Son just got license, Wow! $1300 a year insurance increase, liability only...

That's typically not how it works. If the teen lives in the same household and isn't on the policy, if the teen gets into an accident, the teen isn't covered. Comprehensive is different from collision. Only way around that is to swap cars with someone else. Knew a guy who used to get speeding tickets all the time, he didn't care because he drove his girlfriends car and they were at separate addresses so he wasn't on the policy.
lots of insurance companies cross reference drivers license addresses these days to look for such things. also, if you have a big at fault accident and the insurance and lawyers find out , you are going to in a world of hurt.
 
I won't say how good they are but I just changed from Auto Owners to Progressive a couple months ago. I had an accident on slick roads in Jan. '22 Auto Owners was a nightmare to deal with then wanted to raise my rates about $300 a year (62 years old and first chargeable accident in probably 15 years with no tickets). I switched to Progressive and rates were less than $100 more per year than Auto Owners prior to the accident. My son and daughter in law have Progressive and have had a couple claims. My son hit a deer a few years ago then was hit head on by a drunk driver without insurance that totaled his vehicle about 1.5 years ago. They had to file a claim on their collision insurance. They've been well satisfied with the results. He recently told me his premiums increased some but not too much. He didn't give a $ amount.
 
I’ve been with Geico since 2008 and have been very satisfied with them. I’ve had to file a claim a couple of times over the years including currently with my Kia Soul and they’ve always been easy to work with.

Every so often I get quotes from the other big companies like Progresso (which I used to use before switching to Geico), Liberty Biberty, Nationwide, State Farm, and All State and they’ve all been priced higher than Geico, some considerably more.
 
I knew it'd go up quite a bit , but man, that much? I have Mercury. Time to shop around. Any other lower cost, decent insurance carriers that might be cheaper?

Right.

Thats what it will cost him per year unless he finds a cheaper rate. Mercury is usually the price performance leader.

None of my business but Im sure he has a job to cover this, gas, maintenance etcetera.

Childhoods pretty much over when you start driving.
 
I knew a guy who drove drunk and knocked down 9 little posts -the kind with 2 parallel cables which act as guard rails. They let him pay 6 more months of premiums then dropped him. He cried that the big, bad company did that just to get some of their money back (they paid the state rate for clipping those things) before dropping him. I told him I would've done the same thing.

The real jab came after church on a Sunday when the lady in that insurance office told his wife that they were canceling him on Monday.

Social ouch supreme.
What, he drove drunk and the insurance company covered the damage? Wow, that's a great company. Generally if you're driving drunk there is no coverage.
 
That price seems reasonable considering.

Maybe a part time job to help cover expenses? Fuel. And maintenance aren’t cheap either.
 
Don't tell the insurance company about the new teen driver most times they don't know. Remember the car is insured not the driver. Your car can be robbed and get totalled it's still insured.
He's talking liability not collision or comprehensive.. Last time I looked, the name of the insured appears on the insurance card.
 
Don't tell the insurance company about the new teen driver most times they don't know. Remember the car is insured not the driver. Your car can be robbed and get totalled it's still insured.
Some states, such as North Carolina, will not issue a first driver's license to a teen without proof he/she is on someone's insurance. Ran into this with coworkers who lived in N.C. and worked in Virginia; their kids back at home couldn't get their licenses without insurance.

Allowing your teen to use your vehicle without coverage is a bad idea anyway, but that's getting harder to get away with.
 
You would be surprised at how many parents have to make their sons get their licenses. I was. Teen boys of today aren't like we were in our teens. I don't know why. I think you have to watch out for teen girls more than boys today. They cannot leave their phones alone.
The boys are significantly worst in my experience with a 16 year old crowd. However those crazy boys are a small subset who likely ruin the rates for boys. I have not heard of any crazy girls from 16 year old daughter however certain boys have gotten in some serious wrecks or reckless driving/speeding going on coupled to inexperience. The totaled cars are boys...
 
My folks wouldn't put me on their policy, so I paid my own insurance for my own car when I turned 16 and got my license. IIRC, it was about what you were quoted...but it was 37 years ago
 
Here in MI the insurance companies own our capital city of Lansing. Despite the recent so called "reform" my rates went up almost 20% since the "reform" Never had a ticket or chargeable accident in over 40 yrs.
We also have the privledge of paying un/under insured motorist on our policies so we have a de-facto tax on the law abiding citizens.
I shop everything around regularly, I have zero loyalty to insurance companies.
 
With this attitude, I hope you do not have children.
It's not an "attitude", it's sarcasm. We've probably all seen the articles. Several posters said the same thing; their kids were hesitant or reluctant to start driving or just didn't feel the need. I suppose it makes a difference where one lives.... Growing up in the big city with subways and busses to go everywhere vs. living way out in the sticks where all the kids go to a school located way outside of town where almost no one can walk to.
 
This can't be that much of a surprise, can it? Please tell me you've never had a conversation with other parents or overheard something like this or even read about it on forums?? You had no idea how much it costs to add a teenager to your policy??

I've always known. What I don't understand is how the parents of TWO teenagers are affording it AND buying their kid a $40k car.... Please, someone, please tell me how you do THAT.
 
Here's some more info-

We have a 23 yo daughter, who has not lived with us. I recently bought her a car to drive while she finishes college (2-1/2 years). I added her to my policy, against my better instinct, but my insurance agent agreed it was best economically.

We also have an Umbrella policy. We were told that JUST ADDING her to our policy AND if she has a moving violation on her record, our Umbrella would automatically double in premium cost. Fortunately the camera speeding ticket doesn't show up on her record, further proving my very opiniated voice that they are all about the money.

Anyway, I'm also told that if you do have an Umbrella and the kid causes an accident, the insurer generally cancels your Umbrella, especially if there is a major claim or 'other circumstances' are involved.

FWIW, I've had my own State Farm Auto Policy since I began driving at 17, when I bought my OWN car. Show me a kid today that has accomplished that.
 
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