Things To Consider When Buying Car Insurance For Young Drivers
The steps to purchasing a new car do not stop once you buy the car. There are many other expenses like car insurance that you have consider. You want to make sure that you have the best car insurance before you even think about hopping on the road, especially if you have a young driver. Car insurance for young drivers can be really expensive. To get the most out of your money, there are a few things you should keep in mind before you decide to buy it. A lot of auto insurance companies typically charge more money to drivers under 25 years old because they are the most likely to cause accidents.
Determine Whether It Is Better To Get Your Own Policy Or Combine With Your Parents
Depending on what state you live in, you could save more than $5,000 a year if your join teen joins your plan. In the United States, the average amount of teens and families can save is $3,053 a year. If you get a plan on your own with full-coverage, your teenager will likely have to pay around $4,600 a year as opposed to joining your plan in which you will only have to pay around $1,600 to add that same level of coverage. The state you can save the most is Delaware. They range anywhere between $9,360 and $3,955 a year.
Look For Discounts
There are many ways that you can get discounts on car insurance. Put your teen through a training process at a driving school. New and young drivers who take a training course are 43 percent less likely to get a traffic ticket, 14 percent less likely to get into a car accident and 19 percent less likely to into fatal accidents or accidents with serious injuries. If you are 21 years old or younger and you complete an approved course, you may have up to 10 percent discounts on your car insurance.
If your teenager does exceptionally well at school and they get good grades, you could also be eligible for a discount. The reason being that making great grades in school correlates to lower accident risk. Young drivers who have an A or B average in school are typically 33 percent likely to get into a car accident that first year after getting their driver’s license than those who get a C or D average in school. If they have a 3.0-grade point average or better as well as a B average or better, make the dean’s list, the honor roll or are home-schooled and scored in the top 20 percent on an acceptable standardized test like the PSAT, SAT or ACT, insurance companies would be more than happy to provide you a discount. Your teen just has to meet one of those requirements. Those discounts can be anywhere between 10 percent to 25 percent. Exact numbers depend on the insurance company and state you live in.
Another way to earn a discount is if you persuade your child to keep the car at home while they are away in college, especially if they are going to school at least 100 miles away. The insurance company will be more likely to cut you a break if your teen is living really far away from home without access to a car. It is a win-win situation. You can have peace of mind knowing that your teenager will not wreck the car while in school and it comes with a pretty nice price tag.
One other option is to sign a driving contract. With that contract, your teen can pledge to always wear a seatbelt, never text or eat while driving, never to drive under the influence and call a ride instead, pay off any traffic or parking tickets in a timely manner, keep good grades and pay toward the cost of keeping your car in tiptop shape like car maintenance, gas and insurance. This could be by you and your child sharing the car or he or she leaves their car at home while they are away at school.
It is easy to see that having either one of those preferences puts you in a better position to get as much of a discount as possible. A combination of all these things can save you even more money, but again it depends on the insurance company and the state.
Picking The Right Car
When picking a car for your teen, you should search for something that is reliable yet affordable. You want to make sure that your teen has reliable transportation that will not break down on them but at the same time, you may not want to purchase your teen a luxury car. It is recommended to purchase a car that is from the age ranges of six to 10 years old but is still in great condition. Buying a used car is really common as 83 percent of people have bought a used vehicle for their new driver.
You should also look for a car that has low horsepower as teens will be less likely to drive fast, though they may be tempted. Those that are in midsize, large or very large cars are 43 percent less likely than smaller cars to get into a fatal accident. A car with electronic stability control is great for helping you or your teen save and in control on curves and slick roads. This imperative feature reduces the risk of a fatal single-car crash by 49 percent according to Nerd Wallet. Do some research on the safety ratings. The higher the rating, the better they will hold up in crash scenarios.
Personal Liability And Property Damage Coverage
By only opting for this type of car insurance coverage, you are saving a ton of money. Personal liability and property damage coverage, or PLPD for short, is the least amount of insurance you can buy therefore it is the cheapest. One of the things to consider is if you have PLPD you cannot have a loan on your car. Make sure that you are in the position to replace the car on your own if need be, making physical damage coverage the most expensive thing to pay for when you are a teen or young driver. Making sure your teen is a safe, defensive driver is another thing to consider when you are shopping around for car insurance. You want to avoid these as much as possible.
This is not the only type of insurance that is out there though. It all depends on how much insurance you think you need. You may have a requirement in your state that says you have to have liability insurance in order to legally drive the car on the open road. You could also purchase more liability insurance if you have savings or a house that could be a target in a lawsuit if you are at fault in an accident in which case you may have to pay whatever the insurance company does not pay. Another type of coverage is a comprehensive and collision coverage in which you owe money on your car or if there was no way you could replace it easily.
Do Not Go With The First Car Insurance You See
Make sure that you shop around for the best quote. This will help you better determine which one will be the cheapest option. It is recommended that you look for insurance companies that specialize in providing coverage for drivers who are high-risk. If you do not want to do all that research you could also find the perfect insurance company you could use an agency website that offers quotes from multiple companies. You can check out Quote Radar’s cheap car insurance for no deposit if you’re living in the UK and want to compare quotes to save money. You qualify for all of those quotes at the same time. This is the most efficient way.
Paying In Full Could Be An Option
There are tons of car insurance companies that offer a discount when you pay six months’ worth of car insurance in one lump sum. When you take this strategy, you are essentially showing your commitment to keeping an insurance long-term, so they give you a discount for paying in full in a one-time payment.
Go At It Again In A Few Months
Now that you have secured amazing insurance, you have to make sure that you keep it for six months. During this time you can shop for more car insurance and hopefully get one that is cheaper than the one you already have. If you get your car insurance and you forget about it, you could be missing out on switching from a high-risk insurance carrier to a preferred insurance carrier. The difference between these things is in the dollar amount.
Conclusion
There are a lot of things to think about when purchasing car insurance for young drivers. All these factors are what goes into the cost of certain types of insurance, depending on your insurance company and state you live in.
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