It’s that time of year again. Time to send kids off to college and time to worry about money. Well, time to be more worried about money. With the high cost of tuition, books, room and board, parents today trim every corner they can find. There may be a couple of idea in regard to your college age kid’s auto insurance you haven’t considered.
More and more colleges are telling freshmen to leave their cars at home. Parking space on college campuses is always at a premium, so that privilege is increasingly being reserved for upper classmen. If this is the case, talk to your insurance agent and find out if your child’s auto policy can be put on “restricted” status. The rate will be lower, but the car will be still be covered when it’s being driven on holiday breaks.
For students who are headed off to college behind the wheel, parents may see a slight rise in premiums if the campus is located in a high risk area. If this is the case, make sure that there are adequate anti-theft and security devices onboard and that you are receiving any potential price breaks for them.
Consider keeping your child on your policy rather than getting separate coverage. Chances are good that you can negotiate a better multi-car rate. The length of time you’ve been a customer with the company will also help in the price department. If you go with a separate policy, even though it’s for your son or daughter, in the eyes of the company, they are a new customer with no proven track record of reliability and responsible driving.
Finally, find out of if your company has any academic reward program for college age drivers. A number of companies actually do award “good student” discounts, giving price breaks to young drivers in school who maintain a B or better average.