Adding a Teen Driver to Car Insurance

In most cases, the cost of car insurance for teens will be lower if you add them to your existing policy, although it’ll increase your premiums.

Reasons to Add a Teen Driver to Your Policy

• While your teenager is just starting out in the world of driving, you have a driving history as well as a credit history, which means they can benefit from your experience. If you are the primary driver on the policy, the insurance company will consider your driving history more than theirs.
• You can easily update the policy for both you and your teen, such as by lowering or adding limits and adding or subtracting coverages.
• Your teenager will be able to drive all of the vehicles in your household.
• Managing one policy is easier than managing multiple policies.

Reasons Not to Add a Teen Driver to Your Policy

• If you have a luxury vehicle or sports car that you won’t let your teen drive, it’s best to get them a separate policy for the car they will drive.¹

If you’ve decided that adding your teen to your existing auto insurance policy is the way to go, or if you’re still contemplating it, keep reading to learn more.

When to Add Your Teen to Your Policy

Ask your agent when you should add your teen to your insurance policy. It may be best to wait until they get their learner’s permit or even their unrestricted license. However, there’s no hard-and-fast rule as to when you should add your teenager to your policy.²

How to Add Your Teen to Your Policy

1. Contact your insurance agent and tell them you want to add your teenager to your existing policy.
2. Answer any questions the insurer has.
3. Read your rewritten policy to make sure you understand and it’s accurate.
4. Pay your new premiums. The coverage will kick in on the policy’s effective date.

How to Save Money When You Add Your Teen to Your Policy

• Bundle. You’ve already bundled your child’s and your car insurance together, but if you have any other types of insurance with different companies (life, renters, home, etc.), bundle them all under the same provider. Most companies offer bundling discounts.
• Lower your limits. There’s no doubt that lowering your liability limits will also lower your car insurance premiums. Given teenagers’ propensity for car accidents, though, we recommend buying as much insurance as you can afford. Short-term savings could mean higher costs down the line.
• Drop coverages. You may not need comprehensive coverage on an older car or rental car coverage if you own multiple vehicles. Feel free to drop any coverages your state doesn’t require; again, just keep your financial responsibility in mind.
• Raise deductibles. You can raise your deductibles to lower your auto insurance costs. However, you’ll have to pay more if your child causes a comprehensive or collision claim.
• Get them a safe car. Insurance companies base their prices partially on vehicle safety ratings, so get your kid an affordable but safe car (find out more about the best cars for teens below).

Even if you apply all the best practices for saving money, you should still expect to pay about 45 percent more when you add your teen to your car insurance policy. This is based on the average annual cost of insurance for teens, which is $3,751 — 258 percent higher than the average across all age groups ($1,047).

Car insurance rates vary by age throughout our lives, but for new drivers, they’re the highest they’ll ever be, all else being equal.

When Do Rates Decrease?

You can expect rates to decrease by the time your teen turns 19 or 20, reaching normal levels by age 25. See below for the average insurance costs from Progressive for 2020 to 2021.

Why Is Car Insurance for Teens So Expensive?

There’s a simple reason why car insurance for teens is so expensive: They have the highest rates of motor vehicle deaths and crashes of all types.

In general, a 16-year-old driver is considered a worse driver than any other age, with a higher rate of claims. A 16-year-old driver is 32 percent more likely to get into fatal crashes and 45 percent more likely to get into any type of crash than the average across all age groups. No wonder the cost of car insurance for 16-year-olds is the highest.

You always need to meet the minimum coverage requirements, which vary by state — but they’re insufficient for your teen driver, no matter where you live. When it comes to your teen’s auto insurance coverage, the more, the better. We recommend full coverage, which includes the following.

• Bodily injury liability coverage: Bodily injury liability covers any medical costs your child causes to another car’s driver and passengers. Buy as much as you can afford, up to $500,000 when combined with property damage liability.
• Property damage liability coverage: Property damage liability covers any third party’s property damages in accidents your teen causes.
• Collision coverage: Collision coverage pays for your property damages in accidents your child causes. The limit will be your car’s actual market value (AMV).
• Comprehensive coverage: Unless you have an old car, it’s best to get comprehensive coverage to pay for property damages from events other than collisions (such as car theft, vandalism, and inclement weather). As with collision coverage, the comprehensive limit is your car’s AMV.
• Medical payments coverage or personal injury protection (PIP): Even if you already have health insurance, you can add medical payments coverage in at-fault states or PIP in no-fault states like Florida. Medical payments coverage includes only the costs of your injuries, while PIP also covers any lost wages or child care you have to pay for as a result of your injuries.

