You are a parent of a teenage son or daughter who wants to become a driver. My bet is that you have already been unpleasantly surprised by the premiums. Teen car insurance rates for can really take your breath away these days.

Fortunately you have come to the right place. Here we do all the legwork for you. We give you all the information that you need to make the right decision and get the cheapest car insurance rate for teenagers available on the market

1. The first thing you should do to get the cheapest rate on car insurance for your teen is to enroll him/her in defensive driving school. This way you will not only get a better rate and improve their driving skills but will also increase their safety on the road. Teens are often encouraged to take up extra driving courses after they have graduated from driving schools. Not all driving schools are created equal though. Give your insurance agent a call to find out which ones are authorized by the insurance company in your state.

2. Do you remember the time when you were a teenager? Do you remember how you raced your friends? Do you remember how you wanted everyone to see your fancy car? Your child is the same as you. Just keep in mind that the car your teen drives makes a difference when it comes to determining the insurance premium. The hotter the car the more you will have to pay to have the driver covered. Insurance companies give out lower rates if the car is midsize or full-size vehicle and equipped with a lot of safety features like air bags, anti- theft system or break system. Here you can find a guide to choosing the best car for your teen.

3. Not all students are created equal. If you kid is a high school or full time college student and maintains B grades on average car insurance companies like Geico, Allstate, American Family Insurance, Farmers Insurance, The Hartford, Safeco offer so called good student discount.

4. These days most students work part time. Having money means that they might be able to pay their insurance premium themselves. It means that all that hard-earned money will go toward paying the car insurance premiums. To make it easy on the soon to be driver you can add him/her under your policy. Your premium will go up but you will be paying less to have your teen covered compared to what you would have paid if the policy was under your teenager’s name.

5. Set higher deductible for teenager’s policy. To insurance companies it sounds like you think you do not consider your child a risk on the road. Some insurers even reduce with $50 your premiums every year you go accident free up to $500. For example if you have set your deductible at $1000 in 5 years you will be paying the same premium (may be even less) and your child’s deductible will have gone down to $750.

6. For sure the teen car insurance rate that you get for your son or daughter matters but what matters more is keeping your kid alive. You as a parent and person of greatest authority have to teach your child how to drive and the laws that pertain for teen drivers and make sure he/she knows them. The laws are different for each state and you can find them here. Driving accident- free year after year will only be decreasing the amount spend on auto insurance and which is more important, your kid’s life will not be in danger.

7. You can teach your teen to drive but you can’t be with him/her all the time. Good news is that insurers like Allstate and Safeco offer tracking devices that monitor teens driving and notify parents for every speeding or dangerous driving. All cars equipped with these GPS like devices get an additional discount on car insurance.

8. Shop until you drop. This old saying holds true especially when you are shopping for auto insurance. There are hundreds auto insurance companies out there. It makes it hard to find and compare car insurance rates for your teenagers. That’s why my advice is to reduce the number of companies to choose from to those which have “A” rating. You might pay more but in the long run you will definitely end up paying less. Using websites like InsureMe.com and eSurance.com can save you a lot of time. They work with a vast number of insurance companies and deliver multiple offers right into your email in a matter of minutes. You can also pay online reducing even more the hassles associated with shopping for auto insurance like phone calls from auto insurance agents.

Getting the cheapest teen car insurance rate takes time and perseverance but it pays off big time. Your teen son or daughter will be happy because he/she is able to drive and take advantage of the opportunities that cars give like going to work and taking out girls. You are happy also because you have saved money and taught you kids how to stay save while on the road.

Let me share a story that I think we all can relate to. I was young. I just had bought my first car and had no driving experience. I had to insure my car. Companies like Geico, State farm, Progressive and the likes were too expensive for me at that point. That why I opted in for a cheap world unknown company. I could afford the rate. Needless to say I was happy. Finally I had my own car and all I wanted was to drive, drive, drive. And so I did.

A few months later, on a sunny summer day a big SUV run into me. The driver of the vehicle fell asleep while driving. The first thing I did was call the police and the second- my cheap insurance company. It was Saturday and guess what- there was nobody in the office. Later on I found out that they had Saturday and Sunday off. Then I called the insurance company of the driver who caused the accident- Allstate. What a surprise- someone immediately picked up the phone.

