Car Insurance - Why Older Cars For Teens Make Sense

It is a day every parent dreads. Your son or daughter has reached that magical age. They are finally on the cusp of qualifying to get a drivers license. You know what that means. It means they want to drive and you need to get them car insurance!

If there is anything that will send a parent over the edge, it is when they find out how much more car insurance is going to cost when they add their child to the policy. In some states and situations, the cost of insurance may even double. Yes, it is potentially that bad! The reason has to do with statistical analysis.

Study after study has shown that teens are the single most risky group to insure. This makes sense for many reasons. Good drivers tend to be relaxed, experienced and very observant about what is going on. Teens driving for the first few times are neither relaxed nor very observant. It is difficult to relax as the driver when your mother is wearing a football helmet in the passenger seat and your father is sitting in the back seat and stomping the floor as though he is pressing the brake!

Most parents want to know one thing - is there anything they can do to cut down the cost of car in insurance for their kids? Traditionally, there has been little you can do. Fortunately, the insurance world has changed substantially the last 20 years. These days, there are steps you can take to get the cost of car insurance for your teens under control. The biggest factor that plays into the cost of the type of car they drive. In this scenario, a new car is not a good idea.

If the cost of car insurance premiums is an issue for you when it comes to letting your kid drive, there is only one choice when it comes to car -- you want to go old. Why do you want to go old? There are a few reasons. The first has to do with collision insurance. Contrary to what the name indicates, collision insurance does not provide coverage for the repair of a third-party car. It only covers the cost of repair or replacement of the car you are driving. But putting your teen in an old clunker, you can avoid buying collision insurance completely. This of course cuts down the premium costs significantly. Furthermore, older cars tend to be a bit more solid than some of the newer ones. This is a good thing to have while your son or daughter gets the hang of driving!

There are some other steps you can take to lower the premium costs. The key is to ask the insurance company what they offer in regard to discounts. A common discount that most parents really love is the good grades discount. If the teen maintains a certain grade point level, the premiums are discounted by 10%. This naturally plays into a parenting strategy were good grades are required before the son or daughter is allowed to drive. It is the proverbial win-win!

There are many other discounts that might also apply. Insurance companies like to come up with their own interesting little programs, so make sure to ask around and find out what you can do to cut down your cost. In many cases, you'll be able to cut your total premiums down by 20 to 30 percent.

Thomas Ajava writes for AutoOwnersInsuranceCompanies.com - your online resource for auto insurance companies across the country.