Tips on Controlling the Cost of Car Insurance for Your Teen Driver

It is a rite of passage for most teenagers to obtain their first badge of freedom: their Driver's License. In all their excitement to be that much closer to adulthood, one small but very important detail can be overlooked. Car insurance. No driver in this country can operate a motor vehicle without proper insurance. Coverage requirements vary by state, but one thing is true across the board. If you are behind the wheel, you must have insurance.

Teenage driver premiums are at least DOUBLE the cost of their adult counterparts. So if you currently pay $1200 a year for your auto policy, be prepared to shell out an additional $2400 or more when you add a teen driver to your policy. The exact figure varies based on what insurance company you are looking at and the particulars of the drivers involved, but one thing is certain, it will be more than what you would pay to merely add another adult to your policy.

While it is no secret that new and/or young drivers pay the price when it comes to purchasing insurance, all is not lost. There are many ways you can help keep your costs down (or your teenage driver's costs down if he or she pays for the insurance policy themselves), and here are some of the most popular. It is worth noting that this is just a partial list, so check with your preferred insurance agent in your area on what discounts they offer.

• Keeping up good grades (generally, teenagers with a B-average or better get a "good student" discount)
• Maintaining a safe driving record (i.e. no speeding tickets, accidents, etc.)
• Always wearing a seatbelt
• Enrolling in Driver's Ed
• Enrolling in additional defensive driver training classes
• Not buying/driving a newer car. This may be hard for that new teenage driver to take. They may want the newest, shiniest car out there, but newer cars with a new driver can drastically increase the already high cost of the new driver's insurance policy.
• Adding a suitable used vehicle to your policy can get you a multi-car policy discount.
• Having a membership in AAA (many insurance companies will offer a discount for a valid AAA membership)

There is something else to consider to help keep car insurance costs down. Not all used cars are created or are insured equally. If you are planning on purchasing a vehicle for your new driver, check with your insurance company on what the cheapest cars are to insure for your teenage driver. It may not be the kind of car that will make all their friends jealous, but it will be affordable. And once the new teenage driver has proven his or herself to be a safe and reliable driver, maybe something newer could be waiting for them as a graduation present.

By the time that graduation and college rolls around, the cost of their car insurance will have gone down too. As they gain driving experience, and assuming they maintain a clean driving record, their car insurance premium costs are likely to go down. Try to remember that when the first bills for their college tuition start coming in!