Press release
Teens Who Get a Driver's License at 16 Will Cost Their Families Over $33,000
The cost of insuring a teen driver can take up as much as 19% of a family's income according to a new ValuePenguin.com study NEW YORK, March 23, 2021
About this update from Lendingtree, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"The cost of insuring a teen driver can take up as much as 19% of a family's income according to a new ValuePenguin.com study\n\n\nNEW YORK, March 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Getting a driver's license is one of the biggest rites of passage for 16 year-olds across the country, but can American families afford the expense in 2021? Depending on the state, a teen driver can take up as much as 19% of a family's income just for car insurance costs alone, according to a new ValuePenguin.com by LendingTree report. By waiting until the age of 22 to drive, young drivers can save families an average of $33,091 on car insurance.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nKey findings:\nAdding a 16-year-old as a driver of an insured vehicle costs an average of $5,380 a year. Even with a good student discount — which only lowers insurance costs by an average of 7% across the country — adding a 16-19 year old to a family's car insurance policy costs $4,799 a year on average. By waiting until age 22 — the age when many young Americans graduate from four-year college — young drivers can save their families an average of $33,091 over the six years they waited. Additionally, the cost of adding a new 22 year old driver to a car insurance policy drops by 37% to $3,931 a year. Families in Michigan, Louisiana, Arizona, Florida and Kentucky will experience the biggest financial burden if their 16 year old got a driving license. Families here will need to allocate 10.9% to 19% of their incomes to insure a teen driver. Good student discounts here reduce overall annual expenses by less than 2%. Families in poor neighborhoods pay significantly more for car insurance when adding teen drivers to existing policies, especially in big cities. In New York, lower-income families will need to pay $4,452 more for car insurance than the wealthiest if they added a teen driver to their policy. The trend is the same in Los Angeles ($441 more) and Chicago ($2,242 more).According to Andrew Hurst, Insurance Data analyst at ValuePenguin.com by LendingTree, \"A teen driver can be a heavy financial burden for most, but that burden might be heavier to bear in a year when many American families are struggling. The data shows that the most financially at-risk families are the same who can least afford to pay the inflated premiums it takes to add a teen driver onto an existing policy.\" He adds, \"...