Two years ago, I added my first teenager to our auto insurance, and the total cost of our policy doubled. I just added my second teenager, and the cost nearly doubled again.
Two friends told me that we are not required to add teens to a policy. My friends insist that, if one of my teens has an accident, she will be covered by the uninsured motorist coverage of my policy, the same way it would cover if I let a friend or neighbor drive my car. According to my friends, the only downside is that, five years or so down the road when my teens get their own cars and insurance, they will pay more because they have not previously been insured.
Does this sound right? Is it legal? Is there some downside I am not aware of?
Your friends are misinformed. The coverage they are talking about is for people you let borrow your car, but it doesn’t apply to people in your household. Your insurance company asks for all the licensed drivers in your house. If you lie and tell your insurance company there are no other drivers who live in your house, and then one of those drivers has an accident in your car, your insurance company will not cover the damages. So you will need to pay your own losses as well as the other party’s losses. The insurance company may even cancel your policy when they find out you lied to them. You can specifically exclude your teens from your policy if you want, but then they cannot drive your cars.
When my kids were becoming drivers age (my baby is 32), USAA told us that we did not need to add them to our policy while they had learners’ permits. But we MUST add them once the received a driver’s license. Excluding them was not an option, even if they were not going to be allowed to drive.