Softening the Blow of Adding Teen Car Insurance

While getting a license and beginning to drive is an exciting time for teens, parents often dread having to add a new driver to the auto insurance. On average, adding a teen driver to an auto insurance policies costs the average parents a rate increase of almost 80 percent – except in Hawaii where increases are less than 20 percent. While this is alarming, the good news is that many parents leave money on the table when it comes to claiming certain discounts their teen drivers can award them.

Insurance Rate Increases Vary by State

As mentioned earlier, the 50-state average for insurance increases for teen drivers is a whopping 80 percent but it is important to remember that this is the average increase. States like Hawaii boast much smaller increases while other states like New Hampshire have been recorded to be on the higher end of the spectrum with increases of 115 percent. Before resorting to drastic measures to save money when adding a teen driver to your insurance policy make sure to research the increases for your specific state.

What Insurance Discounts are Available for Teen Drivers?

Something relatively new that auto insurance companies are offering is special rate discounts that can be earned by teen drivers. Companies are now offering discounts for teens who receive good grades, enroll in a driver’s safety program and teens who driver older model, safer vehicles. When adding a teen driver to the family auto insurance, make sure to check with you agent to see if any of this discounts may be applied to your monthly rate. Here are how some of these discounts work:

Good Student Discounts

Teens can often earn discounts on their car insurance for being a good student. All-State, for example, offers a “Good Student Discount” – if the teen earns a B average, is on honor roll and/or ranks in the top 20 percent of their class it is possible for them to earn between a 5 and 20 discount on their insurance.

Discounts for Driver’s Safety

Often, insurance companies will offer a policy discount when teens complete a driver’s safety program or training course to help them to become safer and more aware while behind the wheel. Liberty Mutual will offer families a 15 percent discount on their policy for completing the teenSMART program.

Discounts for Monitoring Driving Behavior

Technology makes it possible for insurance companies to monitor how drivers behave behind the wheel. Progressive recently introduced its Snapshot program which records information on how an individual drives including speed, time of day and number of hard breaks. This information helps agents to determine the type of driver someone is and offer them discounts based on their driving behaviors. This could be a very helpful tool to help lower your teen car insurance costs.

Do you have a new teen driver in need of Behind the Wheel Training? Training Wheels is Margate Driving School specializing in teaching new teen drivers. For more information regarding our driving lesson programs, click here.

 

*Photo Courtesy of State Farm via Creative Commons License