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As a parent, one of the things we stress over is providing our children with a good quality of life. To do this, we have to say no to many unnecessary items that our kids beg for, shave costs when shopping for groceries, and look for discounts on the majority of the household bills.
The question “When do you add your child to your car insurance?” is one that is commonly searched on the internet as a child gets closer to the legal age of driving. One of the reasons for this is because insurance is expensive, and most, if not all, parents anticipate their teenage driver causing their rates to skyrocket.
Unfortunately, those who anticipate their insurance rates will increase because of their teenage driver are partially correct for making that assumption. However, there are ways to get discounts and avoid being given too high a rate when you understand the exact factors that play a role in the rate change.
How much does it cost to add a teenager to car insurance?
On average, it can cost anywhere between 130% to 160% extra to add a teenager to your auto insurance policy. This means you could be paying a minimum of an additional $2,000 a year in premiums for auto coverage.
This average value varies depending on the state you reside in, discounts you have applied to your policy, and many other factors such as:
- Tickets and accidents
- Age of the driver
- Gender of the driver
- Student’s achievements
- Number of policies you have with the provider
- The age of your vehicle
- The type of vehicle your teenager drivers
- The number of people on your policy
Some insurance providers may even go as far as inquiring about the medical history of your teenage driver. So if your teenager suffers from some physical or mental illness, like anxiety or depression, that could play a role in your rates as well.
A fair number of parents do not consider how having an anxious teenager could negatively affect their rates, but insurers can easily assess things as being high-risk and therefore increase rates.
Why and How Gender Affects Auto Insurance Rates
Insurance providers deem male drivers (at any age) as being riskier drivers than female drivers. The fluctuation in rates between the genders stems from statistics and research. In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report that provided insight on how the death rate amongst male teen drivers was twice as high as female teenage drivers.
Though the CDC did not detail precisely why the male drivers’ death rate is twice as higher as female teen drivers, they did notate other risk factors that put teens in general at a higher risk.
Here are some of those factors
- Inexperience in driving
- Active driving during the night and weekend
- Not wearing a seatbelt
- Driving while distracted
- Driving while intoxicated
- Speeding while driving
What’s the cost difference of adding a teen male in comparison to adding a teen female?
Though gender plays a role in determining insurance rates for most insurance providers, not all of the states in the United States consider gender as a heavy determining factor. In general, the states that deem male teenagers as riskier drivers charge a 30% difference in premiums between male and female teen drivers.
The top five states with the highest premium difference between males and female teenage drivers are Mississippi, Wyoming, Iowa, Maine, and New Hampshire. In contrast, the top five states with the lowest premium difference between gender are California, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Montana.
The rates may fluctuate slightly in the lower premium states, but the gap is not wide enough to make much of a difference within studies.
So while in some cases, spending time away from your kids can help make you a better human, those parents with teenage boys may be wary of letting them drive on their own at first because of these statistics.
Despite that being an understandable move to make, it is unnecessary because despite the higher rates, there are ways to knock those rates back down. And now that you know the factors associated with high death rates amongst teenage drivers, you can teach your driver, male or female, to drive safer and better.
How to Lower Your Insurance Rates with a Teen Driver
Wanting to stray away from letting your teenager onto the roads after learning the statistics and risks associated with drivers their age and gender is entirely normal for a parent. Heck, I am terrified of sending my child out onto the road, and she is nowhere near the age of driving.
Despite those common fears, your teenager needs to learn how to be independent, and there are driving courses that not only help them be a safe driver but can also help lower your insurance rates if you combine them with other discounts.
Safe Driving Discount Programs
Schools and local DMV offices typically offer safe driving and defensive driving classes or can provide recommendations for private programs. Granted, these programs may cost a fee depending on who you go through, but they teach your child invaluable life-saving driving skills.
Keep in mind that most insurance providers give at least an eight percent discount if you can prove that your child has attended this training type.
Good Student Discount
Another discount offer that most insurers provide is a good student discount where they reward teens for getting good grades. The child is to maintain a B-average and be enrolled full-time in high school or college.
This discount can range between 7% and 25% discount depending on the state and insurance provider.
Always Ask for Other Discount Options
The safe driving programs and good student discounts are most common amongst all insurance providers, but individual providers may offer other deals. When you are making the steps to add your teenager to your policy, you should speak with a representative about the rate changes and how you can cut costs.
Some other standard discount options amongst insurance providers include away-from-home discounts, monitoring app or device discounts, and multi-car discounts. It is true that having a teen driver will raise your insurance rates, but there are a variety of ways that make the higher rates manageable.
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Imani Francies writes and researches for the auto insurance comparison site, AutoInsurance.org. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media and specializes in various forms of media marketing.
This content is brought to you by Anne Davis.
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