Teen Driver/Insurance Question

[swanmom]

My DD is about to get her license. I understand that she has to be added to our insurance but I've been told she has to be added as the 'primary' driver of one of our two cars - that she can't just be an added family member. We have two cars but both are used daily by DH and I (DH uses his for work in the evenings as well) so she will not be using our cars very often - only very occasionally. Do we really have to assign her as a primary for one of our cars? Seems like that would increase our rates more than is actually warranted for the handful of times she'll be using our car. Can anyone who has more experience with insurance than I give me some insight?

 

[Christine]

We had the same situation. Even though I am the primary on one care and DH is the primary on another, we had to pick one of those two cars for DD to be the primary on. We chose the cheapest one. It's basically what car will she be primarily driving, even though someone else really drives it more.

 

[tvguy]

That makes no sense to me. I'd shop around with other insurance companies to see what they say.
We had to add our son as a primary driver, but we had 3 cars. Even though we have had 3 cars and 2 drivers for 20 years before he got his license. But I can understand that. Where it got interesting was when we bought a 4th car for him to drive...and then a 5th when our daughter got her license.
I don't think since the kids got their licenses that any of us has been listed as primary driver on the car we actually drive.

 

[claudia]

We had the same situation. Even though I am the primary on one care and DH is the primary on another, we had to pick one of those two cars for DD to be the primary on. We chose the cheapest one. It's basically what car will she be primarily driving, even though someone else really drives it more.

this was the same for us....

 

[msmayor]

Its not about naming her as a "primary driver" of a vehicle...its about naming which vehicle will actually BE the one she primarily drives.

Perhaps different insurance companies permit you to choose, but my experience has been that most will automatically assign the teen to the car that is the most expensive to insure. If you can provide satisfactory evidence that the primary vehicle available to your teen is the one least expensive to insure, perhaps that will work.

 

[AristocatFan]

We have two teen drivers and neither one has ever been listed as primary drivers for our three vehicles. They are just listed as an add on.

 

[tink20]

Ok , we have 3 vehicles, so we put DD on her car (which is an 05) Mine and DH are both 04 (we are driving them until the die LOL) I wanted to put her on DH's it would have been cheaper but they said NO. Well I ask, what if her boyfriend ever drives her car, and they said any of our cars are covered as long as its a licensed driver. Now I don't know if that means they can't be living with you or not, but if she isn't going to be driving that much.... You could ask.

We had to do full coverage on her, so when DS gets to that age, I am going to get him a vehicle that is paid for, and just do liability....much, more afordable.

 

[wilderness01]

We had to put our child on as a primary driver when we had equal the cars to equal the drivers. Otherwise, we just had to name the car he would driving the most.

Once he became a primary driver, it was much more expensive.

 

[golfgal]

Every state has different laws and that might be the law in your state. Here if you have 2 cars and 3 drivers, one of which is a teen, they can be listed as the occasional driver on one car but they are the driver that is RATED on that car. If you have 3 drivers and 3 cars they have to be primary on one car. The insurance company is supposed to rate them on the most expensive car, it isn't about the one that they actually drive, but your agent can change that in some cases.

 

[bballmom56]

Perhaps different insurance companies permit you to choose, but my experience has been that most will automatically assign the teen to the car that is the most expensive to insure.

That's interesting because the agent I spoke to at our insurance company voluntarily put DS on our least expensive to insure vehicle.

 

[ameraumi]

I had to beg my agent to put DS on the least expensive car to insure. She claimed legally they have to be assigned to the primary car they drive (we have 3 drivers and 3 cars). I finally got her to do this and I think she was just looking for a better commission. I will be looking into changing ins co soon after that.

 

[golfgal]

I had to beg my agent to put DS on the least expensive car to insure. She claimed legally they have to be assigned to the primary car they drive (we have 3 drivers and 3 cars). I finally got her to do this and I think she was just looking for a better commission. I will be looking into changing ins co soon after that.

Legally they DO have to do that in some states. The commission difference was probably less then $10.

