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According to the Department of Transportation, more than 40 percent of young adults age 19 and younger are licensed and on the road. These teen drivers face crash rates nearly three times higher than those of drivers 20 years of age and older, and those rates climb even higher at night and when teen passengers are present. Statistics like these help explain why younger drivers can be more expensive to insure.
If you’re looking for ways to offset the increase in annual premiums after adding a teen driver, take note of these possible cost-saving measures.
- Include them on an existing policy.
If your teen will share the cars you already own, you may save some money by assigning them to the vehicle that’s the least expensive to insure. - Buy your teen an older vehicle.
If your new driver will need his or her own car, you can generally get lower rates by putting them in an older, used model. Check the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) list of vehicles with lower auto insurance losses for more information. - Take advantage of good-student discounts.
Some insurance companies offer a discount to students who make and maintain good grades. The assumption is that if students are responsible with their schoolwork, they’re more likely to drive responsibly as well.
Still, insuring a teen driver isn’t all about cost. Most parents are also concerned about their child’s well-being on the road. Keep safety in mind when car shopping, and check out the used vehicle recommendations from trusted sources like Consumer Reports.
Require additional safety measures? Investigate technology like monitoring devices that let you supervise your child’s speed and location or cell phone signal blockers that prevent calls and texts while the car is in motion.
