<p>I'm a teenaged guy and so me and my family are paying a small fortune for my car insurance. I'll be going to school in NYC next year and will only be driving during the summers and during breaks. What should we do about car insurance for all that time I won't be driving? Is there anything we can do to cut down on costs?</p>
<p>We don't have to pay car insurance for my D who is in school away from home. She is covered under my policy. Check with your agent to be sure, though.</p>
<p>You should talk to your insurance company and see what they recommend. They deal with this all the time, and should be able to advise you.
AAA will let us take our college kid off of the insurance policy during the school year by signing a release. Then, when she comes home for the summer, we call them and put her back on. I didn't put her on during winter or spring breaks, because the papers need to be signed all over again, and they have to recalculate your premium each time. Her little brother drove her around.
It really is worth it to do this. a hassel, but saves big bucks.</p>
<p>thanks!! i'll definetly call my insurance company and look into this!</p>
<p>Same here. I believe ours takes the kid off for 9 months of the year. And the parent then specifically designate which 3 months of the year they DO want coverage for. If they have a long Xmas break, one month could be December, the other 2 during summer. But the college has to be a certain number of miles away from home to qualify. Main thing is to ask about the details.</p>
<p>Our insurance company lists our son as an "away student" --this way we don't have to put him back on when he comes home for vacation, but the rate is reduced since he won't be driving most of the year.</p>
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<p>Ours works the same way. When D was 1300 miles away at school, we let them know that her car was still here at home, and they changed the rate; but D could drive while home on break.</p>
<p>Our insurance company has a special rate - something like 'less than 1/2 year' young driver. We notified them when our S went off for his first year...do not have to tell them each time he comes home on break...saves us something like $300/yr. - off $1500/yr.! They also have something totally different where you designate any 3 consecutive months that the car will not be driven by anyone at all (even my H and me - the owners on the title), and you can save even more. This option didn't work for us, b/c we could never find a 3-month window where S would not be home and need the car for work.</p>
<p>It really depends on how far away your college is from your home. I know that our Insurance Co., State Farm, will only take the kid off the policy if the distance is > 200 miles.</p>
<p>My auto insurance refuses to take me off or offer any discounts, saying that my college is too close to home (about 30 miles). I faxed them my college housing contracts and everything to prove that I live in the dorms and hence do not drive, but they still would not budge.</p>
<p>When when Geico was informed that S's car was "away at college", they decided that the car could no longer stay on our family policy, and subsequently would cost $2500 more to insure, on an individual (Son's) basis! We ended up taking the car out of Campus parking, so there would be no evidence that the car was there. Just paying parking tickets now, and waiting for graduation!</p>
<p>30 miles is way too close. Even if you live in the dorms on campus, you could be home every week-end and be driving the car a few hundred miles easily.</p>