Flo can offer some great discounts, but not even Flo can keep Progressive teen car insurance from getting pricey
Car insurance can be expensive, especially when a family has younger drivers that need to be insured. Teen car insurance is one of the more expensive necessities a family will face. According to sources as varied as the Insurance Research Council, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and Consumer Reports, adding a teen driver to a family’s car insurance policy can double, triple or even quadruple the cost. This is especially true if the teen in question is male.
To get a real-world sense of what adding teen drivers will do to a family’s car insurance costs, we’re going shopping with one of the nation’s leading car insurance providers, Progressive car insurance. Progressive (and its ubiquitous spokesperson Flo) routinely tout the discounts they can get drivers. So, we put them to the test on how much they can actually save us if we want to add a teen driver to our Progressive family car insurance coverage.
Here’s what we found:
Our driver profile(s)
In order to take advantage of Progressive’s online rate quoting services and see just exactly what Progressive teen car insurance will cost a family, we created a hypothetical family of drivers. Eric and Rhonda are a married couple with a 17-year old son, Walter, who recently completed his Graduated Driving License (GDL) requirements and is now a fully licensed driver. Eric is a 45-year old lawyer who works as a military attorney. Rhonda is a 42-year old real estate agent. They have both been continuously insured since first getting licensed at ages 17 and 18. Eric and Ronda have never been involved in any accidents nor have they been cited for serious infractions or violations. Son Walter, in successfully completing his GDL requirements, completed a driver safety and defensive driving course through his school. They own their home.
The cars they are hoping to insure include a 2014 Lexus ES 350 they purchased new and are still paying a loan balance on and a 2013 Subaru Forester that they own outright. Eric primarily drives the Lexus and Rhonda primarily drives the Forester. Walter learned to drive with the Forester and it is the car he will be driving most of the time. The family puts an average of 15-20,000 miles on each car each year.
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Markets for coverage
There are a number of factors that go into calculating what your car insurance rates will be. Where you live and drive is a big one. To get a more clear picture of how adding a teen driver to your Progressive family car insurance plan will change your rates, we took our hypothetical family Progressive car insurance shopping in three different markets. Each year, several organizations compile statistics on what the average cost of car insurance is in each individual state. Using the most recent statistics (for 2014) we took our car insurance family shopping in a state that ranked high for car insurance rates, a state that falls near the median average for rates, and one with lower-than-average costs for car insurance.
Here are the results:
(Note: these rates and coverage levels are the result of car insurance requests posted to Progressive’s online quoting service in August of 2014.)
Sacramento, California
As you might expect, California ranks as one of the more expensive states for car insurance costs, but the underlying reasons may surprise you. California has relatively modest to low insurance coverage requirements. As a result, many car insurance companies raise their rates for California drivers to cover the added costs they may be faced with when accidents generate costs that exceed these modest requirements. California does offer support for lower-income drivers with good driving records in the form of the California Low Cost Auto Insurance (CLCA) program that allows qualifying drivers to carry even lower minimum levels of insurance. For our hypothetical family (and for most Californians) the minimum required levels of car insurance coverage include:
- $15,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for a single person, per accident
- $30,000 in total bodily injury liability coverage per accident
- $5,000 in total property damage liability coverage per accident
In spite of the relatively low levels of coverage required when our family goes Progressive car insurance shopping in California, we’re putting coverage types and levels in that will more adequately protect them as a driving family. While some drivers may think they can get a bargain on coverage by just buying the minimum coverage required of them, it doesn’t always work out that way. Insurance companies like to encourage more responsible coverage and Progressive is no exception. Our family actually gets a better base rate for putting a more expanded coverage package in place. The California Progressive car insurance plan we selected for this family to cover both cars includes:
- Liability coverage at 100/300/100 levels
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage at 100/300 levels
- $5,000 in medical payments coverage
- Collision coverage with a $500 deductible for the Lexus and a $1,000 deductible for the Subaru
- Comprehensive coverage with a $500 deductible for the Lexus and a $1,000 deductible for the Subaru
- Roadside assistance coverage, in place
- Rental reimbursement coverage, in place
- Loan/lease payoff coverage for the Lexus
Progressive offers a pretty nice package of car insurance premium discounts for California drivers. With this package, Eric and Rhonda are eligible for these Progressive car insurance discounts:
- Multi-car discounts
- Good driver/safe driver discounts
- Safety and anti-theft devices discounts
- Continuous coverage discounts
With these discounts in place, Eric and Rhonda can get the expanded package of coverage (for both cars) from Progressive, on a six-month policy, for the monthly premium of $210-$220.
Adding Walter to the coverage plan in California gives the family access to a couple of additional premium discounts including an occasional driver discount offered by Progressive. The family can use all the discounts they can get when they add Walter to the California coverage. The exact same package, with Walter, now costs the family $595-$605 in monthly premium.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
The Rocky Mountain state falls near the national median when it comes to car insurance prices. That wasn’t always the case. Until 2003, the state was a no fault state where car insurance coverage was concerned and the result was routinely higher costs for car insurance coverage. Since the no fault rules expired, the state has enjoyed about a 35 percent drop in car insurance rates.
