Car Insurance for new drivers

[HelloChum]

Any legal or insurance experts?

Just curious as to other parents experience/choices when insuring their 16 year old on their car insurance policies--

DS will be getting his license soon and we will be adding a 3rd vehicle ...it has been recommended to us by more than one person (though it may be a bit more expensive) to register the car in his name and get his own car insurance policy. The rationale being that (God forbid) he has an accident and is at fault--the other party would first go after his insurance, then our insurance, then our assets. Our assets might be better protected this way. Our agent also suggested this.

We would most likely replicate our coverage on his own policy, with the exception of transportation replacement coverage, etc. We will be paying the premiums whether it is his own policy or on our family policy.

He is on the honor roll, great grades etc.--so we will get some discount.

We live in MA.

Anyone else do this? Pros, cons, etc.

Thanks

 

[blanq]

I am a parent of a 17 yo boy. I am not a legal or insurance expert, but can tell you what we decided to do. We decided to put our DS on our policy. It is $75/mo more (would be $50/mo more but he does not get a good student discount...he reimburses us the difference each month). If/when DS gets his own vehicle, he will be required to have his own policy, per MN law. We did not want to put one of our cars in DS's name. We don;t want him to deal with a law suit if he has an accident. We have an umbrella policy should we need it (and I hope we never do).

 

[daughtersrus]

Any legal or insurance experts?

Just curious as to other parents experience/choices when insuring their 16 year old on their car insurance policies--

DS will be getting his license soon and we will be adding a 3rd vehicle ...it has been recommended to us by more than one person (though it may be a bit more expensive) to register the car in his name and get his own car insurance policy. The rationale being that (God forbid) he has an accident and is at fault--the other party would first go after his insurance, then our insurance, then our assets. Our assets might be better protected this way. Our agent also suggested this.

We would most likely replicate our coverage on his own policy, with the exception of transportation replacement coverage, etc. We will be paying the premiums whether it is his own policy or on our family policy.

He is on the honor roll, great grades etc.--so we will get some discount.

We live in MA.

Anyone else do this? Pros, cons, etc.

Thanks

I'm not an expert either but both of my daughters are on our policy. They are each "rated" on a car, not necessarily the car that they drive but the one that was the cheapest. This was done by the agent and not at our suggestion or request.

What I will suggest is to see if the company offers and type of program for young drivers to take to reduce the premium.

State Farm has something called Steer Clear. It will give a discount (in addition to good grades) until the child reaches the age where it drops automatically as long as they are not at fault in an accident or get a ticket. I think that it's around 24.

 

[Darcy03231]

We have a 3rd car on our policy that DD drives. Full coverage runs about $1,000/yr. For her to go on her own policy it would be over $3000/yr. We just upped our coverage amounts from $300/500 to $1m/1m. It was cheaper.

 

[Pakey]

When our kids started driving, we got an umbrella policy to protect our assets. That meant putting the boys as drivers on our policy so that they were also covered under that umbrella.

Having survived 3 teenage boy drivers and numerous accidents, that umbrella policy turned out to be the smartest move ever.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Not an expert either but just added my 18yo to our plan 2 weeks ago. He is paying for his own ins. He does not have his own car an we added him as the occasional driver of hubby's car since its older.

He will probably get dh's car in March/April. So far without him having his own car it went up by $400 for the next 6 months

I will add that I am thinking about looking into an umbrella policy. I really dont know much about them.

 

[HelloChum]

Just googled Umbrella insurance and I think we should definitely investigate that as an option...

Thanks

 

[luvthatdisney]

We went through this too. We have a 16 y/o dd and 20 y/o ds. Our insurance agent, who is also a long time friend, told us not to put our kids on their own policy until they move out (that does not include going to college). He said that the kids would lose all of the discounts we get (long time policy holders, good driver, etc...). He also said that if the child is a minor, it would not matter if they had their own policy or not, the parent is still liable for their child should something happen.

Since our ds still lives at home, we have kept him on our policy. We do have an umbrella policy since we also have rental property that will cover us should something happen. Within the next few months we will move him onto his own policy and hopefully he will be in his own place

 

[ebhurleys]

Our agent told us to put everything in their names when they turn 18 until then we could be held liable whether or not it is in our name.

 

[ZachnElli]

I am an agent and as long as they are a minor, you could get sued if they are in an at-fault accident. An umbrella policy is a great way to protect your assets, just make sure your youthful driver is listed on the policy.

