How to Save Money On Your Virginia Car Insurance, Even With a New Driver In the House!

How to Save Money On Your Virginia Car Insurance, Even With a New Driver In the House!

You thought your kids were done sending your monthly expenses through the

roof when you bid a fond farewell to bottles and diapers. Until their college days, anyway! What you forgot was that the minute your sixteen year old slips behind the wheel of your car (legally) and hits the friendly highways your insurance rates are going to skyrocket. Here are some great ways to save money on your Virginia car insurance even with a new driver in the house!

Why Teen Drivers Kill Your Car Insurance Rates

Before we take a look at ways you can save on your car insurance with a teen driver let's take a look at why they're considered such a risk in the first place. Statistically speaking, teenaged drivers are 60% more likely to be involved in an accident than an adult with seven or eight years experience behind the wheel. Why?

· They're inexperienced.

· They're more likely to make hasty decisions.

· When faced with a threat they're likely to panic rather than respond in an appropriate manner.

· They don't always think through the consequences of their actions. (Admit it-you did seventy down a dirt road at some point in your life too.)

What You Can Do About It

It doesn't matter how responsible a driver you taught your teen to be, your car insurance rates are still going to go up. Here's what you can do to keep the cost of your insurance from overextending your monthly budget:

1) Sign your teen up for a driver's education program. Most schools offer them, and your teenager probably took one before they got their license. Good news! Driver's Ed=plus points on their license, which in turn translates to savings on your car insurance. If they skipped over Driver's Ed for one reason or another, or it's been a while since they took the class, encourage them to register for (and complete) an independent driver's improvement course.

2) Crack the whip at homework time. Teens who are responsible enough to maintain a good GPA are considered to be much more responsible behind the wheel, which can save you a fortune when you're talking about your Virginia car insurance rates.

3) Use common sense before you hand over your keys. If you're driving around town in a $60,000 Jag, and your teen is 60% more likely to wreck it than you are…well, you can do the math! There's a reason most parents buy a clunker for their teen's first car.

4) Restrict your teen's driving habits. The minute your teen gets a driver's license they're going to want to be out the door and gone, but the longer you can restrict the amount of time they spend out on the roads the better it's going to be for your car insurance rates. They can still do plenty of driving on the weekends.

5) If your teen does get a speeding ticket (and most of them do sooner or later) encourage them to take a driver's improvement class to get it off their record rather than just paying the ticket.

6) How much is your teen paying toward insurance? It is both right and fair to expect your teen to pay at least part of their own car insurance when they get their license as long as they have some sort of income. And being responsible for all or part of their insurance will encourage them to be responsible when they hit the highways.

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