If your West Virginia family has kids approaching driving age, make plans to get them the right West Virginia teen car insurance coverage
For most teenagers, learning to drive is a pivotal point of maturation. Parents want to be sure that teenage children get the proper driver training and have the proper insurance coverage while they learn to drive. In many cases, providing coverage merely requires naming children as additional drivers. Adding a teenage driver to your West Virginia family car insurance coverage presents unique licensing and coverage considerations and there are a few things you should know/
Unique licensing requirements for West Virginia teens (GDL)
West Virginia is like a growing number of states that have attempted to reduce the number of teen-related car accidents by gradually bestowing driving privileges to beginning drivers. West Virginia’s Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program is a drawn-out, three-stage process. Starting at age 15, West Virginia teens can apply for Stage 1 of the process and, if successful, obtain an Instructional Permit.
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If a teen successfully fulfills all the requirements and adheres to the limitations involved with the Instructional Permit, when s/he turns 16, s/he can apply for Stage 2, the Intermediate License.
If a teen driver successfully fulfills all the requirements and adheres to the limitations involved with this Intermediate License, when s/he turns 17, s/he can then apply for the final stage of licensing, a full privilege License.
(For complete details on the West Virginia GDL program, click here.)
West Virginia teen driver car insurance requirements
If your West Virginia family has teens approaching driving age, you will want to be sure they are properly covered with insurance. This could prove to be a “learning event” as you can talk with your teen driver about the minimum insurance coverage required by West Virginia law. West Virginia state law requires every licensed driver to carry a minimum amount of liability coverage. These state-required liability levels are:
- $10,000 for property damages
- $20,000 of coverage for accidents that cause injury or death to one person
- $40,000 of coverage for accidents that cause injury or death to more than one person
Once a teen driver fulfills all three stages of West Virginia’s GDL program and is issued a full privilege driver’s license, the state expects these minimum coverage standards to be in place. Some car insurance companies selling insurance in West Virginia will extend the coverage on family cars to include newly licensed teen drivers, especially if you have notified them at some stage in the GDL process.
Only carrying the minimum state requirements for liability coverage may not be the best strategy if you have newly licensed teen drivers. You may want to add some coverage options such as:
Costs and ways to lower them
When West Virginia teen drivers are added to their parents' car insurance policies, the premium will generally go up. The Insurance Research Council (IRC) and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) both estimate that adding a teen driver to your family’s car insurance coverage can increase those premium rates from between 50 and 100 percent. While this may be hard for many families to accommodate, there are ways to reduce these costs.
Teen safe driver training – most West Virginia car insurance companies offer discounts on premium for young drivers who take part in some form of safe driver training. Whether it’s taking and passing a driver training course or whether it’s signing on to a “safe driver pledges”, many insurance companies will work to blunt the sticker shock of increased premiums by offering discounts for teen drivers and their families when they take part in these programs.
Good grades – most insurance companies offer discounts on car insurance premiums when young drivers maintain good grades while in school. Some of these discounts can even extend to when a young driver goes on to college,
Family policies & combined coverage – there are a handful of companies who offer packages to combine drivers’ coverage in a family and extend discounts accordingly. Geico and Nationwide have very specific family policies that extend generous coverage options and rate discounts to families when they add young drivers to their policies.
(This guide can give you more tips on geeting good west virginia teen car insurance)
Shepherding your teen driver through the exciting prospect of getting a driver’s license brings with it a lot of responsibility. For West Virginia families, there are numerous options for providing the right car insurance coverage for their teen drivers and having a skilled and experienced agent on your side will help. Reply! can assist West Virginia families by connecting them to local insurance professionals eager to help you in this process.