Licensed drivers in Colorado are required to carry the following coverage options and limits:
- $25,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for a single person per accident
- $50,000 in total bodily injury liability coverage per accident
- $15,000 in total property damage liability coverage per accident
- $5,000 in medical payments coverage per accident (unless you have personal or family health insurance coverage)
Car insurance companies in Colorado are required to offer uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on all new and renewing policies (at levels equal to liability coverage levels) but drivers can reject that coverage.
Keeping with the trend of putting a more comprehensive package of coverage options in place for Eric and Rhonda (and to make a direct comparison with their Progressive car insurance rates from state to state more accurate) here’s the package of coverage with Progressive we put in place for them in Colorado:
- Liability coverage at 100/300/100 levels
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage at 100/300/100 levels
- Medical payments coverage at $5,000 per person
- Collision coverage with a $500 deductible for the Lexus and a $1,000 deductible for the Subaru
- Comprehensive coverage with a $500 deductible for the Lexus and a $1,000 deductible for the Subaru
- Roadside assistance coverage, in place
- Rental reimbursement coverage, in place
- Loan/lease payoff coverage for the Lexus
In Colorado, Progressive is able to offer Eric and Rhonda a few additional discounts they could not get in California, including a discount for being homeowners, for switching insurers before the end of s policy, and for completing their insurance transactions online. All of these discounts help and for a six-month policy, Eric and Rhonda will pay a monthly premium of $190-$200.
Adding Walter to their Progressive Colorado car insurance policy gets Eric and Rhonda a couple of additional discounts. Walter is a good student and in Colorado, Progressive can extend a good student discount. The family also gets a discount from Progressive in Colorado for the fact that Walter is a minor child. Even with these additional discounts, the family will feel the sting of adding Walter. The exact same Progressive policy with Walter now runs the family a monthly premium of $420-$430.
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Fayetteville, North Carolina
North Carolinians are blessed with a dynamic range of varied scenery, an enviable coastline and some of the lowest car insurance rates in the country. One reason may be that the state has some car insurance requirements that exceed many other states. With every licensed driver required to carry a bit more car insurance than in other states, insurance companies aren’t compelled to hedge against additional losses due to accidents that exceed required limits. The insurance requirements for licensed drivers in the state of North Carolina are:
- $30,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for a single person per accident
- $60,000 in total bodily injury liability coverage per accident
- $25,000 in total property damage liability coverage per accident
- $30,000 in uninsured/underinsured bodily injury coverage for a single person per accident
- $60,000 in total uninsured/underinsured bodily injury coverage per accident
- $25,000 in total uninsured/underinsured property damage coverage per accident (with a $100 deductible)
Drivers who elect to put liability coverage in place at levels higher than these state requirements must be offered an equal amount of combined uninsured/ underinsured motorist coverage from their car insurance company.
Just as in the other two states, we put a Progressive car insurance plan in place for Eric and Rhonda that easily exceeds these minimum requirements (and allows for a closer comparison from state to state.) The package of Progressive car insurance coverage in North Carolina we plugged in for Eric and Rhonda included:
- Liability coverage at 100/300/50 levels
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage at 100/300/50 levels
- Medical payments coverage at $2,000 per person per accident
- Collision coverage with a $500 deductible for the Lexus and a $1,000 deductible for the Subaru
- Comprehensive coverage with a $500 deductible for the Lexus and a $1,000 deductible for the Subaru
- Roadside assistance coverage, in place
- Rental reimbursement coverage, in place
(Progressive does not offer North Carolina drivers the loan/lease payoff option found in the other two states.)
Eric and Rhonda enjoy the same discounts from Progressive in North Carolina that they were offered in Colorado. This helps because even though North Carolina typically ranks better for lower car insurance rates than Colorado, this doesn’t hold true in this specific case. Even with the same discounts, the Progressive car insurance plan for Eric and Rhonda in North Carolina (on a six month policy) will require a monthly premium of $220-$230.
Adding Walter to their North Carolina Progressive car insurance plan only gets Eric and Rhonda a discount for him being an occasional driver (his good grades and defensive/safe driving classes are no help in North Carolina.) The result is that with the exact same six-month policy, adding Walter to the plan will require a monthly premium of $515-$525.
While each individual driver and every family presents a unique car insurance coverage challenge, these policy scenarios show you how where you live can have a big impact on what you pay for car insurance. It also illustrates just how expensive it can be to add a teen driver (especially a young male driver) to any policy, even one with a company as big-name and discount-conscious as Progressive.
The coverage levels and discounts you can get will very from state to state and by insurance company, Finding the right fit may require you to spend time with a licensed and seasoned car insurance professional. An agent will be able to answer any questions you may have and help you and your entire family with additional safe driving tips and programs to help your new teen driver establish good driving habits. An agent can also show you more pricing scenarios before you buy. Take advantage of the resources available at Reply! where we can connect you to local car insurance agents who may not be personal friends of Flo, but who can get you and your family he best deal on teen car insurance.