16 Year Old Son

[djs]

You need to add your son as soon as he is behind the wheel driving. At that point, he can get into an accident, and you want to make sure it is covered.

Back in the horse and buggy days (at least the original VW Beetle days), when I got my license, you only had a permit for 30 days. I guess nobody cared much back then. Now, with young drivers having a permit for 6 months, you would be amazed at how many fender benders happen.

Here is the thing. Assuming your son lives in your household, he has to be listed on the policy to be covered. Every carrier I know of in California does not provide permissive user coverage for household members. Some carriers may not rate him until he is fully licensed, most will.

If he is rated, they should take into consideration that he is an extremely limited driver until he is licensed.

My suggestion is to make sure you have an old 'beater' car that only has liability coverage, then make sure you carry decent limits of liability and property damage coverage. Make sure he gets rated on that car, not the Corvette or the Lexus.

Dan

 

[StephenMurphy]

This is what I want to know.

 

[TomWiecek]

Dan gave good advice. It depends on the state you live in though. In CA you may be able to add a non-licensed driver but in here in NC, you can't. It is a good idea to call the company though and increase your liability limits since your exposure to a lawsuit has just skyrocketed.
You may be happy with a direct company but having an agent that specializes in insuring teen drivers that can give you good advice is well worth making a switch.
Tom

 

[PotentialFarmer]

Dan gave good advice. It depends on the state you live in though. In CA you may be able to add a non-licensed driver but in here in NC, you can't. It is a good idea to call the company though and increase your liability limits since your exposure to a lawsuit has just skyrocketed.
You may be happy with a direct company but having an agent that specializes in insuring teen drivers that can give you good advice is well worth making a switch.
Tom

I'd have to disagree on that. Although having an agent is undeniably a great idea and surpassed by none, the coverage afforded by USAA is one hell of a bang for your buck. Instead take some of that savings and take out an agent to lunch, explain to him that you have USAA and you'd like some advice on your teen driver, you wont switch but he can have a nice steak dinner/lunch while he helps you understand your risks and how to cover them. I've tried to quote against USAA and with all my resources no premium A rated carrier will touch it from my experience. But you will want to get a beater to have him rated on, that will help tremendously.

 

[AaronNeal]

What's the typical increase for a new driver on their parent's isnurance? When I read the title of this post, I thought about the rate increase just as WinoBlues did. I have an 11 year old, so I've got some time to save up but what is they typical cost or % increase a new driver causes?

 

[Mr. Bill]

As he said, he has USAA. The rate increase is minimal. Mine was. In fact, I don't recall that they increased my rates at all.

Will be interesting to see what other companies do.

 

[sr22]

Best advice call them. You need to find out how much it is going to cost and like others have said you need him covered. If he drives he must be insured. Some companies have underwriting that require anyone over a certain age living in the household be listed or excluded from the policy. USAA may offer him a good rate based on you. If he should start getting tickets and accidents and need his own policy car insurance will get very expensive for him.

 

[Kapture]

Are they added before, during or after drivers ed and training?
Not looking forward to having to sell a piece of a well used liver to pay for it.

Thanks for the reply.

When he becomes fully licensed is when I tell my customers to add their children... but you are also going to want to look up permissive use drivers in your contract.... Every company is different