The News Wheel
No Comments

How to Decrease Car Insurance Costs for Your Teen Driver

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

The realization that your baby is old enough to legally take the wheel is enough to make your heart hurt. Then you start pricing car insurance policies to cover your teen driver, and your head starts to hurt.

“Why is it so expensive to insure teen drivers? Insurance companies calculate premiums based on the risk of an accident. After all, the greater the risk, the greater the chance they’ll have to pay on a driver’s claim. And who are the riskiest drivers in the world? Teens,” reports How Stuff Works Writer Ed Grabianowski.

But, thankfully, there are ways to save on this necessary expense.

Instead of purchasing a policy unique to your teen, add him to your existing policy, advises NerdWallet.com. And, if you’re not already encouraging your teen to hit the books, now is the time; NerdWallet.com says kids who rank at the top of their classes, averaging grades of B or higher, will get a cut on insurance costs.

Education outside of school, specifically through a driver’s education course, “can knock as much as 15% off the insurance bill,” Grabianowski reports.

The location of your kid’s higher education can save you money, too.

“Some insurers offer a discount if the student is attending school at least 100 miles away from home and doesn’t take a car,” reports NerdWallet.com.

Instilling safe driving habits in your teen driver can be cost-effective, too, as accidents, reckless driving citations, speeding tickets, and other ways of breaking the rules of the road will raise insurance bills, according to Grabianowski.

“For a teen driver, the best way to keep those rates low is to be a good, attentive and safe driver. Anything that results in a claim on your insurance is going to drive up the premiums, erase any ‘good customer’ discounts and cost you a lot of money in the long run,” he writes.

News Source: How Stuff Works, NerdWallet