The biggest milestone a teenager reaches is getting their drivers license. From a teenagers’ perspective all they have to do is take drivers education and pass the driving test. They do not think about the costs acquainted with them driving. They do not think about the soaring prices of gas or how much money it takes to buy a car and keep it running. The only thing teenagers have on their mind is getting the keys and cruising around with their friends. Teenage drivers’ parents are left trying to figure out how to afford this great milestone in their teenagers’ life. Most parents can stomach the cost of a car and how much it will take to gas it up. What very few realize is that auto insurance is expensive for these inexperienced drivers. Here are some tips for parents on how to find cheap auto insurance for their teenage drivers.

Before you start looking for car insurance for your teen think about the kind of car they will be driving. If you buy your teenage driver a 2010 Honda Accord the insurance will be sky high because you will be paying for comprehensive and collision coverage for a new untested driver. If you buy your teenage driver a 1999 Honda Civic you will feel more comfortable carrying only liability on the car because the car is not worth that much money anymore. This is the number one factor to look at when you inaugurate looking for cheap auto insurance rates.

The next step is to call your current carrier. If you have been with a good insurance company for a long time they will usually quote you a lower rate than if were to call a new carrier. Believe it or not insurance companies usually do reward loyalty and that includes cheaper pricing for teenage drivers. This is especially true if the parents have crystal clean driving records themselves. Most insurance companies will include good driving discounts on the teenage drivers’ rates if the parents themselves qualify for them.

If you are a parent with a less than stellar driving record your insurance company may actually charge more for your teen because they consider your teen higher risk than the young driver whose parents have natty records. This is a good time for you to start shopping around for cheap auto insurance for your teenage driver.

As you shop for cheap car insurance your best bet is to shop for the whole family. Most insurance carriers will not insure anyone under 18 by themselves. Also, if you separate one car from your policy that car will lose a multi-vehicle discount that works in your favor to keep your insurance costs cheap.

So, get a list of 3 top nationally recognized auto insurance companies and call them all. Make sure you mention you have a teenage driver in the beginning of the call as some insurance companies will reject policies that have new drivers on them. Also make distinct you have your current policy with you so you can request rates based off your correct coverage’s.

While talking to the various insurance agents have them give you high, medium, and low coverage package quotes. It is suggested people who own a home and have assets, like many parents do, carry their bodily injury limits at 100/300. This is very important because higher coverage’s protect your assets the best. But, when trying to find cheap auto insurance for teenage drivers, you may explore Bodily Injury limits at 50/100 or even down to your state minimum requirement (which would give you the extreme quote).

If you did buy your teenage driver a newer car that requires comprehensive and collision (or corpulent coverage), have the car insurance agents quote you with higher deductibles like $750 or $1000. While it is not recommended to carry high deductibles, sometimes you have to when dealing with the high cost of insurance for teenage drivers.

If you do all this and are still having trouble finding cheap car insurance for your teenage driver call an auto insurance broker in your region. You can find them listed in the yellow pages. These brokers deal with smaller insurance companies and will shop amongst them for you to find the cheapest rates. While these smaller companies may not get the highest customer service ratings or be nationally recognized they sometimes do give cheap rates for teenage drivers. Smaller companies may even insure your teenager on their own policy so you do not have to leave the carrier you have been with for years. While this is not recommended it may be the only affordable choice.

While there are cheap car insurance rates for teenage drivers available it just may grasp some time to find them. A lot of parents avoid expensive insurance rates by requiring their teenage driver maintain a 3.0 GPA in school as many insurance companies reward good grades with a massive discount. Construct sure your current insurance company is including all discounts available and ask them what you need to do to qualify for additional discounts in the future. Further, while the initial auto insurance rates may be expensive at first they could become cheap after the teenage driver has maintained a clean record for their first year or two of driving.

*All tips given here are based on author Kirstin Filliez’s experience while working as an auto insurance sales agent for the last 7 years. None of the tips guarantee lower rates, they are fair some ideas that have worked for other insureds in the past.