Your Teenager and Car Insurance

Brace yourselves; it’s going to be a bumpy ride as you try to find the best rates and car for your teen driver. One of the most expensive aspects of raising a teen is the day they get their driver’s license; it can put a real dent in the family budget.

The people over at CarInsurance.com worked up a tips list for Mercer Island Patch readers on the market for car insurance for the teen driver, and which car make and model is the best for the young drivers. Today we’ll focus on what to look for in an insurance policy and how to save money. Thursday, June 21, Patch will post the best car to buy for the teen driver.

Insuring the teen driver:

1.  Shop around. Nothing you can do will save you more money – nothing. In ZIP code 98040, one national carrier charges $1,546 a year for full coverage on a 40-year-old man with a Honda Accord and a clean record. Another one charges just $719. When you add teenagers to the policy, the difference between insurance companies only grows.

2.  Make sure your teenager has the grades. A good-student discount ranges from 5 to 25 percent depending on carrier.

3.  If you let a teenager driver your family cars, ask your company to assign him or her to the cheapest-rated car.

4.  If you buy your teenager a car, go for safety, reliability and mileage first. As long as it’s not considered a high-performance model by your insurance company, the difference won’t be huge.

5.  it’s almost always cheaper to add the teenager to a parent’s policy than to get one separately.

6.  The first year is the worst: You’re paying an “inexperience” surcharge that will lessen with each accident-free year.

For more information on how to insuring the teen driver, read the full story by Des Toups at CarInsurance.com by clicking here.