Car Insurance and Learner’s Permit

When someone gets his or her learner’s permit, this sets many new questions. Does he of she need car insurance? In what way does insuring a person with a learner’s permit is different from insuring fully licensed drivers? What are the options for teens living with parents at home or on their own? How can you save money on teen car insurance?

Read on to find the answers!

Living with parents

From the point of view of coverage, the most convenient time for learning how to drive is when living at home with parents. Typically, in this case permit holders are covered by their parents’ policies.

However this doesn’t mean that for holders of learners permit insurance coverage comes automatically. Many companies require that a parent formally include his child in his policy, but it is also possible that there is no need to add a teen driver until he or she gets a full license. This varies form provider to provider, so it’s a good idea to ask your insurance agent about the details.

So, when teens get learner’s permit their parents should notify the auto insurance company. In this case you can discuss all the details with your provider and find out if there are any special situations. For instance, if teen drivers have their own car (his or her name is on the title), they may have to buy a separate insurance – and that’s not the only case when learner’s permit holders need to purchase a policy. What is more, it’s convenient to discuss what your will be doing once your teen is fully licensed.

Living with a spouse/partner/roommate

New drivers can also be insured under some other person’s policy. A separate car insurance for learners permit is not necessary if the permit holder is married, lives with his or her partner or roommate. In some states there’s even no need to formally add a new driver into the insurance policy immediately – he or she may be included after being fully licensed. Still it’s important to contact your insurance agent and find out whether there is any need for amending the policy in your specific situation.

Living independently

Those who live on their own will meet a challenge. It’s not that easy to find an insurance provider who will agree to sell car insurance for learners permit owner – it’s risky because the insured person has neither license nor supervision from his parents. Even if you find such a company, rates may well be really high. So before purchasing a policy you’ll have to spend some time shopping around for the best possible quotes and level of protection. However once a person gets his or her own license, looking for an insurance provider becomes much easier.

5 ways to get the best deal

When you include in your policy a fully licensed driver or someone with a learners permit insurance coverage may become more expensive. Fortunately enough there area multiple (though not always easy) ways to save money.

1. Auto insurance providers often have discounts for teens that have finished a driver’s education course or training class. So it’s a good idea for any learner’s permit holder to enroll in such a course of class (or both) even in case it is not mandatory in your state.
2. Good students often get special discounts. It’s important for a teen to know that if he or she has at least B average this will save his or her family some money.
3. Teens that don’t drive very often can be signed up at cheaper rates (as an “occasional” or “pleasure only” driver). However this point may vary from one provider to another.
4. As collision and comprehensive coverage is optional, it might make sense to use liability insurance instead of them (this of course doesn’t refer to expensive new cars of vehicles bought on borrowed money).
5. Using cars with a high safety rating is another way of getting a discount.

Is your teen going to buy a car? If yes, it’s important to remember that teens are among the highest-risk drivers for traffic collisions. So an affordable car would be a smart buy as insurance for flashy cars is much more expensive.

Having said this we’d like to point out that typically providers allow to include learning drivers for no extra premium, and so the most important thing in terms of car insurance for learners permit is to get the information from your insurer straightforward.