DS just turned 16 and is getting his driver’s license. He attends boarding school, does not have a car there, and there is zero chance he will be driving someone else’s car there.
When he is home, he may drive one of our cars. Obviously, we need him to have insurance when he does that.
Insurance agent says that we need to add him to our policy as an additional named insured. The quoted price to add him seems like it would cover a year’s worth of tuition, feed a small army, or match the GDP of many developing nations.
Part of the problem seems to be that we are buying insurance that covers his driving for a full year, when he really only has potential to drive during, and needs insurance for, three months of the summer plus a few scattered weeks of other breaks.
I loathe the idea of giving the insurance company more than fair exchange and would also like to save money. Agent has no ideas how to get it priced to accurately reflect the more limited risks of his driving.
Looking for ideas. Has anyone figured out a solution to this issue?
Hmm, when our kids are away at college (or a gap year program), we were given an “away” rate that wasn’t too bad. Can you ask about that? We use State Farm.
We haven’t been through this with boarding school, but for college, the insurance agent said it depends how far away the school is. As a result, we will need to pay the full rate of dd’s car insurance even though she will live on campus and isn’t allowed a car on campus. Grrrr
My agent told me that a lot of parents just take the kid off the policy and hope that nothing happens! Don’t think that is very smart, considering the age/experience of the kids.
Second @MaineLonghorn and @carpoolingma . Liberty Mutual has a similar program too. Very reasonable premium. Kid needs to be attending a school a certain distance away (can’t remember exactly how far).
You want to avoid not having insurance if you can avoid it. Silly things happen, where your child could be in a position to be driving someone else’s car for all the right reasons.
The obvious one is someone drinking and unable to drive. Imagine if a friend with a car breaks their foot while hiking together, and your child in driving them to the hospital (in the friends car) is involved in an accident. Life happens…it depends on your risk tolerance and finances.
As a NJ resident, it costs more for my 2 non-drivers than it does for my wife and me and the cars…so I feel your pain. Shop it around is the best advice.
@sunnyschool With the learners permit, you need to alert the insurance company but there is no insurance increase. IF there is an accident, it goes on the record of the licensed driver accompanying the child.
I have Geico – (switched from Commerce Ins Co a couple of years ago and I am now paying half as much!) and you can take the kid off the policy during the months they are at school and the rate drops even more
Ours has a discount if student is more than 100 miles away from home. Or you can choose a good student discount. Only one discount can apply. It wasn’t as much to add him as we had thought. Rates go up with license not permit.
For us, if kid is at school 100 miles or more from home, with proof of being away (which we can do retroactively with grade reports), the rate is discounted.
We just didn’t have our daughter at boarding school get a license. We had circumstances in summer that meant that wasn’t necessary so we bought two years out of it but I would at least consider a delay until the summer after he’s eligible for a license.
