The short answer is: “It depends.” Therefore, before you run out and get a quote on car insurance for your teen, you should consider how much your teen will be driving. More importantly, will your teen obtain a valid driver’s license or simply maintain a learner’s permit? Answering these questions will help you determine whether your teen requires car insurance now or if you can wait a bit to obtain it.

 

Age Does Not Matter

In North Carolina, a person is of legal driving age at sixteen, but they can obtain a learner’s permit at age fifteen. But just because a person is of age to drive does not automatically mean this person will be driving. Obtaining car insurance is not about the specific age of a person, it is about whether the person has a license to drive a vehicle legally. Therefore, if your sixteen-year-old teen does not get a driver’s license, there is no need for them to be insured.

 

The Learner’s Permit

According to North Carolina laws, it is the vehicle that must be insured, not the individual driver. In addition, a person with a learner’s permit is only permitted to drive with the authorized person of that vehicle. Typically, the authorized person is the owner of the car. Therefore, in most cases, a person with a learner’s permit in North Carolina does not need to apply for his or her own car insurance policy. In this situation, a simple call to the insurance company to let them know that your teen has just received a learner’s permit and will be practicing his or her driving skills with you in the vehicle will likely be sufficient to extend coverage to your teen.

 

Whose Car Is It?

The main question once your teenager starts driving on their own is whether your teen is driving your car or if they will have their own car. This will determine whether you need to add your teen to your insurance as an additional driver or if he or she will need their own policy to cover the car registered to them.

If your teen will be driving your car, your vehicle is already insured under the laws of North Carolina. However, it is mandated that each licensed driver in the household, without his or her own vehicle and insurance, must be added to the policy as a potential driver of the vehicle. This is typically a less expensive option for many parents with new drivers in the home. First, the parents are avoiding the expense of buying another car. More importantly, the teen can learn to drive without suffering the cost if purchasing another policy.

 

That being said, it is not always the smart option for a family to share a car with a new driver. There may be a slew of reasons that would require you to buy your teen a vehicle of his or her own to drive as needed or at will. Your teen may have an after-school job, or you may work late and need your teen to be able to drive himself and younger siblings around or help with picking them up from school. Therefore, you may need to get your teen his or her own vehicle and insurance policy. But if getting your new driver their own car is not an option, you will need to fully add them to the policy.

 

As with your current policy, it is smartst to bundle your teen’s car policy into your existing policies to save money and provide bundle discounts for all involved. However, this does not mean that it will not be costly to insure your teen driver in comparison to you. Since all teens are considered new drivers, safe driving discounts do not apply. However, there are many discounts you should ask your provider about when purchasing insurance for your new teen driver, such as:

• Good Student
• College Student
• Defensive Driver

These discounts may make a significant difference in the premium when they apply to your teen driver.

To learn more about insuring your teen driver, contact our team at www.ProtectiveAgency.com  or call us at (877) 739-9367. Our licensed, friendly insurance folks will be happy to answer any questions you have.