. Yes it is more expensive, but it also is great for shielding ratings, etc.

You had your own policy, in your name only for which you signed the paperwork and paid all the premiums and your parents were not on that policy at all? Sorry, legally that can't happen. You can't enter into a contract legally under the age of 18. It is very possible you were listed separately on a vehicle and had a card in your name but you were still on your parents policy. As far as "shielding" anything, not true, as long as you lived in your parents house they were subject to anything that happened to you.

 

[JessicaR]

That's not correct, I had my own insurance policy (my parent's requirement) since I was 16 years old. Yes it is more expensive, but it also is great for shielding ratings, etc.

We were also able to get him his own policy and it wasn't more expensive. If we matched coverage it would have been more expensive but his own policy with basic limits was a cheaper way to go but not advisable for us.

 

[JessicaR]

You had your own policy, in your name only for which you signed the paperwork and paid all the premiums and your parents were not on that policy at all? Sorry, legally that can't happen. You can't enter into a contract legally under the age of 18. It is very possible you were listed separately on a vehicle and had a card in your name but you were still on your parents policy. As far as "shielding" anything, not true, as long as you lived in your parents house they were subject to anything that happened to you.

This is exactly what we were told. That he could have his own policy but we would be signing it. Making us possibly liable either way.