lynn Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 We have a 15 year old green, 4 door, chevy cavalier,(not a sports car!)that is my 16year old sons. His insurance is $200 MORE a year than my 2011 Nissan.:001_huh::confused::glare: How does that work? We have all the discounts possible for honor roll student, drivers ed, multicar, homeowners etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 A new driver is proven to be a higher risk. He has a greater chance of damaging someone ekse's more expensive property, and of hurting or killing someone else. What he drives has little to do with that. (Of course, if he had a new sports car, it would be even higher!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I don't know too much about this, but I have heard that rates for boys/young men are higher than any other category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 A new driver is proven to be a higher risk. He has a greater chance of damaging someone ekse's more expensive property, and of hurting or killing someone else. What he drives has little to do with that. (Of course, if he had a new sports car, it would be even higher!) :iagree:New drivers are a greater risk.... dh's premium went down significantly when we got married (he was 24). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Ugh--I know your pain. Our 17yo ds recently started driving. And he drives a lot--daily round trip to school is 30 miles. :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunD Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 :iagree:New drivers are a greater risk.... dh's premium went down significantly when we got married (he was 24). Yep, ours too! We were 22 and 21 when we got married. Our car was a wedding gift (a Ford Focus :lol:) and that was the first time we had gotten insurance on our own. We expected to pay a lot based on how much our parents were paying for us, but even though we were only a few days older, the fact that we were married meant that (statistically) we were less likely to cost the insurance company money. The issue is that he's young and male. The insurance company is looking at statistics for that general group of drivers. To them he appears more likely to crash the car, which would not only damage his car but possibly someone else's, which the insurance company would then have to pay for. They're considering that possible expense much more than how much his car is worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I'm assuming you've already done this, but if not, do talk to your agent about the details of the coverage you have. For example, how much you are paying per month to cover the value of the car if it was totaled - depending on how hard it would be financially to replace the car, it may not be worth the coverage. (If, say, the car is only worth $2000, and the coverage is $500 for 6 months, and you have some savings, it might be worth it to bank that $500 and take the risk.) Also, if you have good health insurance, you may not need the part that would cover your ds's health care in case of accident. By playing around with coverage details, deductables, etc., you might be able to lower the rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nono Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 What does your insurance agent say? Is it only your son's age? I think that on older vehicles, the cost for the company to cover your collision and comprehensive starts to rise again, which of course will be passed onto you. I seem to remember an inverse curve on this being taught in one of my college insurance classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 It's his age. males 16-24 or 25 are lumped into one category. Because they are male and inexperienced drivers their base rate is more expensive. This is based upon mounds of statistical information of males in that age bracket. I used to work in insurance underwriting, there is data of the data, of the data. All of it is enough to make my eyes glaze over. It doesn't matter that your ds is a honor student, careful driver, great kid, whatever. The discounts are to make you feel better about the fact they charge enough to cover the national debt of a small country. :tongue_smilie: I hated insurance underwriting, because it's all about the categories. They don't see people as individuals, they are categories. You're not in good hands, you're in a box. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Hopefully, you don't have collision insurance on your son's car. If you do, you should probably remove it. It is a waste on a 15 yo car. It also will really run your insurance rates up. Insuring a car over 10 yo is expensive. Finding parts for older cars is expensive and can cost more than a newer car to repair. That expense is reflected in the cost of collision insurance. If you take the money you would be paying for collision on an older car and put it in the bank, you will quickly have the value of the car for a replacement! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brilliant Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 When my dd got her license at 17, our insurance rates increased by 80%, and we didn't even add a car. I asked the agent, "You know she's a girl, right?" and the agent made a comment to the effect of "yes, just wait until your son gets his license!" He's got his permit now - they don't increase the rate for that - but I am NOT looking forward to him getting his license. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 When we added our oldest dd, our rates more than doubled (from less than $1200 to more than $2700 per year) and we don't even have a 3rd car for her to drive. In NC, all new drivers incur the same surcharge; there are no discounts for being female, a good student, over 17, or anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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