3 teens, 2 parents and 2 cars. (insurance, vehicle, auto, best)

[Tractor Face]

Hello, I'm not certain there's an answer for this question as it's dependent of a few things but I'll ask anyway. My wife and I have 3 sons living at home, ages 16, 18 and 19. We have two modest cars, both worth slightly less than $20K and the bank holds the liens on both cars until paid off. All 3 kids now drive our cars and all 3 are on our auto insurance policy.

Needless to say, our insurance isn't cheap and we have decent coverage from one of the best insurance companies around-I only know this because I created a business plan for a supermarket chain that asked me if an insurance offering would be worth it and what it would looked like. So I got to know these companies quite well.

Would it save money to get a $4000 clunker for the boys to drive and only pay liability on it vs sticking with what we have where we all share 2 cars? I'm going to guess, although this might be wishful thinking, that the way we do it now would be less expensive as only 2 people can be driving at the same time vs 3 people if we introduce another car.

Our boys are not the best drivers in the world.....just saying.

Thanks folks.

[z28lt1]

This is very dependent on state and insurance company.


In some cases, the teens are going to be rated on the most expensive vehicle no matter how many you have, so adding a third vehicle will only be on more thing to insure. However, some locations/companies may allow you to pick which car they are drivers on, or allow you to sign an agreement that they won't drive one of the cars or such.


This is probably something you need to review with your agent. Also, a good time to shop around for other insurance companies, but teens are expensive. And you've got three. And boys are more expensive than girls, so good luck.

[Mr78609]

It will be almost impossible to remove the sons from YOUR policy.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Tractor Face

Would it save money to get a $4000 clunker for the boys to drive and only pay liability on it vs sticking with what we have where we all share 2 cars? I'm going to guess, although this might be wishful thinking, that the way we do it now would be less expensive as only 2 people can be driving at the same time vs 3 people if we introduce another car.

Our boys are not the best drivers in the world.....just saying.

Thanks folks.

I want to hear more about the fantasy of 3 teen boys sharing a clunker and not blowing it up!

Guess the OP never watched the Brady bunch when Greg and Marsha were sharing a car

[adjusterjack]

z28lt1 is correct. Even with a clunker as a third car the highest rated driver will be assigned to the highest rated car. The 16 and 18 year old will be on your two cars and the 19 year old will be rated on the clunker. You'll be substantially increasing your premiums instead of getting a break.

If the 16 and 18 year olds have less than 3 years driving experience they are probably getting the inexperienced operator surcharge.

Some suggestions:

Shop around. The "best" companies often have the highest rates. Yet, there are also "best" companies with competitive rates.

If possible, put your homeowners insurance with the same company as the auto insurance. Many companies offer multi-policy discounts.

See if your company or any company offers a discount for driver training classes.

Make sure your cars have the correct mileage classification. Compute the annual mileage on each car.

Increase your deductibles if there is a significant price break for doing so.

Above all, shop around at every renewal. Don't subscribe to the myth that you have to pay high rates to have the "best" company.