I was talking with one of my Dallas area clients a couple of weeks ago. He’s a dad with a son that’s about to turn 16. We were reviewing what would happen with his car insurance when his son got his license. I confirmed the obvious first, it will go up the moment we add his son to their policy and what the increase will be.
The conversation didn’t stop there. We revisited a conversation he and I had when his son was about to turn 15. In that conversation we discussed how to keep the increase smaller rather than larger. That involves taking advantage of the two largest discounts available to a teen driver;
- Driver education
- Good grades
This teen’s parents were committed to their son taking driver’s education. They ended up enrolling him in an instructor led class after he turned 15. We also discussed what kind of grades their son was making at the time.
The fact is good grades are very important to most insurance companies. Good grades mean;
- Lower car insurance rates on the new driver (teen & college aged drivers)
- They demonstrate responsibility to an insurance company
- It’s also a great incentive for parent(s) to work together with their son and/or daughter
- The savings is typically 5% to 15% which varies by company
- The typical grade level required is an A/B average
- Most companies will require proof of good grades by providing your agent a copy of their most recent report card
The good news in our Dallas family’s case was their son already had an A/B average and this was all the incentive their son needed to maintain that average.
If you have a question or want to share how you approached driving with your teen son or daughter, please post them on the comments section or on our Facebook and Google + pages. We’ll all learn something. Want to make sure you’re getting the best value for your car insurance dollar? We’re happy to provide you with a quote!
