Where can a teenager get car insurance that won't empty the bank account?

[Halbleib1]

Check the laws of your state because in PA you are not covered if you live in the same household unless you either have ur own insurance or are added to ur parents. Heck when my grandma moved in and had her own insurance my parents had to be added to hers and vise versa because the potential was there for borrowing each others cars.

Your DH is correct you are liable if your son gets in an accident while on your insurance. They can come back and sue you.

In PA you have to show proof of insurance to take the road test as well and they can not give an accurate quote until you have a permit because they need the numbers off it. We just went through this with trying to find out how much more it would cost for me to be added. I am 31 years old and was told 600.00 for the year but that can change until they have the permit numbers. We were also told I would have to be primary driver on one even though neither are in my name. The 600 was for me being primary on a 2002 vw jetta wagon.

The odd thing is I am already listed on our policy even though I do not drive. We were told it has to be that way because we are married.

 

[allison443]

As far as who is covered in your car as a driver, ANYONE that drives your car is covered under your policy for liability and no fault (NY) but that does not mean one should ignore purposely NOT adding a teen to a policy. A carrier CAN deny coverage (if they can prove) that an insured/policyholder intentionally did not add a person they knew drove the car or had full accessibility to it.
And an excess policy for a million, was much more reasonable than you would think.

My understanding of NY law is the same as above. I believe the policy usually contains some language that you have fully disclosed all licensed drivers in the household, or something like that, and failure to do so may be considered a material misrepresentation, etc.
Umbrella policies are very reasonable imho and priceless for peace of mind.

 

[LisaR]

is it possible if you OWN the car (you are liable) that you are currently FULLY INSURED by your policy -INCLUDING- fully insured if you lend that car to someone else to temporarily use: be That lend be to you nephew, pastor, coach, accountant, barber, butcher, farmer or SON....they get in an accident: You may be covered! (States vary-ask your agent: of course the only "answer" he may give you might be the option where he makes a commision (separate Son policy).

DD (16) started driving in August. We have a unique situation in that we have two vehicles that are DH's company leases so DD is covered on both of those vehicles for free! However, we have a van that we own outright and have insurance on that vehicle to cover DH and myself. When we called to see how much it would be to add DD, it was a ridiculous amount so we decided not to do it. The insurance agent specifically warned us that DD could NEVER drive the van because she was not covered period. We can lend our van to a neighbor and they would be covered but our own kid isn't because she is living in our house and we didn't insure her. Don't know if this is how it works within our state or if it just that particular insurance company but we are very lucky to have two other vehicles she can drive so it isn't a big deal for us.

 

[kellyg403]

a1tinkfan's story is interesting b/c it demonstrates some of the differences among states. In North Carolina, you would not be looking for a policy AFTER your child takes the road test because you have to have proof that YOU are covered on an insurance policy before you can even take the road. You don't have to have anything until then -- you don't even have to report that a child has a permit. I don't believe it's possible to cover a teen and pay $200 a year either, unfortunately. Our insurance company does not give us the option to not assign a car to our son since right now we have more cars than drivers. If you have more drivers than cars, you can do that.

Yes, all my children had to show proof of insurance BEFORE they took the road test to get their license! We did not get 'charged' if they failed the test.

We have USAA. My children were all on our policies, see above reason, and traditionally for each child on a liability only car was roughly 90 more a month. My one dd had an accident that totaled the other car. She was at fault. It did raise her premium, not ours and we were able to separate her policy even though she was living in the same house. She paid the higher premium on her own bill, the car was in her name etc. The drawback of this was if she did not oay, we got a notice that her account was delinquint and they could drop us all. So, after the first notice, we made sure we kept on top of her. Honestly, she was good about it. She had a baby and when he was a couple months old he started having medical issues, missed time at work etc meant her paychecks were not what they should be.

Honestly, I understand your dh's fear, I had the same fear. As long as the kids were on our policy there were lots of rules and understanding I will take the car keys and dl if they were irresponsible. I felt better with them understanding that consequences of poor decisions that might affect the household.


Kelly

 

[LisaNJ25]

Mine doubled when ds got his license last year. We went from 1500 to 3000 a year. We are in NJ and have Geico.

 

[ancestry]

Our insurance, State Farm, requires all licensed drivers living in the household to be added on our policy or at least reported to State Farm. We were told by our agent either the kids get added when they get their license or to not allow them to get their license when they are still living at home. If State Farm finds out one of the kids has their license and isn't added on our policy that we could be dropped.

Based on this I always thought parents with teenagers had to add their children on their policy if the teenager had their license. I would recommend calling your insurance agent to find out their rules.

 

[PlutoPony]

Which is why we carry a $1mil umbrella policy...for just this reason.

We were surprised to find that we had to add our teenage son to the umbrella policy, just as we added him to the auto insurance. Think the premium went up ~ 25%

 

[*Emily*]

We were surprised to find that we had to add our teenage son to the umbrella policy, just as we added him to the auto insurance. Think the premium went up ~ 25%

Umbrella policies cover all licensed household members, all real estate and vehicles (as well as watercrafts) that are owned/leased/occupied/furnished for regular use, with a few exceptions. If you fail to list all drivers on the umbrella, a claim can be denied. There are surcharges for younger/older drivers.

If you do decide to take out an umbrella policy please be aware that you will have to meet certain underlying liability coverages for your policies, which can be on the high side.

Companies can deny or non-renew umbrella coverage for bad driving records, as well as age of the operators (young or old).

As great as these boards are, you should really get advice from a professional, especially since states vary can from one extreme to the other. If you think the person you are talking to is only in it for the commission, get a second or third opinion. I spend half my day talking to people about insurance and I'm not commission based.

 

[EllenFrasier]

OP here. I asked one of my son's friends who was here today what insurance company he has or if he was on his parents insurance, and he said he has no insurance for a year and then he'll go on his parents. He said he can't get in an accident because he has no insurance! To me, that seems like a big risk.

 

[ancestry]

OP here. I asked one of my son's friends who was here today what insurance company he has or if he was on his parents insurance, and he said he has no insurance for a year and then he'll go on his parents. He said he can't get in an accident because he has no insurance! To me, that seems like a big risk.

No only is that a big risk it is downright illegal (in most states).

 

[kellyg403]

OP here. I asked one of my son's friends who was here today what insurance company he has or if he was on his parents insurance, and he said he has no insurance for a year and then he'll go on his parents. He said he can't get in an accident because he has no insurance! To me, that seems like a big risk.

Ummm...his parents should be afraid and hoping they don't lose everything. If they were living here in NC, and the son got in an accident, even if it wasn't his fault, he could lose his license. That is a very very big rish to take.

Kelly

 

[shaylyn]

It cost about $90/month to add DD19 & her car (a 2002 Civic) to our insurance.

We have State Farm.

We asked if we could get her on her own insurance and not have it tied to us (worried she might get in an accident that would affect us) They told us that they were not allowed to do that if she still lived in our home. Grrrrr