Car Insurance Advice For Teenage Drivers

Car insurance is all about protecting you against financial risk when you are driving on the road, and hopefully, you will never need to make a claim on your car insurance because doing so would mean that you were involved in some kind of accident.

When it comes to teenage drivers, making claims on their insurance policy can also result in skyrocketing insurance premiums, which either they or their parents will have to pay for.

Most of the time however, young drivers will require the financial assistance of their parents, because unless they have a full-time job, buying, using and maintaining a vehicle can be very expensive, and something which most young teens will usually not be able to afford by themselves if they are studying full-time at school or college.

Parents therefore, really in the driver’s seat, so to speak, when it comes to insuring a vehicle for their child. And for this reason, they should ensure that any vehicle which they insure for their child is only done so if the following three conditions are met.

1) Insure Experienced Teens

To ensure maximum safety on the road, a teenager should have at least 30-40 hours experience on the road driving in as many different conditions as possible.

A lot of traffic accidents happen due to inexperienced teenage drivers who can’t wait to get on the road and have not had enough practice behind the wheel.

All teens would therefore benefit from driving with their parents in different weather conditions, such as when it is raining, when it is snowing, when it is foggy and also at night, either before or after they have passed their driving test.

The more road experience they can gain, the safer a driver they are likely to become and the less risk they will have of being involved in a car accident.

It is also important for teenagers to gain road experience in the vehicle they will be driving in most of the time, as different vehicles handle differently from each other and as a result, have an adaptation period which must be gone through before a person feels comfortable driving in a particular car.

This is especially relevant when it comes to large saloons, fast sports cars or motorcycles, as they tend to have the longest adaptation periods.

2) Insure Responsible Teen Drivers

A teen who is responsible in one area of their life is also likely to be responsible in other areas of their life, and the reverse is also true.

If your teenager is irresponsible, they are likely to be that way on the road thereby increasing their chance of being involved in a road accident.

As a parent, it is therefore in your best interest to ensure that your child is a responsible young adult before you put them behind the wheel of a car.

How they go about proving this responsibility will be up to you, but a teenager should only be let out on the road once you feel confident in their ability to drive safely.

3) Set Driving Limits

New teenage drivers should be given some restrictions as to when they can drive and where they can drive. For example, you may limit the distance they can travel and ask them not to travel at night.

Both travelling for long distances and in darkness are when a large majority of accidents happen due to poor visibility and tiredness.

If your teen will be travelling on the road under such conditions, it is advisable to give them some practice before they go out on their own as this will make them more aware of the risks they face and also better able to deal with those risks.

Reducing Automobile Risk On The Road

The points listed above are designed to help parents keep their teenager safe when they are travelling on the road and gain experience after they have passed their driving test and become a licensed driver.

It can also be helpful if you discuss some of the common dangers that all drivers face on the road, such as those relating to speeding, distractions from other passengers and using a cell phone whilst driving.

Learning how to be a safe teenage driver will pay off later on as not only will it keep you safe on the road, but it will also help to keep your insurance premiums down.

As you are probably already well aware, taking out insurance for teenage drivers can be very expensive. In the following section we look at why this is the case, and then later on, how you can lower auto insurance costs for young drivers.

Why Is Insuring Teen Drivers More Expensive?

From an insurance company’s perspective, teenagers, or those who are under 25, are considered to be high risk drivers and this risk is reflected in their insurance premium rates.

Automobile insurance rates are roughly twice as expensive for teenagers who are first starting to drive compared to the rates charged for more experienced older drivers.

Any accident on the road will cause these rates go even higher, which is why it is so important for new teenage drivers to be extra careful on the road for the first few years that they are driving.

Overall, teenagers can expect the rates for just about everything to be higher in terms of what they pay for their auto insurance until they can prove that they are a safe driver. This usually means driving 2-3 years without making a claim on their personal auto insurance policy.

Videos

The following videos offer some safe driving tips for teenagers and discuss how to make car insurance more affordable for young drivers.

How To Lower Car Insurance For Teenagers

Below are some steps that can be taken to reduce the cost of car insurance for teenage drivers. These tips should help to make young driver insurance a lot more affordable, although it is important to remember that any claim made within the first few years of driving will vastly increase future car insurance rates.

1) Be An Occasional Driver

If your teenager only uses the car occasionally, you can save about 30% on their vehicle insurance rates by registering them as an occasional use driver.

Insurance premiums are highest for teenagers who are registered as the principal driver. You can take advantage of these savings by only allowing your teen to use your vehicle on certain days of the week, such as over the weekend.

Any more than a few days a week, and they will be at risk of being considered the principle driver and therefore will have to pay higher premiums.

2) Drive An Old Vehicle

You can save on teenage car insurance rates by giving your teenager an older car to drive which has a value low enough not to need collision or comprehensive car insurance.

This can save around 30% of the occasional driver cost, and you won’t have to worry so much about you car suffering a dent or a scratch.

3) Get Good Grades

Another way to reduce young driver insurance is to encourage your child to get good grades.

Some car insurance companies will reduce young driver insurance rates by 15% if your teenager has a grade B average or better.

The reasoning behind this is that teens who get good grades in school or college are likely to be responsible teens who will not take unnecessary risks when they are driving on the road by themselves.

As a result, a responsible driver is seen as a safe driver and therefore one who is less likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident. This means less risk to the insurance company, and so they are willing to reward this reduced risk with reduced premium costs.

4) Don’t Go The Distance

Big savings can be made if your teenager does not drive their car to a college which is 100 miles or more away from your home.

In such a case, you can ask your car insurance company for a distant student credit which can save you 70-80% on your auto insurance costs.

Your teen can still use your vehicle for shorter journeys, but anything over 100 miles and the parent is better off doing the driving if you are aiming to cut insurance costs.

5) Get Cheaper Vehicle Insurance With Your Parents

If a parent registers a personal auto insurance policy under their name, the rates will be up to 30% cheaper than if a teen takes out young driver insurance in their own name.

However, this also makes the parent responsible for anything that happens in that vehicle, so if the vehicle is damaged, then they will be liable for that damage under their policy agreement which could subsequently affect their own premium rates.