Car Insurance for Teen With No Car

[sengsational]

The Amica agent said that I'll need to buy insurance coverage if my daughter gets her drivers license, even though she'll (mostly) be away at college without access to a car She's 19 and, up until now, hasn't been interested in getting her license.

So I went to a web site to see how much car insurance would be if purchased separately, but it forced me to enter a car make/model (there was no option for "no car" or "other peoples' car" or "zip car").

Has anyone come up with any tricks to get out of paying a lot of money for nothing? The Amica rep said I'm on the hook to pay for 3 years from the time she gets her license, while she is an "inexperienced driver".

 

[MichaelB]

Did the Amica folks gie you a with / without quote?
When our daughter went to college with no car the rate on our policy for her coverage dropped to around $25 per 6 months or so.

 

[LOL!]

USAA did not charge us anything extra when our kids had their learners permits. This was different from Allstate. So Allstate was cheaper than USAA for us until the kids started driving. Thankfully, the kids were not in a hurry to get a full-fledged driver license.

OTOH, we increased the personal liablility umbrella insurance quite a bit and I am not talking about precipitation here.

You may be surprised that your insurance does not go up very much for your daughter if there is no car for her to drive or she is away at college. You will want insurance for her since it is likely that she will drive the cars of friends every now and then.

It is probably also a plus for her because when she goes out on her own, insurance will cost a lot more unless she can prove that she has been insured previously. The longer, the better.

 

[meierlde]

Some insurance companies also give discounts for good grades in College. But definitely check about a discount for being away with no car. Because many policies contain clauses such as no driver under age x unless rated on another policy from us you want to keep it all with one company.
I suspect that this sort of situation does mean using an agent as it is not a totally standard thing that web sites deal with.

 

[Katsmeow]

Typically, you can't buy standalone insurance for a child in your household (even if over 18) or away at college (at least that was what I was told). Usually has to be on your policy in my experience. As mentioned if away from college with no car, you can often get a lower rate.

Caveat: Might vary in different states, just talking from my experience.

LOL: There is a difference between a kid on a learner's permit and a kid with an actual license. When our kids went from learner's permit to actual license we had to add them to our policy even when over 18 (but living at home or in college).

 

[LOL!]

LOL: There is a difference between a kid on a learner's permit and a kid with an actual license. When our kids went from learner's permit to actual license we had to add them to our policy even when over 18 (but living at home or in college).

No kidding. We added our kids to our insurance policy at no cost when they got their learners permits. The cost increases only occurred with actual licenses, but only because we switched to a different insurance company. Different insurance companies do different things when a kid has a learners permit in our actual experience.

 

[Animorph]

State Farm just added our kids to whichever of our existing cars gave the lowest total cost. So DW's or my car would have two listed drivers. Definitely expensive with two DS's, and a big jump in the umbrella policy as well. That's all easing off now that the last is now supporting himself.

 

[meierlde]

It appears that there exist non owners liability policies for autos, but since they are sort of a niche product are not sold except thru agents (Biggest markets probably NYC and San Francisco). Here is a link to an article about them: What Is a Non-Owner Auto Insurance Policy?
But you need go thru an agent since it is a niche product. One market they push is if you live where you don't routinely need a car, but rent one every so often it provides cheaper protection than the rental car companies insurance.

 

[fh2000]

We are with Geico. Our DD is away from home college student so she is added to the policy with small increase to our group plan. She is covered to drive during breaks and the whole summer.

My DS just graduated from HS and we had to add him as a full time driver with somewhat large amount. When he leaves for college in fall, I was told that I can call Geico and change him as away from home college student, and reduce premium. I will do that.

 

[EastWest Gal]

We had to add DS on to the auto insurance the day he got his license, but he wasn't a full time driver and the price didn't change much. The price went up when I bought a new car as he had to be listed as the main driver on the old one. His college is 3 hrs away and he will be student teaching in a semi-rural area, so he absolutely needs a car.

 

[Texas Proud]

WOW.... wished it was so for me...

Added son when he got learners permit.... insurance doubled.... yes, that is right DOUBLED...

