Car Insurance for a Teenager: What Parents Need to Know?

According to a recent report, more teenagers are getting their driver’s licenses before the age of 18 right now than in past years. About 60% of teens obtain their driver’s license prior to their 18th birthday nowadays.

If you have a teenager who is on the verge of getting their driver’s license, they’re probably excited beyond belief. But as a parent, you might be worried about the thought of them hitting the open road.

You’re worried about the obvious safety issues involved with a teenager starting to drive. But you’re also worried about how car insurance for a teenager is going to work.

Adding a teen to a car insurance policy can make your car insurance costs go up quite a bit. Teen rates for car insurance are known to be on the higher side.

For this reason, you should learn everything that you possibly can about car insurance for teens before you help them secure a policy. It will allow you to get access to the best car insurance rates for teens.

Here is what parents need to know about teen car insurance.

Teenagers Need to Have Car Insurance

The moment that your teen driver passes their driving test and obtains their driver’s license, you’re going to need to help them get car insurance. Adding a teen to a car insurance policy is not something that is negotiable.

If you allow your teenager to drive around without car insurance, you’re going to be putting both them and yourself at risk. You could both face extensive fines and other penalties if they get caught driving with no insurance.

With this in mind, you should start looking for car insurance for a teenager in the weeks leading up to them taking their driving test. It’ll ensure that you have a policy all picked out for them in time.

You can either add them to your existing car insurance policy or get them their own car insurance policy if you want. It’s up to you to choose the right option.

Car Insurance for Teens Can Be Expensive

We’re not going to mince words here: Car insurance for teens is going to cost you a small fortune. Teenagers are some of the riskiest drivers out on the road today, and as a result, it’s expensive to get car insurance for a teenager.

The exact price that you’re going to have to pay for car insurance for a teenager is going to depend on everything from what kind of car they’ll be driving to which state you live in. But generally speaking, your car insurance costs are going to rise by about 150% when you add a teen driver to a policy.

You’re going to need to mentally prepare yourself for this jump. You’ve likely spent the last decade or two seeing your car insurance costs go down as you yourself have become a more experienced driver. And now, they’re going to shoot right back up astronomically.

Buying a New Car for a Teen Can Make Car Insurance Even Costlier

Is your teenager really pushing for you to buy them a brand-new car for their 17th birthday? Or are they taking it upon themselves to save up their money so that they can buy a brand-new car?

You should do your best to talk them into going with a used car instead. Because when it comes to car insurance for a teenager, a new car is almost always going to be more expensive to insure than a used one.

That being said, you should also shy away from investing in a used car that is either really old or really small. Some car insurance companies are going to view these kinds of cars as being too dangerous and charge you more than usual to insure them.

You might want to go as far as to check in with your car insurance company to see which types of cars they would recommend for a teen driver. They may be able to steer you in the right direction while you’re car shopping with a teenager.

It’s Important to Look for the Best Car Insurance Rates for Teens

A lot of parents decide that adding a teen to the car insurance policy that they already have is the best course of action for them. They do this without even considering seeing what other car insurance policies might have to offer.

Try not to make this mistake! You should take advantage of the fact that you can look around for the best car insurance rates for teens elsewhere.

Once upon a time, shopping around for car insurance was a huge challenge. It involved calling a bunch of different car insurance agents and obtaining quotes from them.

But in this day and age, shopping for car insurance has never been easier. You can do it right from the comfort of your couch and get the best possible deal on car insurance for a teenager.

You can also read up on what different car insurance companies bring to the table as far as car insurance for teens is concerned. It’ll make you more confident in the car insurance policy that you pick out in the end.

It’s Possible to Obtain Discounts on Teen Car Insurance

Even though car insurance for a teenager is going to be on the costlier side, you should know that there are some ways to get your hands on discounts for it. You should utilize every possible discount in an effort to bring teen car insurance costs back down to earth.

Here are just a few of the ways in which you can do it:

• See if your teen driver has good enough grades to qualify for any good student discounts offered through car insurance companies
• Sign your teen driver up for a driving safety program that could get them access to car insurance rate discounts
• Find out if you yourself are eligible for discounts on car insurance for teens thanks to your loyalty to a specific car insurance company

These discounts might not reduce the cost of car insurance for a teenager too much. But as you’ll see, every little bit is going to help!

Teen Rates for Car Insurance Should Go Down Over Time

The good news for those parents who are forced to deal with expensive car insurance rates for teenagers is that those rates won’t last forever! A teenager is, after all, only going to be a teenager for a relatively short period of time.

Once a teenager has started to log some serious miles out on the road, you should begin to see their car insurance rates go down. A car insurance company will begin to see insuring them as less of a risk, and it’ll result in lower rates for them.

There are, however, some things that a teen driver will need to do to guarantee that their rates go down over time. Take a look at several of these things below:

• Avoid getting into any accidents at all costs
• Abide by all the rules of the road to steer clear of getting any tickets
• Eliminate the chances of getting a DUI by not drinking and driving (this is one of the absolute worst things that a teen driver can do!)

As a parent, you should also get into the habit of shopping for car insurance for a teenager every so often to see if they might qualify for a better rate. Car insurance companies will be more open to offering them competitive rates as time goes on.

You’re going to need to be patient. But as long as your teenager keeps their driving record clean, you should see their car insurance costs come way down. It’ll make them so much more manageable and allow you to pass the costs along to them eventually.

Start Searching for Car Insurance for a Teenager Today

Is your teenager going to be taking their driving test in the hopes of getting their driver’s license sometime soon? If so, you shouldn’t put off shopping for car insurance for them any longer.

Obtaining car insurance for a teenager isn’t something that you’re going to be able to do in a matter of just minutes in most cases. You’ll want to put some real thought into which policy you get for them.

With a little bit of extra effort on both of your parts, you should be able to obtain the best car insurance rates for teens. It’ll make you feel more comfortable about tossing the keys to a car to your teenager and sending them out into the world in it.

Would you like to get some additional tips on buying a car for a teenager or finding car insurance for a teenager? Find them by reading through the other articles on our blog.