Always knew that women paid less then men for insurance.
yeah, here all the insurance companies are allowed to slap on an “inexperienced driver” surcharge (for us over $1,000 annually) for 3 years, so they all do.
doesn’t matter if there are enough vehicles for the kid to be listed as primary on one.
This is a really important / useful topic.
I can’t fathom a 300+ / month bump. My son is getting his license in a month.
Maybe 
Any companies do well?
I still have 5+ years until I need to worry about this, but with the increases like this I wonder if you can work around by e.g. registering a cheap car in an older relative’s name and still have it used by a teen driver?
Probably not very legal and ethical, but for almost $5k a year you can literally rent a separate place for a teen and “create” a separate household? (sorry if that sounds stupid, not sure it’s even possible until a teen reaches 18)
That’s bordering on fraud. The older relative would also have to have the same garaged address, or the teen would have to have the same address as the older driver…whichever you prefer.
And the older relative would have to accept liability, which would complicate things. I would think it would save some money upfront but would be easy to pierce if something drastic happened and lawyers got involved.
Can a granny lend her car to a beloved grandson? Like, from time to time, if he doesn’t have his own one?
This question alone always puzzled me about the US car insurance system - e.g. in Russia where I lived for many years it’s all plain and simple - unless your name is specifically listed on a policy OR a policy is of a special “open” type (which is much more expensive than the one even for the youngest driver), you cannot drive this car, period, full stop. From what I always understood in the US, it is not always the case. Or it is? Can I borrow my granny’s car for a week if mine is repaired in the shop without going through adding my name to her policy etc.?
Granny can loan her car, yes. The kid would still need insurance though.
Well, let me rephrase that…technically, the insurance would follow the car. If the owner of the car didn’t have enough insurance to cover an accident, they would then come after the driver. If the driver had no insurance policy, he could be in debt for a long, long time.
You’re playing Russian Roulette if you get behind the wheel of a car without an insurance policy, period.
So, if I understand it right, the OP can keep 3 cars, but add a teen as the 4th driver. This way the teen will technically not become a primary driver of any car, though he will still be covered. It will increase the insurance by $1800/year.
At the same time the loving granny buys a used Toyota Camry as a second/third car to her household and from time to time lends her car to her children/grandchildren. Doesn’t really matter who in that “family of 4” will be using that car - it can well be an adult, not necessarily a teen - a teen can still use one of the three cars the family owns.
Of course, granny will need to pay extra for adding a car to “her” garage, but hopefully that will not be as much as $3k.
I understand this might sound like a borderline fraud and IANAL, but I still don’t see any huge issues with such a structure (unless I’m missing something). I know of extended families here in rural PA having e.g. one minivan / one large truck / one farm vehicle and pretty much borrowing it on as-needed basis. I wonder how they properly put it in their insurance contracts.
Care by Volvo – insurance is included – may be a good idea.
If a family has 2 cars, but 3 drivers…
Dad is principal driver on car 1 (most likely registered to him)
Mom is principal driver on car 2 (most likely registered to her)
Teen would be a driver on the policy, however, there are no more cars to assign him to. This would cost less, insurance wise, but the teen is still covered in an accident.
Once you add a 3rd car, you can’t have 2 people a principal driver on 2 vehicles. You have to add the teen to the third.
IF granny is involved, she would be assigned the 3rd car, and the teen would be on the policy, but not assigned a vehicle. With that said, granny would have to live at the same address, or the teen would have to live at granny’s address, or it’s borderline fraud. If Jr. gets into an accident, and insurance proves that granny doesn’t live at the correct address, they could, in theory, deny the claim and a legal battle would ensue. Remember that insurance is a business, and as a business, they are there to make money. If they can find a way to NOT pay a claim, you bet your ass they will. Now, think about it. Is it really worth saving that money over a few years time when one accident that insurance denies could put you in the hole tens of thousands of dollars because you’re trying to find a loophole?