The insurer’s representative explained me the procedure in cases like this. I few days later I had an appointment with a body shop near the place where I live. The mechanic there estimated the damage and offered me either to fix the car at insurer’s expenses or send me a check for a particular amount. Was I impressed? You bet.

Needless to say I switched the insurance companies immediately. I didn’t go with Allstate but found another reputable company that I can rely on 24/7.

I can’t emphasize enough how important is to go with an insurance company with good ratings when it comes to buying teen car insurance. These days thanks to the Internet you can find information and compare insurance companies in a matter of minutes. You can also read reviews both positive and negative of actual customers and make up your mind whether to go with the insurer that you have chosen or not.

So what are these insurance companies’ ratings and where do we get them? There are a few ratings that you have to take into consideration while making a decision where to insure your teen son or daughter.
The first one is Financial Rating. It shows the financial strength of each insurer and its ability to pay claims. There are two websites that you can find that kind of info. The first one is AmBest.com and Standard and Poors. Go with an insurer that has at least “A” rating.

Customer Rating is the second one. One website that I like in particular is Epinions.com. Customers from different states share there experience with different insurance companies. I have not found insurers without negative reviews on that site which is ok. You can not make everyone happy. You just have to read them for yourself and find out if they make sense.

Equipped with both financial and consumer rating info you are ready to make a decision which insurance companies to choose from. Once again make sure that they have at least “A” financial rating. This way, at least in the beginning, your teens car insurance rates will be higher but in the long run you will save yourself a lot of hassles and have an insurance company on your side you can rely 24/7 on.

When it comes to choosing your child’s vehicle bigger is better. Bigger cars (midsize and full-size) have more safety features and insurance companies tend to lower their premiums for drivers with those types of cars. Following is some guidelines to choosing cars that have the right ratio between size and safety features. This way your soon to be driver will be save and you will get the best teen car insurance rates for your kid.

First what to look for when buying a car for your teenager:

1. “Choose a large sedate sedan” says Susan Ferguson from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. She goes “Parents should stay away from vehicles that are small or sporty”. Bigger vehicles like sedans and minivans are not sexy but reduce the chances that your young driver will be involved in a speed-related crash. Stay away from small cars.

2. When deciding what vehicle to buy for your soon to be driver take a look at the results from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration front and side crash test. What you want is a car that has earned a 4- or 5- star rating.

3. What usually happens is parents give their teens their old vehicles. There are a few things to consider here. Of course it makes economic sense not to buy a new car but to use the one that you already have. Keep in mind though that older vehicles have less safety features. Cars manufactured 10 years ago lack safety features that today are standard. For this reason go for a newer vehicle.

4. Another way to reduce the teen car insurance rates is to pick a vehicle that has airbags. They protect the driver and any front seat passengers in case of a car accident. Remind you teen drivers that air bags work best in conjunction with seatbelts and insist on always wearing them. The latest vehicles come equipped with belts not only for the driver and front seat passenger but also for the passengers in the back seats. Insurance companies like Geico offer a discount of 15 percent on the medical payments or personal injury protection portion of the insurance premium if the driver and the passengers in the car wear seat belts.

5. Go for a car with anti- lock brakes. They are better known as ABS but what they actually do is help the driver maintain control during hard stops.

6. Pick a vehicle that has a 4- or 5-star NHTSA rollover rating. Young drivers tend to overcorrect when steering out of trouble, which makes them more prone to roll their vehicles. SUVs are more likely to roll over because the center of gravity is higher. There are some crossovers SUVs like such as Volvo XS90 and Chrysler Pacifica with 4 star rating from NHTSA.

7. The weight of vehicle also matters. According to experts it should be at least 3,300 pounds. This way a lot of small cars and many small trucks are ruled out. Having a heavier vehicle means that when a bigger vehicle hits a smaller ones it carries more momentum and causes more damage on the other car or truck. That explains why the bigger the vehicle the safer it is.

8. The ideal vehicle for your teen need more then 8 seconds but less than 11, to go from 0 to 60 mph, a range recommended by Consumer Reports. It means that the car your teen drives can’t go too fast and at the same time can accelerate safety on highways and around other vehicles.

Choosing the car with the best safety features takes time but it pays off big time. Sure, having such a vehicle will decrease your teen car insurance, but the saving is nothing compared to your son or daughter’s life saved when involved in a car accident just because you took the time to choose the appropriate vehicle.