Auto insurance college freshman with no car

[tzolkin]

We have State Farm. My suggestion is to buy a beater car and have your son rated on that car. My sons car is a 2002 Buick. The insurance monthly on that car is less than $40 a month and that is the car he is rated on. He takes the car to school with him. Do you have the same number of cars as you do drivers?

I don't think that's how it works for most insurance policies. We had State Farm when our daughter started driving and even though the policy on her car was lower, they raised the amounts on our other two cars because she was added to our policy. So the amount assigned to your child's car may not really be the total amount that they are costing you.

For example, if you look at just the amount of my daughter's vehicle it works out to being under $80 per month. However, if you compare the total amount from what we were paying when it was just my husband and I on the policy, we are actually paying over $150 per month more.

But when I called in and told them the discounts were on the wrong cars so I thought they flipped things incorrectly - they proceeded to tell me no, that's just the way they do it now - they basically assign drivers and discounts to cars in the most expensive way now. They were basically treating it like DD was driving the expensive car with full collision, even though she never, ever did. There was no way to undo it. And no, they didn't feel like they needed to proactively provide an explanation to policyholders that their underwriting methodology had changed.

Yes, some companies automatically put the most expensive driver on the most expensive vehicle (that's what my parents' insurance did when my younger siblings were driving). Others will spread out the total and increase all the vehicles in the household. They justify this because in theory anyone on the policy could be driving any of the vehicles.

 

[kidshop]

Let me know if you figure anything out, op. We have Usaa too and a ds who lives in Boston, now a junior, who never drives and has no access to a car. He does not even come home in the summer. We can’t drop him! It’s robbery!

 

[Dakota731]

I would get a quote from Geico for all of you - saved us hundreds a year when we switched with three teenagers on our plan!

 

[Denise W]

*Most* insurance companies rate young drivers based on the number of cars and drivers in the household. So if you had two cars and three drivers, the young driver was rated on the highest rated vehicle, whether they ever drove that car or not. If the number of drivers and cars is the same, you could assign your young driver to any car and he/she would be rated only on that car.

It is good to keep your kids on your policy until they get their own. If they are away at school and drive a friend’s car and have an accident, they are covered under the friend’s coverage. However, if that coverage had lapsed, your coverage would come into play. You would certainly want to be covered for something like that.

Denise

 

[tink1970]

We live in Florida and DD is in college in MA. USAA has characterized her as "away at school" so she is still insured as a driver but there is no car attached to her. This only lowered our bill about $200 for the 6 month premium but it's better than nothing and nice to know if she had to drive someone else's car she would be insured. The agent told DH that this term is state dependent so maybe that's why there are some variables, even with USAA?

 

[tvguy]

When DD got her license, the Allstate policy I had had ever since I spun off my parents policy when I was 22 became crazy expensive. So after a lot of shopping around, I landed with Geico, who was significantly less expensive with a teen on the policy. They let me specify who drove what car. I didn't play games with that and told the truth - I had gotten DD her own not-a-beater-but-an-older/cheaper car that I carry only liability on (but a hefty amount ), and then I have my more expensive car that I have full collision on. DD **never** drives my car, and I only very rarely drive hers.

That was great until about 6 months ago when I got my renewal from Geico - it had a MASSIVE premium increase with no explanation. Digging through the policy docs, I saw the discounts section showed DDs good student discount on my car, and my good driver discount on DDs car. So I figured they had somehow flipped who was on which car. But when I called in and told them the discounts were on the wrong cars so I thought they flipped things incorrectly - they proceeded to tell me no, that's just the way they do it now - they basically assign drivers and discounts to cars in the most expensive way now. They were basically treating it like DD was driving the expensive car with full collision, even though she never, ever did. There was no way to undo it. And no, they didn't feel like they needed to proactively provide an explanation to policyholders that their underwriting methodology had changed.