Being that teen drivers are statistically “idiots” behind the wheel (I know I was, and so were my friends), and more likely to get into an accident than someone who has been driving for much longer, insurance companies know this. That’s why it costs so much more to add a kid to a policy. Your kid can be the best driver you’ve ever seen, however, from a statistical standpoint, the insurance companies are still betting on the fact they will have to pay a claim. As a result, you have to pay.
Geary126 It all depends. Some companies are better than other. Your place of residence plays a big part in it too. Say you live in NYC you are paying many times more for a teen than say rural Ohio. Shop around no two situations are going to be the same with insurance.
So let’s say the following:
- the teen will be driving a car owned by mom (so the car registered to the same address a teen lives at),
- mom (as a person statistically having much less chance getting into an accident) will from time to time be driving a car owned by the granny (registered to the other address),
this will be a relatively safe structure?
If mom does something stupid and gets into an accident in a granny’s car, mom’s insurance will still cover her, won’t it?
Sorry, I am still trying to comprehend this “insurance follows the vehicle, yet your own policy is primary even if you are driving someone’s vehicle” concept, thus so many questions. And I don’t know about others, but $3k/year is quite a huge money, at least for me, so if I could save 3k by cutting some corners, yet without exposing myself or anyone involved to catastrophic risks, you can bet I’d try doing it 
Clarification on some of the things being said here that aren’t necessarily true. If you have 2 cars and 3 drivers the teen driver is going to be rated on the highest vehicle of the two. Primary doesn’t really matter with many insurance companies today(Again this is not necessarily true with all but most). If you want inexpensive insurance for a teen driver stay away from compact cars or anything with lots of power. The best rates I have seen over my career in insurance have been on older Accord and Camry’s. These are decent sized vehicles cheap to repair and not speedsters.
Honestly, with all your questions about insurance, you’d be best served to sit down with an agent and let them explain everything to you.
1 Like
Maybe I’m thinking of years gone by then.
Mikka1 I know one person said it was borderline fraud. Well it isn’t borderline it is 100% fraud. If said teenager were to get in an accident in this scenario then the insurance company would deny the claim and then the other persons insurance would then come after you for all the money for the claim. When it comes to occasional use for letting someone drive your car good rule of thumb is if it is more than a couple times a month add them to the policy. This is meant as a courtesy when helping a friend out whose car is broke down while getting fixed or a grown adult driving there mothers car cause she doesn’t drive well and taking her some place, or a relative visiting town for a week. If a teenager were to get into an accident and not have their own insurance in someone else’s car it would throw up all kinds of red flags for the adjuster and it would be investigated and ultimately denied.
Well, I trust people here much more than I trust pretty much any agent - I had very unpleasant interactions with a few State Farm agents in the past which pushed me into online-only ever since (Geico then Progressive etc.) 
BTW thanks for some explanations!
Correct, but in the example discussed above a teenager WILL actually have his/her own insurance (!), he will just have no car to which he/she will be assigned as a primary driver - the whole culprit of this isolated example is about the number of vehicles in the household ($1800 vs $4800 increase)
Can you do this (add to your policy) for a person that does not live with you?
E.g. can I add my friend from NYC visiting me for a month to my policy without him legally changing his address? I tried doing something like this for my friend a few years ago and I was under the impression it was a very cumbersome process without any particular benefits?
Depends on your state. In most cases you just add them to the policy. A lot of elderly will add an adult child to their policy if they don’t drive anymore but still own a car. Even if they have a different address the insurance company doesn’t really mind. Insurance is full of gray areas this is really one of them. Usually the only time insurance companies get testy about someone not being on a policy is when they reside in the household. Companies want all drivers in the Household to be on the policy. Some companies will actually make you sign a form stating that the person not on the policy is excluded. So in that case even if they borrowed your car to go to the grocery and got in an accident it wouldn’t be covered. Insurance is really clear as mud and a reason that most insurance agents won’t answer hypothetical questions cause there are too many variables.