Teen Drivers Nearly Double Parents’ Car Insurance Premiums

The average married couple pays 80 percent more for car insurance after adding a teen driver to their policy, according to a new insuranceQuotes.com report. The highest spike in premiums are seen with 16-year-olds (96 percent); the average impact decreases to 60 percent at age 19.

Teenage males are much more expensive to insure than teenage females – average increases of 92 percent and 67 percent, respectively. Six states prohibit insurers from using gender in their rate calculations (Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania).

The five most expensive states to insure a teen driver are:

• New Hampshire – the average premium jumps 115 percent.
• Wyoming – 104 percent
• Illinois – 104 percent
• Maine – 103 percent
• Rhode Island – 102 percent

“It’s really expensive to insure a teen driver, but good student discounts can take some of the sting out of these bills,” said Laura Adams, senior analyst, insuranceQuotes.com. “I’ve seen discounts as high as 25 percent for students who maintain at least a B average in high school or college. Students and their parents need to proactively request this discount.”

Hawaii is the only state that does not allow age and length of driving experience to affect car insurance costs. As a result, teen drivers only cost 17 percent more to insure in Hawaii, the lowest increase in the nation by far. New York State has the second-lowest increase at 53 percent, followed by Michigan at 57 percent and North Carolina at 60 percent.

The cost to insure a teen driver has actually fallen a bit since 2013, when the average annual increase was 85 percent (98 percent for males and 73 percent for females).

Source: insuranceQuotes.com