If you are like most parents you are probably a bit nervous about your child getting behind the wheel of the car. In addition to their safety you are worried about the increased cost of them driving. Insuring a car with a 16 year old driver on the policy has the potential to be a very costly proposition. Premiums tend to increase dramatically just by adding little Johnny on to the policy. 16 year olds are not allowed to enter into insurance contracts on their own so they either need a parent’s signature on the policy or the parent can add them on the family policy. What is the impact on insurance premiums? Let’s look at some examples:

I went on the website carinsurance.com and I became a single father with full coverage on a vehicle. By full coverage I mean collision & comprehensive with a $5oo deductible, $100,000/$300,000liability, $25,000 personal damage, rental car coverage and towing services. Since my home state is New York and I live in NYC, I decided to use that as the barometer. The quote I received was a premium of $844 for 6 months.

When I added a 16 year old additional driver on the policy, the premium on that same policy jumped to $1832 for the same six months. That represents a 217% difference in premium for the exact same coverage. As an interesting comparison I changed the 16 year old from a male to a female and the premium dropped from $1832 to $1688, which is only a 200% increase. Obviously boys cost more than girls when it comes to auto insurance.

In playing with these numbers I decided to see what would happen if I purchased my child their own vehicle and then insured them on the policy. This represented the most dramatic jump. The premium for the female jumped to $2486 a 295% increase over the regular premium, and the premium for the male came back at $2552 with one quote as high as $4663 which represents a 303% and unreal 552% increase over the regular premium.

What does all of this mean? Quite obviously, it is very expensive to have your kids driving. I know New York City has some of the highest insurance rates in the country however the percentages will usually remain the same regardless of where you are located. I found some articles regarding this issue:

Teens a sure road to higher auto rates
 High insurance for teen drivers

So where does this leave you as a parent. Well in NYC the need for a car for a teenager isn’t as great because we have around the clock public transportation after all we are the city that never sleeps. However that still doesn’t solve the problem and this is a problem. As a parent taking on the extra financial responsibility may become burdensome, because you may be talking about and extra $200 per month added to the budget, let alone the extra money spent on gas and vehicle maintenance. Well my son is only 6 now so I have some time, but if he were 16 and wanted to drive I would have to give him a simple 3 word answer to make this possible, get a job.