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How We’re Handling Car Insurance for Our Teen College Student

February 15, 2024 | Leave a Comment

Our son didn’t start driving until he was 19. Since he started at a late age, we hoped his insurance wouldn’t be as expensive as if he had started driving at 16. Unfortunately, we were wrong; insuring an inexperienced driver costs a lot regardless of age. Here’s how we’re handling car insurance for our teen college student.

Should He Have His Insurance or Be Insured Under Ours?

Female teen driver behind the wheel

Our first decision was if he should have his car insurance or be insured under our insurance. We already knew we wanted him to pay the car insurance. When the quotes came back, we knew we had to have him on our insurance. To put him on his insurance was almost four times as expensive as putting him on ours.

How Can We Protect Ourselves Financially?

Stacks of coins covered with a folded dollar bill to look like a house.

Our next decision was how to protect ourselves financially if he had an accident. Since he’s under our insurance, if our son had an accident with another vehicle, the victims could sue us. So, we decided to get an umbrella policy. Without a teen driver, the umbrella policy was only $260 a year. Once we added our son to our insurance, our umbrella policy increased to $500 a year. However, this policy provides us with an additional $1 million in protection. Our insurance agent also assured us that if we were to get sued, the insurance company would put their lawyers on the case because they wouldn’t want to pay a million-dollar settlement.

Requirements for Umbrella Insurance

Black umbrella protecting blue blocks that read "risk"

To qualify for umbrella insurance, we had to have our car premiums at a certain level. We could not have PL/PD on the 19-year-old vehicle our son drives. Fortunately, we already have insurance on all our cars and our home at the appropriate level.

Finding Discounts

In addition to putting our son on our insurance, we also looked for other discounts. We’re insured with State Farm, and they had several more discounts we could utilize:

Multiple Line

Two cars under a shade tree.

We got a multi-line discount on all our policies because we have several cars and our home insurance through State Farm.

Good Student

Student in a cap and gown, holding his diploma

Our son maintains a 3.6 GPA at college, so he qualifies for a good student discount. Every semester, he must submit his report card to verify he’s maintaining his GPA.

Drive Safe and Save

Female teen driver in a car with a driving instructor in the passenger seat

He took advantage of this discount by downloading the app on his phone and installing a beacon in his car. This records data on how he drives, and he gets a discount for safe driving. (If the driver’s driving does not warrant a discount, they are not penalized. However, they don’t get the discount.)

In addition, State Farm had an online course that new drivers take to save even more. My son took that course.

Final Thoughts

Car insurance for a new teen driver is expensive. However, we’ve found a way to make it affordable thanks to putting our son on our insurance and utilizing multiple discounts. In addition, while we pay for the umbrella insurance, our son pays for his insurance, which incentivizes safe driving. And his policy will drop significantly once he gets through three years of driving with no accidents. Only two-and-a-half more years to go!

Read More

4 Tips to Save on Car Insurance for Teens

7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Buy Your Kid a Car

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Money and Finances Tagged With: car insurance, teen driver

4 Strategies to Lower the Insurance Premium for a Teen Driver

February 16, 2023 | Leave a Comment

Lower the Insurance Premium for a Teen Driver

Our oldest is 18.5 years old, and he finally decided to drive. We’re thankful he didn’t want to earlier because he’s in the highest risk category to cover, according to our insurance—he’s male, under 25, and has been driving less than three years. However, we’re using strategies to lower the insurance premium for a teen driver. We’re also implementing strategies to protect our finances while he’s on our insurance policy.

4 Strategies to Lower the Insurance Premium for a Teen Driver

Even though he’s in the highest-risk category for coverage, we can take advantage of several discounts to lower his premium.

We Have a Multi-Line Discount

We already have our two vehicles and home insured by the same insurance company. Our son will join and benefit from our multi-line discount.

He’ll Drive Our Oldest Vehicle

Generally, the newer a vehicle, the more expensive it is to insure. Since he’s a teen driver with a higher risk of having an accident than us, we’re giving him our oldest vehicle to drive—a 2004 minivan. Having him as the primary driver on the oldest car gives him a lower insurance premium than if he were driving a newer vehicle.

He’ll Get a Good Student Discount

Because he is maintaining higher than a B average in college, he will receive a good student discount.

He’ll Use the Drive Safe and Save App

In addition, he’ll use the Drive Safe and Save app. While this app can’t make his premium increase if he’s a bad driver, it can help him realize a significant discount if he’s a good driver. My husband and I already use this app and have seen our premiums drop by more than 20 percent.

A Future Discount

While he doesn’t currently qualify, he’ll get a safe driver discount if he drives for three years without a ticket or an accident. We’re hoping he will get this discount eventually, but with teen drivers, there is a sharp learning curve, so he may not.

