Author Topic: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?  (Read 9717 times)

Hhnannies

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$2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« on: November 09, 2014, 09:33:59 PM »
My husband and I have two teenagers one of which has license already and the other gets hers this week. Hubby and I have no tickets or accidents and enjoyed low premiums of $600/year. Added teen driver we went to $2500year. Getting ready to add another teen driver and scared to even call and get the quote. Spent numerous hours on phone and online getting price quotes and shopping around for lowest deal but this seems like the norm. Already bundled home and car. Qualified for numerous discounts I.e. Good student, etc. not sure how to get this figure down as outgo per month is $209 currently. I could pay cash at the six month renewal but that a small savings. Help! Anyone else insuring teen drivers?

Hhnannies

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2014, 09:40:53 PM »
...and we own vehicles outright. This is just liability. :(

Primm

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2014, 09:58:07 PM »
I'm in a different country, but when I added my first son onto our insurance the premium went through the roof, but then when we added the second it didn't change. I guess they figure one teenage driver is as bad as another, and only one of them can be driving it at a time.

Call and get the quote. You may be pleasantly surprised.

waltworks

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2014, 11:36:05 PM »
No cars for teens. They can take the bus, walk, ride a bike, get a ride with a friend. Done. They want a car, they can buy one and register/insure it themselves.

-W

Primm

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2014, 02:41:56 AM »
No cars for teens. They can take the bus, walk, ride a bike, get a ride with a friend. Done. They want a car, they can buy one and register/insure it themselves.

-W

How do they learn to drive then? I'm talking about adding them onto my car insurance. I assumed the OP did too.

lakemom

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2014, 04:50:41 AM »
No cars for teens. They can take the bus, walk, ride a bike, get a ride with a friend. Done. They want a car, they can buy one and register/insure it themselves.

-W

If they have a license they have to be put on the insurance.  At least that is what we've been told for the past 13 years (of having one teen driver after another added to our policy).  $2,500 per year seems like a lot but our first teen driver was 13 years ago and I can't remember what it went up at that time but I know it wasn't and extra $200 per month.

Gray Matter

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2014, 05:34:19 AM »
I'm not keen on teenaged drivers, either (there's a reason why premiums are so high).  I didn't get my license until I was 20.  When I turned 15 and 16, I was living in two countries that didn't allow people to get their licenses until they were 18.  When I moved back to the States at 17, my parents wouldn't let me, but honesty, I didn't want it.  It seemed like a lot of responsibility and most of the kids I knew didn't seem mature enough for it. 

Luckily, we live in a city with decent public transportation and lots of kids don't have their licenses--obviously not the case everywhere.  Other than having the kid work to pay or split the cost, I'm not sure there is much you can do about the high premiums.  Maybe say to yourself, "It's totally worth the money!" every time you don't have to take your teenagers somewhere or pick them up.  :-)

Hhnannies

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #7 on: November 10, 2014, 06:03:13 AM »
If we could get away with them not having a car that would be ideal but one daughter is 17 and a sophomore at college two states away in a city with no metro etc. and the other daughter getting her license has various academic activities to go to so it would be great if she could drive herself instead of me carting her all over town. Again, we are in a small town without transit. We also have a younger daughter that she can drive to activities to help out. I'm sick over having such high premiums for good driving! I just don't know if there is a creative, out of the box option to get it lowered.

AccidentalMiser

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2014, 06:35:40 AM »
Look around for different quotes.  In my experience, 2500 per year is less than I would have expected.

Cost of doing business.  After five kids, I'm so glad to finally be free of paying teen premiums!

waltworks

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #9 on: November 10, 2014, 08:23:06 AM »
Learning to drive is something they can do anytime they want to. Teach 'em yourself on the weekend in a parking lot if you're worried about it. Who cares if a 16 year old knows how to drive?

-W

No cars for teens. They can take the bus, walk, ride a bike, get a ride with a friend. Done. They want a car, they can buy one and register/insure it themselves.

-W

How do they learn to drive then? I'm talking about adding them onto my car insurance. I assumed the OP did too.

waltworks

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #10 on: November 10, 2014, 08:32:05 AM »
In a small town?!?! Walk!

Rollerblade, jog, bike, scooter...

