Teenagers do not have mature reasoning, enough self-control, a proper sense of judgment as well as emotional regulation because of which most drivers in the age between 15 and 20 get involved in accidents. Inexperience combined with lack of judgment explains why these drivers are likely to get involved in accidents and cause serious harm. The younger the driver more is the risk of an accident. This is the primary reason why your insurance rate might touch the sky if you add a teen driver to your insurance.
However, there are ways to bring down the cost of auto insurance even after you add your teen driver on your policy. Here are a few tips you may take help from:
- Check assignment of drivers: Keep a check on how your insurance company assigns drivers to the cars. If you have more than 1 teenage driver, they may assign the more expensive to insure to the car that is again most expensive to insure. This will make your rate go very high. If you can, then get your teen driver his/her own car which is not expensive. Another thing you may do is switch insurers. Some insurance companies might allow you to assign drivers to respective cars. However, it is better to keep a teen on your car rather than get him/her a separate policy, but if you do get a separate car then you must do your research properly.
- Keep up the grades: Grade A or B teen students may be offered a 10% to 25% discount by the insurance companies as they are seen as better future risks.
- Driver’s education: Many states today insist that drivers have at least 50 hours of supervised driving. Most high-school courses only offer 6 – 8 hours. By taking the driver’s ed, you can get the teen to curb 5% to 15% of the insurance money.
- Choosing high deductibles: This is a normal practice where opting for high deductibles also reduces the premium that you pay. Your premiums can get reduced by almost 35%.
- Restrict driving times: Most of the accidents occur during the night time. Restrict night time driving and an added advantage is that there are states where such restrictions are mandatory. Check out if your state is one.
- Zero tolerance: Young drivers who violate rules often lose their driving privileges entirely. They have to start all over again. Consider developing this attitude with your teenage kids.
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