 

[ZachnElli]

It depends on the insurance company. I work in an independent insurance office as an agent and each company can have different rules. Some spread the risk equally over all the cars in a household, some let you assign the drivers to certain cars and some will automatically rate them on the most expensive car. As for not listing them at all, that's a good way to get dropped. Anyone living in your household and holds a license should be listed as a driver. Just had a customer today upset because her live in boyfriend was added by the company after an accident and he told them he lived with her. He was the at fault driver in that accident so they were certainly within their rights.

 

[elgerber]

Every state has different laws and that might be the law in your state. Here if you have 2 cars and 3 drivers, one of which is a teen, they can be listed as the occasional driver on one car but they are the driver that is RATED on that car. If you have 3 drivers and 3 cars they have to be primary on one car. The insurance company is supposed to rate them on the most expensive car, it isn't about the one that they actually drive, but your agent can change that in some cases.

Our 3rd car is a Mustang GT, stored in the winter, so this was going to kill our rates. We bought him his own cheap car, it was way cheaper for us to go that route.

 

[FINFAN]

we have State Farm ins., it USED to be you could have a teen as a secondary driver no matter how many drivers or vehicles you had...but just this year we were told that if you have equal cars to drivers, then no one is part time and all are considered primary. We have 3 cars and 4 drivers. DD is away at college and listed as the minimum part time due to the distance away from her residence( she is 1000 miles away) DS got his license in August and was hit with the full time driver deal since we have 3 cars and 3 drivers at the same location. I questioned it as DD was allowed to be part time while she was at home, but our agent said that was no longer being allowed when there are enough vehicles for each driver. In your case tho, 2 cars and 3 drivers, I would question it and ask for them to mail or email you out the written explanation. The difference for DS to go from part time to full was har$h...and he is on a 1996 basic minivan. It was a real budget buster to lose the part time status.

 

[kacaju]

That's interesting because the agent I spoke to at our insurance company voluntarily put DS on our least expensive to insure vehicle.

That is what happened to us too. My dd normally does drive the older car anyway.

 

[daughtersrus]

we have State Farm ins., it USED to be you could have a teen as a secondary driver no matter how many drivers or vehicles you had...but just this year we were told that if you have equal cars to drivers, then no one is part time and all are considered primary. We have 3 cars and 4 drivers. DD is away at college and listed as the minimum part time due to the distance away from her residence( she is 1000 miles away) DS got his license in August and was hit with the full time driver deal since we have 3 cars and 3 drivers at the same location. I questioned it as DD was allowed to be part time while she was at home, but our agent said that was no longer being allowed when there are enough vehicles for each driver. In your case tho, 2 cars and 3 drivers, I would question it and ask for them to mail or email you out the written explanation. The difference for DS to go from part time to full was har$h...and he is on a 1996 basic minivan. It was a real budget buster to lose the part time status.

I'm also in IL and have State Farm. Our oldest DD will be 24 in a few weeks. My dad gave us his old car when DD was 17. At that point, State Farm said that we had to rate her on one of the three cars that we had. Prior to that, she was just listed as an occasional driver on one of the policies. When she was 20, she purchased a "new" used car and my dad's was passed on to our second DD (she was 16 at the time). Again, State Farm said that since we had 4 drivers and 4 cars, everyone had to be rated on one. State Farm told us that because all of the policies are in DH and my name as are all of the cars, it doesn't matter who is rated on which car. It ends up that DH is rated on DD#1's car(05 Ford Focus), I am rated on DH's car (02 Ford Focus) and DD#1 is rated on my van (96 Ford Conversion van). DD# 2 is rated on the car that she drivers most often. It really didn't matter which car DH and I are on since we both have clear driving records and are about the same age but it was cheapest to put DD#1 on my van and DD#2 on dad's old car.

To everyone with teen drivers, I highly suggest seeing if the company that you're with offers any defensive driving programs. State Farm has something called Steer Clear that gives a discount until they turn 24 (maybe older?) as long as they are not at fault for an accident or get a ticket.