Adding A Young Driver To Your Auto Insurance Policy.

By David William Phillips

Many parents receive a rude awakening financially when they add a teenager to their auto insurance policy. It's not uncommon for insurance companies to increase rates anywhere from 150% to over 200%. This can be a huge financial burden on the average family budget.

There are three things to consider that will help keep rates lower for youthful operators. When adding a young driver to your auto insurance policy, it's very important to understand: 1) the importance of how much the young drivers grade point average (GPA) effects the rates, 2) how much the rates are impacted by which vehicle that the young driver is listed on as the primary driver, and 3) the benefits of comparing auto insurance rates through various insurance companies.

A youthful operator with a GPA of 3.0 or better, depending on the insurance company, may be eligible to receive a good student discount of 10% or more. A copy of their grade point average from the school needs to be provided when you add them to your policy in order to receive this discount.

Assigning a youthful operator to a liability only vehicle can also greatly reduce the premium. This may or may not be an option depending on your insurance company. Typically, this is only an option with preferred or standard insurance companies. Some insurance companies, instead of allowing the consumer to assign the youthful driver to a certain vehicle, will factor in the average age of all drivers to the highest rated vehicle. In this case, premiums are going to be higher.

Although you may currently have affordable insurance rates through your current insurance company, don't assume that they are going to offer the best rates when you add a youthful operator. Comparing auto insurance rates through other companies and insurance agents may be well worth the effort. Different companies may offer bigger savings on good student discounts and may allow you to assign the youthful operator as the primary driver on an older vehicle that has only liability coverage.

As a parent who has already been through adding a young driver, and with my experience as an independent insurance agent, I would suggest the following: Talk to your young driver and express to them that driving is a privilege and that his/her grade point average is a very important factor in being given the privilege to drive. Second, don't just add the youthful driver to your current policy. Speak with your current insurance agency and ask him/her to shop all the insurance companies that they have available to make sure that you are getting the best possible auto insurance rates when adding a young driver.

http://insuranceeasy.org and twenty 20 years experience as an independent insurance agent.

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