Do not know if it will go down when he goes to college.... have a few years for that.... but, he will have a car with him so the OP's question does not count...

 

[sengsational]

Thanks, all, for the ideas.

I called an agent about a "Non-Owner Auto Insurance Policy" and found that one of those would cost $1700/yr. And it sounded like the coverage on the person's car she might borrow would kick-in first, and this non-owner thing would only become effective if we let her drive one of the family cars.

We currently have two cars, each valued at about $8000. Two experienced drivers, no points, the policy costs $967 per year. Adding my daughter would add $1,524 per year for a total of $2,491! One could buy a whole lot of taxi (or Uber or Lyft) rides for that kind of money!

Amica said that NC requires an inexperienced driver surcharge for 3 years. The second year is supposed to be half of the first year, and the third year is supposed to be half of the second year. So I'm looking at $2,664 for three years while my daughter might be behind the wheel 10 or 20 times, most of that while she's on vacation with us. It just seems insane.

I'm sure she'd get more utility from the $127/mo by buying something else for herself and simply calling a cab on the rare occasion she wanted to go somewhere and couldn't find a buddy to take her.

She has racked-up a lot of driving practice and would like to take the driving test while it's fresh. Maybe I can let her get her license, then turn it in before she goes back to school and give her all the free taxi rides she wants....that would probably be cheaper.

 

[MichaelB]

Ouch! That's a whole lot of money for a daughter away at school.

Any chance you can buy a junker for $500, put it in her name, buy the absolute minimum insurance coverage, and keep the surcharge limited to that car?

 

[eytonxav]

AMICA does provide a good student discount for B average and above. You will have to submit transcripts for verification.

They also generally put kids on the policy using the most expensive car in the household to determine rate. I'm not sure if they will negotiate if you threaten to take your policy elsewhere.

 

[Texas Proud]

One of the things you better check for is the rules of your insurance...


It does not matter that your daughter is away to school... her residence is still your house... you are supposed to list ALL licensed drivers that 'reside' in your residence.... even if they do NOT drive any car at any time...


It is not your two $8K cars that they are worried about.... it is that she can drive one time when she is at home and cause and accident killing some young doctor with 3 kids costing a lot of money....


Just suck it up and pay... you can go naked if you wish, but if something bad happens you will be left holding the bag.... and might lose everything you own.... is that worth $1500

 

[Texas Proud]

AMICA does provide a good student discount for B average and above. You will have to submit transcripts for verification.

They also generally put kids on the policy using the most expensive car in the household to determine rate. I'm not sure if they will negotiate if you threaten to take your policy elsewhere.

I tried to exclude the one expensive vehicle when we signed up our kid... no go... and they will not 'negotiate'.... In fact, I have never heard anybody how has been able to negotiate their car insurance (we are talking individual families here, not companies)...

 

[LOL!]

You should do what we did: We switched insurance companies after comparing coverage& rates. Switched homeowners, too.

Historically we were with USAA, but then Allstate was better when we moved to Texas, then USAA was significantly better when kids were added.

 

[sengsational]

Ouch! That's a whole lot of money for a daughter away at school.

Any chance you can buy a junker for $500, put it in her name, buy the absolute minimum insurance coverage, and keep the surcharge limited to that car?

That idea did cross my mind, but more than half of the premium goes to the liability side, so dropping collision would do the same thing.

As to not having insurance, but having a licence is not an option...in NC, you must present a form from the insurance company to get your licence. Not that I would do that anyway...too much to risk.

Switching companies wouldn't do too much since state law apparently forces all insurance companies in the state to add the inexperienced operator surcharge.

Picking one car or the other doesn't matter, they both are the same to cost to insure.

She's clueless about how much this costs, so I'll appeal to her sensibilities and maybe bribe her with some of the money the insurance company would have had in order to convince her to delay getting her licence. That might not fly, but it will be good for when she complains about not having spending money!

 

[dtbach]

Have 2 daughters who just got their licenses. USAA does not charge anything while on learner permit. With the 2 just driving our older van, the costs went about double. Didn't think that was too bad as it does double the number of drivers in the household.