I couldn't get rid of Geico fast enough after that. I moved to Mercury, who isn't the easiest to work with but still allows me to specify the car my daughter honestly drives, and they put the discounts on the correct cars. I've gotten a couple of letters since then from Geico saying I should check their rates again since "they may have been lowered" for our policy - I don't know if that is just their general marketing shtick, or if they figured out they really had screwed it up, or if they decided to go back to the old way of doing things. I suspect it's just marketing, and nothing has really changed. But I won't be finding out anytime soon - the whole experience with them left a bad taste in my mouth.

I've been with Allstate since 1973, no issues then when I was 16, nor decades later when I added my kids. But now that my daughter is out on her own, she found Geico to be cheaper for her than Allstate.
You know, the more expensive car with full coverage may not be the most expensive to insure. They rate cars based on the number of claims that make and model car generate.
I always laugh at Good Student discounts. The one year of high school I actually got a GPA that qualified, Allstate had dropped the discount because stats showed good students drive more miles and has more accidents!

 

[2boysnme]

We have Safeco and we went with an agent that shopped multiple insurance companies. He picked Safeco for price and this reason. If your student is so many miles away from home (I don't remember the exact number) they greatly reduce the rate and then the student is still covered if they drive someone else's car at school or if home for break. We asked lots of questions. We also had to send proof of distance for where he was enrolled without a car. We looked at several companies and I think there were only 2 that had the student away at college option, but that was a few years ago.

 

[gwynne]

We have Safeco and we went with an agent that shopped multiple insurance companies. He picked Safeco for price and this reason. If your student is so many miles away from home (I don't remember the exact number) they greatly reduce the rate and then the student is still covered if they drive someone else's car at school or if home for break. We asked lots of questions. We also had to send proof of distance for where he was enrolled without a car. We looked at several companies and I think there were only 2 that had the student away at college option, but that was a few years ago.

That's great that you found a deal.
Insurance often varies from sate to state as well as company to company.
It doesn't hurt to comparison shop, and then carefully look over the whole picture.

 

[allison443]

It is good to keep your kids on your policy until they get their own. If they are away at school and drive a friend’s car and have an accident, they are covered under the friend’s coverage. However, if that coverage had lapsed, your coverage would come into play. You would certainly want to be covered for something like that.

Denise

That’s a great point! Or if the friend had very limited coverage that could also be a problem.

 

[bigbabyblues]

You can't drop them if they have a drivers' license, they have to be covered.

We have State Farm. Our oldest DS just went away to college, and we get a decent discount on him because he doesn't have his car at school; it is called the "Student Away At School" discount, lol. He was also able to get their Steer Clear discount because he has had his license 2 years and hasn't had any accidents or violations.

Thankful for his discounts because DS16 just got his license and we had to add him as well. They did let us add them to the car that it was going to cost the least for them to be on, which is DS18's car.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

I just dealt with this with USAA. My son is away at bootcamp and no way he will be driving. I had to call a second time and get someone that knew anything. The first person was horrible (USAA). They put him down as a non operator for now and we "garaged" his truck. The garaging mean there is comp on the truck but we can not drive it off our place. It is saving us over $150 a month. His insurance is $80 /mo right now and it is his own policy. It will go up when he is out of bootcamp and driving again. I made him a "rental" policy and signed up for automatic draft. The USAA rep said having several policies with USAA will help him get a lower rate when out of bootcamp. Once he is no longer living at home, you can get him his own policy. It might be less money because there is a liability because you own so much more than him (people can sue) so when he has his own address then his assets will be so much less and less a liability to USAA.

The rep also said they just hired a lot of people so keep calling if you want to talk to someone else.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We bought our son a scooter for college, it was $500 then an insurance policy for it, we sold the scooter to another student for what we paid for it a few months later. But it was away to separate him from our home

 

[ten6mom]

Uuuuugghhh my older son will be driving in less than a year and am not looking forward to any of this. The car he will be driving on is actually his dad's (we are divorced) and I am trying to figure out whether I will also have to add him to MY policy even though he will never, ever drive my car or how that's all going to work.

Seems like there is no clear consensus on a "best" car insurance company or service!

