About a month ago, progressive charged my dad a bill of $1600 for his insurance + my insurance. Mind you I’m 17 and I only have my permit. Also, I don’t even have a car!!!!!! I think i’ve practiced driving with my dad like once or twice ever since i got my permit. Of course he called them immediately to dispute the charge bc they basically charged him $1000 out of no where for “teen car insurance”. They basically told him that it was “Texas law” that teens with even just a permit must have auto insurance. A family friend went to the dmv and asked about this and they told them that no, it was not texas law. I mean obviously if I had a car I would have to have insurance, but I don’t own a car nor do I even drive. We’ve cancelled the teen insurance, but ever since then my dad won’t let me practice driving. I turn 18 in November and i’m running out of time to get my driving hours in. I also have my license appointment scheduled for October.
I get why my dad’s scared of letting me drive his car, but i think we should be fine?? Im not sure if progressive will know if i drive his car or not if i log my hours into my driving app. Also I don’t know if we should switch insurance providers or if we should call progressive to ask why they lied about the law and get them to not charge us for teen insurance. Is $1000 for teen auto insurance even normal? From what I heard from my friends with cars, they said it usually around like $400-600 but I know it varies based on what car you have as well.
Progressive charged $1000 monthly car insurance for a teen with only a permit
byu/navybluesgray inInsurance
Posted by navybluesgray
5 Comments
Not legally required per Texas Department of Insurance [TX DOI](https://www.tdi.texas.gov/tips/adding-teen-driver-to-insurance-policy.html)
Your best bet would to find an independent agent to shop around for you. They have access to multiple insurance companies.
Go to AAA. Get a membership for your dad and yourself ( ~ 95-110 for both). Get the insurance from the local office..
I’m sorry for your dad seeing that increase , they create laws for insurance because the state enforce it . Insurance is preparing for an unknown and they want to be aware of anyone in the house that is the license/ permit age because they can drive legally now . And let say your not on the insurance and drive to the store , an accident happens and you caused it but insurance doesn’t know about you as a driver they will not help repair the car
My insurance (Allstate) didn’t have any upcharge at all to have my daughters on my policy while they only had permits, though rates increased significantly once they had their full licenses.
Since your father resolved the issue with being charged for you being on the policy I won’t get into that.
As far as driving the car is concerned, have your father go over the insurance contract and confirm that permissive use is allowed, meaning that if your father gives you permission to drive the car, then you would be covered under his policy.
Also, not sure how the rules are in TX, but I believe that your ability to drive is limited by the requirement to have a licensed driver 21 or older accompany you while driving.