<p>I kept my son on when he went to college, even though it was pretty expensive (1900 or so, including good student and away at college discount) and his school was 300 miles away. When he turned 19 it did go down significantly. Don’t know if it would have gone down had we not kept him on the policy.</p>
<p>Yes, my insurance company offers a discount because my son goes to school over 100 miles away and another discount because he is on the Dean’s list. The company told me that if I buy a third car, I will really get hit with a big insurance premium increase because they will assume one of my college student kids is driving the car every day.</p>
<p>This is what it says on my insurance Rate Class Explanation (NY):
At School Classification - young male or female unmarried drivers who are away at school over 100 road miles from home and do not have an auto at school are not rated, unless he or she customarily drives the automobile.</p>
<p>We had Farmers until they wouldn’t work with us with d away at school. We switched to AAA. There’s not even a discount for d being over 200 miles away, and she is listed on the policy, but it’s still only half as much as we paid for the three of us at Farmers.</p>
<p>We get an Allstate discount with DS 200+ miles away. He is still covered when at home and when driving other cars. But in our case we have more drivers than cars. so his coverage is not too bad either way. If we had a 4th car for him I think it would be a different story.</p>
<p>Liberty mutual and State Farm offer discounts if your child is 100 miles away at school.</p>
<p>We have AARP/The Hartford. I just telephoned the company the other day to ask about the discount when my youngest son goes away to college in another year. As long as the car stays home and he goes 100 or more miles away, he receives a big student discount. So the car stays in the driveway.</p>
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<p>True, but…</p>
<p>The policy on the Car is primary. Most policies have provisions that they are Secondary for automobiles that are not available for your normal use (rental cars, and such). So, if you OWN two cars, and are in an accident with one that you do not have insurance on, then you are SOL. But, if you borrow or rent someone’s car for a short period of time (30 days or less??) then you typically have secondary insurance with whatever policy that covers a car you own.</p>
<p>Note: It also covers cars that you purchase during the first 14 days of ownership. That gives you time to get the car listed on your policy.</p>
<p>Our insurance said that if DD was excluded from our auto policy she would also be excluded from our homeowners with them, so she would not have any property loss coverage while at school. We were also told that if we excluded her and she is found driving our insured cars at any time then we would be dropped. We did not get a discount for her being over 100 miles away, but got the good student discount and a discount for her taking their driving course. She also listed on the car that is cheapest to insure as “not a primary driver”. It was cheaper than I thought it would be, we pay about $400/yr through Kansas Farm Bureau.</p>
<p>We are keeping our daughter on our insurance because 1) we live 25 miles or so from the school, so if she visits us during her breaks, she’ll use one of our cars; 2) her college has a lot of Zipcars; and 3) she is not a confident driver.</p>
<p>It is a good idea to keep your kid insured as back up when they rent zip cars. Since zipcars for those under 21 are only required to cover the state minimum, you want some extra coverage.</p>
<p>We have State Farm and because we have three cars they will not reduce the policy even though she won’t be taking the car to school. I have to pay $57 a month to have it sit in our driveway.</p>
<p>@octoberedana said: We have State Farm and because we have three cars they will not reduce the policy even though she won’t be taking the car to school. I have to pay $57 a month to have it sit in our driveway.</p>
<p>This is interesting, because I was just told the opposite from State Farm. My S1 going away to college does not get a “student away” discount because we have three cars and 4 drivers. Agent said the car would have to be grounded and not assigned to a driver for the discount to apply. Hmmmm. </p>
<p>We have USAA and take advantage of the “kid away at school w/o a car” discount. It does give peace of mind to know that she has the extra coverage and roadside assistance if she is driving someone else’s car - which she does with regularity I understand. We don’t need to make any changes when she does come home for short breaks - her coverage holds.</p>
<p>You aren’t insuring the driver but the car, and that premium is based on who in the household drives (and the value of the car). If your child has an accident while driving someone else’s car, it is that person’s insurance that covers your driver. I can take my kids off my policy on MY car and they can still drive other cars, but if they drive mine I can lose coverage because they live in my household.</p>
<p>In CT Liberty Mutual lowers the rate when the kids go to college 100 miles or greater from home. </p>
<p>@octoberdana - We have State Farm and because we have three cars they will not reduce the policy even though she won’t be taking the car to school. I have to pay $57 a month to have it sit in our driveway. </p>
<p>We have AAA and 3 cars. I left my son on our policy even though he was over 200 miles away and only driving when home on breaks. Our insurance was reduced (quite a lot!!) the following year because we qualified for a low mileage insurance discount. </p>