An Additional Step We’re Taking to Protect Ourselves

Lower the insurance premium for a teen driver

The least financially risky way to insure him is to have him own his car and pay for his auto insurance policy. However, that will more than double (close to triple) the amount he will need to pay for car insurance.

Instead, we’re adding him to our policy, but we’re also adding an umbrella policy to our line of insurance. So then, if our son causes an accident that results in more money than his auto insurance covers, our umbrella policy will kick in. This will protect us because when he’s under our insurance, the victim can come after our assets if our son causes an accident.

Final Thoughts

After our son, we have two more children who we’ll add to our insurance policy when they learn to drive. So, we’ll continue to utilize these strategies to lower the insurance premiums for a teen driver and to protect our assets with umbrella insurance. While teen drivers raise our insurance premiums, this season of life will only last for the next six to eight years until our teens are on their own and paying for their expenses.

Read More

What Should Teen Drivers Contribute to the Expense of a Vehicle?

7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Buy Your Kid a Car

Should You Get Your Teen a Debit Card?

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Money and Finances Tagged With: car insurance, teen driver

Why I Decided to Teach My Teen to Drive

March 10, 2022 | Leave a Comment

Why I Decided to Teach My Teen to Drive

When I was a teen, my high school offered driver’s ed as a four-week class during the summer. We sat in an air-conditioned classroom during the morning and watched driver’s training videos. Then, in the afternoon, we went out to the parking lot to practice driving a car. Later, we made our way onto the roads. The instructor had a car equipped with pedals on his side to override any mistakes we made when braking or accelerating. However, now, thanks to budget cuts, many schools no longer offer driver’s training. Instead, parents must choose between teaching their kids to drive or paying for a driving school. For our family, there were several reasons why I decided to teach my teen to drive.

Why I Decided to Teach My Teen to Drive

Our family picked this option for a few reasons.

Driving School Is Expensive!

In our area, driving school is expensive! The cheapest package includes two hours of driver’s ed and two one-hour driving sessions for $189. Their mid-level package includes 10 one-hour driving sessions for $699. Their elite package includes 30 one-hour driving sessions for $1799.

Why I Decided to Teach My Teen to Drive

If I picked the cheapest session, I would still have to go out with my teen for many hours of driving, so why not just do it myself?

We ended up buying a home-based driver’s ed program. We watch that for a few lessons. Then we hit the road. So far, our teen has about 10 hours of driving under his belt.

I Can Keep My Cool

Another reason why I decided to teach my teen to drive is that I can keep my cool. If he does something erratic like accidentally pushing the gas instead of the brake (it’s happened!) I can quickly and calmly tell him to hit the other pedal.

If you don’t think you can keep your cool with your teen, I don’t recommend teaching them to drive. My mom went out driving with me just twice before I got my license. Once, I was learning to drive stick shift, and I stalled the car in an intersection when I tried to go from a stop. My mom panicked and started saying, “Go, go! We’re going to get hit!” Let me tell you, that did not help me get the car moving.

We Have a Vehicle to Use

We have two vehicles, one we bought 17 years ago when our teen was just an infant. Of course, I don’t want my son to have an accident, but if he does have a fender bender, this vehicle can take it. If I had a brand-new car, I might not decide to teach my teen to drive.

Final Thoughts

Should you teach your teen to drive? As you can see, that depends on many factors. For our family, I decided to teach my teen to drive because we could save money, I stay calm, and we have a vehicle he can use. However, other families may have to consider other factors and make the decision that is right for their families.

Read More

What Should Teen Drivers Contribute to the Expense of a Vehicle?

4 Tips to Save on Car Insurance for Teens

Your Teen and Their First Car

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Family Time, Growing Up, Money and Finances, Parenting, Parenting Blog at KidsAintCheap Tagged With: driving lessons, teen driver

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Basic Principles Of Good Parenting

Here some basic principles for good parenting:

  1. What You Do Matters: Your kids are watching you. So, be purposeful about what you want to accomplish.
  2. You Can’t be Too Loving: Don’t replace love with material possessions, lowered expectations or leniency.
  3. Be Involved Your Kids Life: Arrange your priorities to focus on what your kid’s needs. Be there mentally and physically.
  4. Adapt Your Parenting: Children grow quickly, so keep pace with your child’s development.
  5. Establish and Set Rules: The rules you set for children will establish the rules they set for themselves later.  Avoid harsh discipline and be consistent.
  6. Explain Your Decisions: What is obvious to you may not be evident to your child. They don’t have the experience you do.
  7. Be Respectful To Your Child: How you treat your child is how they will treat others.  Be polite, respectful and make an effort to pay attention.
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