Jeebus. Is this the helicopter parent forum or MMM?

-W

If we could get away with them not having a car that would be ideal but one daughter is 17 and a sophomore at college two states away in a city with no metro etc. and the other daughter getting her license has various academic activities to go to so it would be great if she could drive herself instead of me carting her all over town. Again, we are in a small town without transit. We also have a younger daughter that she can drive to activities to help out. I'm sick over having such high premiums for good driving! I just don't know if there is a creative, out of the box option to get it lowered.

guitar_stitch

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #11 on: November 10, 2014, 09:41:14 AM »
16...  I didn't have a license until I was 19.  My first vehicle was a gift...in pieces.

Insurance?  My parents helped me set it up initially, but I was on my own policy.  Have been on my own policy ever since.

BlueMR2

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #12 on: November 10, 2014, 10:01:20 AM »
Sounds about right.  Back in the '90's when I was learning to drive, I was $2000/yr for liability only, part-time driver status, coverage on my parent's old beater Pontiac Sunbird.  I'm honestly surprised that it's only $2500 now.

FarmerPete

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #13 on: November 10, 2014, 10:19:34 AM »
When I got my license, my dad called the insurance company.  They said they didn't have to add me till I had my own car, got a ticket, got in an accident, or turned 18.  So my cost to my parents was $0.  That was Citizens insurance.  From what I hear from friends/coworkers, when their kids got their license, the insurance company automatically got notified and was calling them up immediately.  My understanding is that a lot of the discount insurance companies will not allow you to have kids living at home with a drivers license and not put them on the insurance, UNLESS you list them as an excluded driver.  In other words, if they ever drive your car, you have $0 coverage.  Zip.  Nadda.

My son is 2, so I've got a long ways till I have to deal with this, but I know I certainly am not going to foot the bill for $2k a year.  If he wants to drive our car, he can get a job and pay it off.  As to learning how to drive, do you have to add your children when they are just on their permit?  If not, maybe leave them on their learners permit for the maximum duration.  Sure, they can't save you time by doing errands for you, but at least they get experience driving.  For me, I would run a lot of errands for $2000 in savings a month.

Dee18

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #14 on: November 10, 2014, 11:23:20 AM »
I have USAA and my car insurance went from 560 to 1200 when I added my teen daughter.  Two years later, it has dropped to 930. I do not know if that is due to depreciation of the car or to her spotless driving record. 

Spudd

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #15 on: November 10, 2014, 11:39:04 AM »
Just as an aside, when I was 16 and wanted my license, my parents said I would have to pay the added insurance that adding me to their policy would cost. I promptly found a job at a local fast food joint and started paying!

GizmoTX

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #16 on: November 10, 2014, 11:39:36 AM »
Most insurance companies offer a discount for "smart students", around 15-20%. Generally the student must be full time & have a qualifying GPA at high school or college. Statistics have proven that this group has far fewer accidents & claims than their age group.

AgileTurtle

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #17 on: November 10, 2014, 11:44:41 AM »
In a small town?!?! Walk!

Rollerblade, jog, bike, scooter...

Jeebus. Is this the helicopter parent forum or MMM?

-W

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Do you have teenage kids that this works for or are you just saying this? If you do have kids and this is your current game plan how is it working? It seems not alowing a teen to drive or have a licesnse would be much harder on the parent than the teen in pratice. In theory it sounds great. I dont even have any kids so it doesnt much matter to me, just curious.

coffeelover

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #18 on: November 10, 2014, 11:50:07 AM »
Maybe I can help with some advice..?

We have a teen driver in our house, she will be 18 in December.

She got her license when she was 16 1/2. Then she was given an older junky car by family friends. (good friends huh!)
Once she was given the car and got a job we added her to our insurance and she was assigned this older vehicle on our insurance.

I was told by a good friend that worked in the insurance industry for 10 years that your savings come in when you have an actual vehicle assigned to the child and that vehicle only has PLPD on it. I do believe that is why the rates are so low.
If any changes happen to our rates or daughters rates because of something our daughter did then she will be held responsible. A rule in our house is if you have a car or want to drive a car you have to pay for it.
I'm not going to pay for a vehicle. I let my daughter use my car when I had it available before she got her car. I was still the primary driver though.