If you live in a state with a large number of uninsured motorists, you may want to consider adding uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. This will cover your bodily injury and property damage costs if your child gets into an accident with someone driving with no insurance or insufficient insurance.

1. Send them to driver’s ed. One obvious teen driver safety tip is to send them to driver training courses if you can afford them. This might be easier (and less nerve-wracking) than teaching them to drive yourself.
2. Set a good example. When you’re driving, make sure you’re following all state rules and not using any electronic devices. Distracted driving among teens is very common, unfortunately, but you can help discourage it by not partaking yourself.
3. Involve them in maintenance and insurance. For a teenager, being able to drive is a push toward independence, giving them the power to travel without depending on you for rides. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. To help your child understand the real consequences of accidents and reckless or negligent driving, involve them in their car’s maintenance and financial aspects, from oil changes to insurance premiums. While it might be unreasonable to expect them to pay the entire premium, paying a fraction will teach them responsibility and turn them into a more careful driver, as they know their rates will increase after an at-fault accident.
4. Practice with them. If you’re not too afraid, have your child practice driving with you in the passenger seat, starting in an empty parking lot before moving on to low-traffic areas. Always remain calm or at least project calmness, as your mood will affect your child’s mindset and, therefore, their driving.
5. Use a checklist. To ensure you’re teaching them everything they need to know, use the checklist from the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, accessible via https://injury.research.chop.edu/sites/default/files/documents/tdp_goal_guide_0.pdf.
6. Sign a parent-teen contract. Obviously, your child is obligated to follow state and local laws, but the restrictions don’t need to stop there. You could sign a parent-teen driving contract with your child, outlining any additional restrictions you want them to abide by, like curfews, passenger limits, or supervision. For example, maybe you don’t want your child to drive with a particularly distracting friend, or driving at night at all, even if your state allows it.

• Good crash test ratings: Safety should be your No. 1 priority in a car, so look for high crash test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration⁴ and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety⁵. These data points measure a car’s crashworthiness, how well it protects its passengers, and its crash avoidance or mitigation — how it can either prevent crashes or lessen their severity.
• Safe technology: Look for cars with safety features such as driver monitoring, anti-lock brakes, and automatic high beams⁶.
• Sedans: Sedans are preferable to SUVs and pickup trucks, which are hard to park.
• Low to medium horsepower: High-horsepower cars are at higher risk of hydroplaning.

• Permissive use clause: A permissive use clause is a portion of your insurance policy that allows people who borrow your car with permission to get coverage under your policy. It’s designed for occasional, short-term borrowing, not your teen who uses your car regularly and lives in your household. Note that misrepresentation on your application could result in a midterm cancellation.⁷
• Driver risk: Driver risk, part of insurance providers’ driver classification, measures how prone someone is to collisions, fatalities, and injuries. Drivers are classified as either safe, acceptable, or risky — or low, medium, or high risk. Teens are rated as high risk automatically because of their lack of experience behind the wheel.
• Primary driver: The primary driver is the person listed on a policy who drives a vehicle the most. Therefore, the primary driver’s risk level is the main data point an insurance company considers when determining premiums.
• Secondary driver: A secondary driver is a person listed on an insurance policy who uses a car less than the primary driver. While the insurer takes the secondary driver’s risk level into account, it’s at a lower percentage than the primary driver’s risk level.
• Excluded driver: An excluded driver is someone your policy excludes from coverage, meaning they’re not allowed to borrow your car. If they borrow your car anyway and get into an accident, they won’t be covered, whereas a rated or named driver would be covered. Not all states allow for excluded drivers.

That’s all for this auto insurance guide, but if you want to learn more, you can also keep reading about the process of adding your teenager to your car insurance policy in our frequently asked questions below.