What’s going on, guys? Today I’m at the Motor Vehicle Department, everyone’s favorite place. Actually, everyone’s favorite place to hate. People hate it even more when they are coming down here to get their 16 year old son or daughter licensed and they realize, crap, I have to add them onto my insurance policy and it costs a ton of money. So I’m here today to offer a few tips to help you so that you can reduce the amount that you have to pay each month to add your young driver to your insurance policy.
Tips For Saving Money
So here’s a few tips. The first tip, start the process early. Don’t wait until your son or daughter is over there taking the driving test to call your insurance agent and say, hey, I need to add them on to my insurance policy. It takes a while, it takes a bit of research to find the best price, the best company, the best car. So start that process early.
Another tip. If you’re buying a new car for your son or daughter, search for an older car that you can insure with liability only. Older cars that are insured with liability only are going to be a lot cheaper. And call your agent, like I said, ahead of time with different cars that you’re looking at. He can give you pricing and tell you which car is going to be cheaper to insure. But you got to start that process early.
Another tip-Make sure, if you have the option, and there’s tons of schools out there, so the option is there. Make sure that your son or daughter takes a driver training program. That helps reduce the cost, and it also helps reduce your anxiety as a parent, knowing that they know how to drive a little bit before you set them loose out there on the road.
Another tip- Make sure your son or daughter is a good student. Usually that means 3.0 or better. And you supply that report card to your insurance company, that reduces the cost a huge amount.
And then the last tip, and a very important tip, make sure you’re calling a insurance broker who can look at all the different companies and find the best rate. Just because you and your spouse have had a really good rate with a State Farm or an Allstate doesn’t mean that now you can add your child on it and the rate is still going to be good. You need a broker that can search all the different companies to find the best rate for young drivers. Different companies have different rates, they have different appetites as to what they want. And if you have a broker, he can take care of all of that for you to make sure that you get the best rate.
Is the cost justified?
And then my last bit of advice is, it’s going to cost a lot of money, to be honest, to insure your young driver, but that’s for a good reason. I tell all my clients, it’s not if but it’s when your child’s going to get in an accident, and how bad it’s going to be. So expect to pay a little bit extra because the insurance company is probably going to have to pay out when your young driver gets in an accident.
So do these things. It will help reduce your anxiety, and you’re going to have anxiety no matter what because your young kid is out there driving, that’s so scary. But if you do these things, follow these tips, it will help you a little bit so that there won’t be so much anxiety there when your young driver turns 16.