 

[StephMK]

My DD sounds like your son & we added her to our policy. I did not want her to have the car my dad gave us in her name. Technically, it is my car that she uses. This was also to prevent sibling envy later on. I shopped around because there is a wide variety of pricing on young drivers. We were with AAA who used to be the lowest by far. After adding her, it was significantly cheaper to go w/Progressive and not expensive to add physical damage on "her" older car.

Thanks for the reminder on the umbrella policy, we need to get that set up!

 

[Sadie22]

Whether you have a youthful driver in your household or not, umbrella liability policies are a good idea.

The best insurance, however, is to spend all the time it takes to make a good and careful driver out of your child. In our state there are graduated licensing requirements which became law after our sons got their licenses. What we did is what the law states and then some. Our sons did not rush to get licenses at 16. They spent as much time as possible driving with us and gaining experience before driving alone on a limited basis as well. They are now in their upper 20s and have never caused an accident and have had only one traffic ticket between them. They were both carried on our insurance through college. Multicar policy discounts combined with good student discounts and the State Farm Steer Clear program discounts.

 

[dfchelbay]

Just wanted to add that you can ask your insurance carrier if you can get a reduced rate if you exclude your child from driving your and spouse's more expensive cars. If he is listed to drive ONLY the cheaper car you provide for him, maybe you can get a break on your premium. Also, when our DS became of driving age, our homeowners and umbrella policies both went up. They said it was because there was a "young driver" in the house.

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

Hello,

I am a customer service rep at an insurance agency in MA (I am licensed). I think many people have great suggestions especially the umbrella policy. By having them on your policy you will get a multi-policy discount. You definitely can exclude them from driving the other vehicles on your policy but keep in mind that they can never drive your vehicle even if they are driving you to the hospital. If they drive it and they are in an accident you would not be covered.

Some discounts you can check into are if they took a driving course, a good student discount. If they are not going to be driving alot after a year (under 10,000 miles) they may qualify for a low-mileage discount. Also, if they take public transportation and have monthly passes they may also qualify for additional discount.

I would also consider shopping around to see what type of competitive rates are available with the different insurance companies.

 

[HelloChum]

Hello,

I am a customer service rep at an insurance agency in MA (I am licensed). I think many people have great suggestions especially the umbrella policy. By having them on your policy you will get a multi-policy discount. You definitely can exclude them from driving the other vehicles on your policy but keep in mind that they can never drive your vehicle even if they are driving you to the hospital. If they drive it and they are in an accident you would not be covered.

Some discounts you can check into are if they took a driving course, a good student discount. If they are not going to be driving alot after a year (under 10,000 miles) they may qualify for a low-mileage discount. Also, if they take public transportation and have monthly passes they may also qualify for additional discount.

I would also consider shopping around to see what type of competitive rates are available with the different insurance companies.

My son is taking driving lessons through a local/private driving school--they also have a skid school that he will go to this winter.

I think there will always be a chance that he may drive my husband's or my car--so limiting his coverage to the 3rd car may not be wise.

As for the low-mileage discount, would that be an option to look into when he goes to college and the car stays home? (Though his brother is right on his heels to get his license--more premiums !!)

If we combined our home insurance and auto to the same company--would that offer a better discount?

Any advice for finding an agent in our area? Red flags to look for, etc.

Thanks for all of your replies--all were very helpful!! I knew I would get great feedback here!!

 

[Fyrefly]

As for the low-mileage discount, would that be an option to look into when he goes to college and the car stays home? (Though his brother is right on his heels to get his license--more premiums !!)

I was on my parent's insurance and my dad was able to do that while I was at college. He told the agent I didn't have a campus parking permit, so I literally would not be driving 8 months out of the year except whatever weekend or two I came home. Even then my parents would drive me there and back since I couldn't have a car, so what was the point?

Our agent was great and fine with it.

 

[ZachnElli]

As for the low-mileage discount, would that be an option to look into when he goes to college and the car stays home? (Though his brother is right on his heels to get his license--more premiums !!)

If we combined our home insurance and auto to the same company--would that offer a better discount?

Any advice for finding an agent in our area? Red flags to look for, etc.

Thanks for all of your replies--all were very helpful!! I knew I would get great feedback here!!

Most companies have a student away code they can apply to a youthful driver if they are attending college over 100 miles away from home and they don't take the car with them.

It is almost always best to group your home and auto together to get the best discounts. Very rarely do I see it make sense to have them with separate companies.

 

[mathew.perry54]

We put all our kids on our policy except the youngest one who turned 18 last year and moved out. He insisted on having a car of his own. He bought it himself and pays his own premiums. The others are still on our policy and added in our $1 million Umbrella Insurance policy too. We have everything insured from the same company.