Dropping Teen from Auto Policy

[Anonymous]

Our teen was involved in an accident and our auto insurance rates skyrocketed. Said teen is away at college and may not be coming home in the summers in order to work elsewhere. If they do come home, I am willing to explore alternate transportation to get them where they need to be.

I want to drop the teen from our auto policy and have them apply independently when they will be using a car more in later years.

Are there any downsides to doing this?

[Anonymous]

The downside is that your teen is no longer an insured driver.

[Anonymous]

They'll lose their UIM coverage, which covers the anytime there's an uninsured or under insured driver at fault for an accident, even if your teen wasn't driving at the time (like, getting hit walking across the street).

[Anonymous]

We have USAA, and told them when each kid went off to College. Dropped prices a bit, as they aren't home/aren't driving at least 8 months of the year

[Anonymous]

I lived in NYC for a while without a car. I had a lot of trouble getting insurance when I moved out of NYC and had to pay a very high rate for 6-12 months because of my "gap in coverage". I doubt that this cost will be greater than the cost of purchasing insurance for your teen, but one of the non-obvious downsides is apparently not having insurance for a number of years (even without a car) is a ding in the algorithms.

[Anonymous]

The cost. Ours is double if our teen is on his own policy. Plus, they need a car that is solely titled in their name.
The plus, from our attorney, is that your liability decreases if they aren't using your car or on your insurance.

[Anonymous]

The downside is that if you drop him you can never let him use your vehicles - and that might not be a downside. If you do and he’s in an accident you could be personally liable because you allowed the usage. If he takes the car without permission you have to report it stolen to avoid personal liability. You will have to sign a certification stating you understand this.

Yes you lose UIM but non drivers don’t have it either so it puts him back to his 15 year old status.

BTDT.

[Anonymous]

Our insurance said if a driver lives in the house they go on the policy.

My son who has his own insurance lived in our house this summer.

I received a letter from my insurance saying they would drop us from our insurance if we didn’t add him or send proof of insurance.

We sent proof of insurance.

[Anonymous]

When you apply for a new policy, the first thing they ask is if you are covered elsewhere /have been dropped.

Price out an independent policy before you drop him, because if your kid is perceived as high risk an independent option will likely be exorbitant.

What about making him pay the increase (if he was reckless/drunk, etc).

Adding my kid’s first car to our policy was MUCH cheaper than her getting an independent policy (and she is 23, with a perfect driving record).

[Anonymous]

Male teens are very expensive to insure.

There is really no way around that. He has proven why already.

I would worry more about him having a safe (i.e., crashworthy) vehicle. See the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety for good cars for teens.

iihs.org

[Anonymous]

It may not be allowed, is the downside.

[Anonymous]

I tjink you just pay the high price of insuring them on your policy. At least it'll show a history of no accidents after a few years and hopefully go down. If he isn't insured at all, the clock for showing good driving habits may not start until he gets his own policy.

Can he take some additional driving lesson and safe driver training to reduce your insurance costs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have USAA, and told them when each kid went off to College. Dropped prices a bit, as they aren't home/aren't driving at least 8 months of the year

Can anyone get USAA insurance? Or do you have to have military connections?

Our car insurance skyrocketed from the last payment 6 months ago. No reason except for “everything is more expensive these days,” said the insurance rep.

I’d like to look elsewhere. DD has also just gone off to college. Would you suggest USAA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our insurance said if a driver lives in the house they go on the policy.

My son who has his own insurance lived in our house this summer.

I received a letter from my insurance saying they would drop us from our insurance if we didn’t add him or send proof of insurance.

We sent proof of insurance.

You have to specifically drop the kid. A kid with a couple of accidents can increase the premiums for that kid to more than $1k per month and eliminate your eligibility for umbrella coverage. You need to investigate further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have USAA, and told them when each kid went off to College. Dropped prices a bit, as they aren't home/aren't driving at least 8 months of the year

Can anyone get USAA insurance? Or do you have to have military connections?

Our car insurance skyrocketed from the last payment 6 months ago. No reason except for “everything is more expensive these days,” said the insurance rep.

I’d like to look elsewhere. DD has also just gone off to college. Would you suggest USAA?

No. Yes.