 

[tvguy]

Uuuuugghhh my older son will be driving in less than a year and am not looking forward to any of this. The car he will be driving on is actually his dad's (we are divorced) and I am trying to figure out whether I will also have to add him to MY policy even though he will never, ever drive my car or how that's all going to work.

Seems like there is no clear consensus on a "best" car insurance company or service!

I suspect unless your ex has 100% custody, with most insurance companies, you will both have to have him on your policy.

 

[luvsJack]

Finally got our last kid off our insurance for good. We have had geico and progressive.

When each son was in college and without a car, we had no problems removing them from our insurances. Didn’t have to “prove” anything. And we were assured that our policy would cover them if they came home for a visit and “borrowed” the car as long as they were licensed. When they each got to the point of taking the cars full time, we just added them back to it.

Dd took her car since she came home every weekend so we just left her’s alone.

 

[luvsJack]

I suspect unless your ex has 100% custody, with most insurance companies, you will both have to have him on your policy.

Not necessarily. If the pp knows for sure that he will never drive her car, she can have him exempted from her policy. It will not cover him in her car at all but it is an option if her ex is going to keep him covered.

 

[tvguy]

Not necessarily. If the pp knows for sure that he will never drive her car, she can have him exempted from her policy. It will not cover him in her car at all but it is an option if her ex is going to keep him covered.

Maybe. May also vary from state to state and insurance company. I have no experience with this specifically but I know that a Judge's order in a divorce decree can overrule many rules and company policies.

 

[luvsJack]

Maybe. May also vary from state to state and insurance company. I have no experience with this specifically but I know that a Judge's order in a divorce decree can overrule many rules and company policies.

She just needs to ask the insurance company honestly. Never had an insurance company ask for or need to see a divorce decree.

 

[MomToOne]

I've been with Allstate since 1973, no issues then when I was 16, nor decades later when I added my kids. But now that my daughter is out on her own, she found Geico to be cheaper for her than Allstate.

I loved my Allstate policy - kept it for nearly 30 years, with normal revisions over the years. With my discounts, no one would ever beat the price when I checked around, and their service was fabulous. I was in a multiple car wreck with a severely under-insured absconded parolee driver at fault, and the claim process dragged out for over 2 years but Allstate was all over getting me a payout on my totaled car within days under my collision, until they could resolve it with the other company. And the payout was totally fair - I had pulled comps ready for an extended fight on my car's value, but their first offer was spot on with the comps. I had a new car purchased using the payout check within days of the wreck. They also paid the body shop I had it towed to their storage fee (since they ended up totaling out the car and there was nothing for that shop to fix) without any issue.

But when I went to add my daughter in 2016 to the one car we had at that point, I was absolutely floored by how much my premium would increase - from under $900/6 months to over $2300/6 months. Now I admit I have high limits on my coverage because I have lawyers in the family, but that's just nuts. I went around and around with them on the phone, and redid the quote online to double check, and that was all due to just adding a teenage driver - nothing else in the policy was changed. I also checked eSurance, since they are owned by Allstate, just to see what they had. Their quote was pretty much the same. I think Allstate just doesn't want to insure teenagers at this point, at least not in California!

DD bumped another car this afternoon, her fault. I wish I was dealing with Allstate...guess I get to find out just how good/bad Mercury is!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

This is exactly what they told us. Until we can prove that we are not paying his bills, then he is an official member of our household and he must be covered. USAA will lower us by $30/month with him being away. I love USAA and hate to change, which is why we were looking for an independent company for him; proof of that and then USAA will drop him. We talked to Allstate, Progressive, and Geico, and none of them would do an independent policy. This is insane. I guess We just need to start over and get quotes for all of us to change.
Any other ideas not mentioned (we have tried all of that) would be wonderful!

I am just learning about all this because my son gets his permit tomorrow, but Ameriprise said young drivers have to be licensed for 3 years before they will give an individual policy. If your son has driven since 16 you might get a quote for him if he is 19+.
As to pricing, my son will pay $111/mo extra premium to add him once he starts driving. I know every state/company is different but it is a strong company and offers extra discount and perks through Costco; perhaps worth a call.