We use geico for our family, lowest rates from many different quotes.

We shop around yearly to make sure and switched to them last year in May from Farmers.

With adding my daughter to our insurance it only costs us an extra 107 a month.
My daughter pays for this though and she has a due by date just like she would if she was paying it all on her own.

She understands that when she moves out she will no longer be on our insurance and we will have to get her own. (if she goes away to college she stays on our insurance)

I hope this helps you in some small way.

waltworks

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #19 on: November 10, 2014, 12:01:49 PM »
Kids are <3 right now. But I grew up in a small semi-rural town with zero public transportation and having a car was never even a consideration. I'd just use my own 2 feet to get wherever I needed to go (distances of ~5 miles or so, mostly by rollerblade since that was cool in the 80s). I see no reason to do it any differently for my kids - the exercise and outdoor time is great for overall health and cognitive function too. Running to an academic activity is a far better idea than sitting on your ass in a car.

I also am generally opposed to being dependent on cars to get around, and our town has great public transit as well, so even if I raise some lazy entitled brats who don't want to walk or bike - they can take the bus.

It's of course possible that I'll change my mind in 13 years but I very much doubt it.

-W

In a small town?!?! Walk!

Rollerblade, jog, bike, scooter...

Jeebus. Is this the helicopter parent forum or MMM?

-W


Do you have teenage kids that this works for or are you just saying this? If you do have kids and this is your current game plan how is it working? It seems not alowing a teen to drive or have a licesnse would be much harder on the parent than the teen in pratice. In theory it sounds great. I dont even have any kids so it doesnt much matter to me, just curious.
[/quote]

Mrs. PoP

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #20 on: November 10, 2014, 12:13:50 PM »
When I was a teenager, the only thing that made adding me and my sister to our parents' insurance was the fact that we took a "Behind the Wheel" driving class.  It was something like 30 hours of in-car driving training with a trained instructor.  It was an optional course through our public school district (after school) that cost ~$100 or so, but cut at least $1000/yr off the insurance premiums.  Perhaps call your insurance agent and school district and see if something like this is still offered?

At the time I remember being shocked at how few of my friends took the course - their parents just paid the insanely high premiums. 

Hhnannies

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #21 on: November 10, 2014, 02:02:33 PM »
Thank you all for the great suggestions and insight.

I called our insurance company and it's going to be $209/year to add the newest driver. I said that I was I initially concerned bc the hike was so high going from my husband and I and adding a teen driver previously so this was a nice surprise. She indicated that yes, going from two drivers and adding the teen/inexperienced driver is a huge jump but after that, adding another teen driver is not as high bc you are already compensating for the inexperienced driver. She offered discounts for good grades- I'm sending them copies of transcripts. Also, the representative said that as the teen ages each year the premium will go down.

Another interesting thing she said is that since my daughter that's in college two states away has her vehicle with her the premium is higher bc she is primary driver. There is a discount called away discount that if she left the vehicle here with us she would pay less. Both daughters took the behind the wheel/defensive driving course for the 30% discount. The figures I gave include this.

As to the small town comment- let me clarify - small county town where everything is spread out. Walking or biking would be a little much and a tad concerning that my 16 yo daughter is walking or biking for miles past deserted fields. Sorry if that's helicopter parenting but it's something I'm not comfortable with.

We do not plan to buy the 16 yo a car and the only reason the older daughter got a card- used 1997 Toyota at that paid in cash- is bc she is two states away in a less than walkable city and she might want to drive the five hours home occasionally.

gimp

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Re: $2500 on car insurance for two teens?!?
« Reply #22 on: November 10, 2014, 03:20:56 PM »
$2500 is hardly surprising for two teens. When I was growing up, it was $2k/year even for a full license (19 years old) though that did include comprehensive and collision. That happens when you're a young male. I grimaced but accepted it since we are exactly the demographic that gets into accidents (well, and old people, but the difference is they plow into farmers markets and we plow into trees, so at least we kill fewer innocents... fuckers).

Which is why I didn't get a car till I could pay the insurance.

These days I pay around 900/year and I'll likely switch that down to a cheaper insurance by a couple hundred bucks shortly. Different zip code, older, no comprehensive and collision.