Compare 17-Year-Old Driver Car Insurance Rates [2023]
The average 17-year-old car insurance rates are $313.17/month. Increasing your deductible, taking driver's education, and buying used cars can help you find cheap 17-year-old car insurance rates.
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Joel Ohman
Founder & CFP®
Joel Ohman is the CEO of a private equity backed digital media company. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, author, angel investor, and serial entrepreneur who loves creating new things, whether books or businesses. He has also previously served as the founder and resident CFP® of a national insurance agency, Real Time Health Quotes. He has an MBA from the University of South Florida. Jo...
Founder & CFP®
UPDATED: Jun 10, 2023
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.
Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident car insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We are not affiliated with any one car insurance company and cannot guarantee quotes from any single company.
Our partnerships don’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own. To compare quotes from top car companies please enter your ZIP code above to use the free quote tool. The more quotes you compare, the more chances to save.
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about auto insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything auto insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by auto insurance experts.
UPDATED: Jun 10, 2023
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.
Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident car insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We are not affiliated with any one car insurance company and cannot guarantee quotes from any single company.
Our partnerships don’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own. To compare quotes from top car companies please enter your ZIP code above to use the free quote tool. The more quotes you compare, the more chances to save.
On This Page
- Adding your teenager to your policy may cause a major increase in your premium
- There are several ways you can lower the cost of insuring your teen
- You should always look out for your child’s well-being behind the wheel
For a 17-year-old, car insurance is going to be expensive. As a parent, your car insurance costs will rise when your teen son or daughter is licensed.
Compare car insurance rates from multiple companies with your ZIP code now so you can be sure to pay the best price possible for the insurance coverage you need for your teenager!
Recent research has shown that many 17-year-olds lack critical mental functions such as emotional regulations, judgment, self-control, and reasoning.
Unfortunately, these factors contribute in a major way to the crashes rates and the higher car insurance rates for teen drivers.
It comes as no surprise that your premium will rise 50-200 percent when you add a 17-year-old driver.
Your insurance company is not ready to cover the increased risk of damages and death without your help.
What is the average cost of car insurance for a 17-year-old?
The cost to insure a teen varies greatly depending on which state you live in. We compiled real quotes from three top insurance companies in the most expensive insurance state for which rates were available, Florida, and the cheapest insurance state, Maine.
The auto insurance rates listed below are for basic coverage and do not include comprehensive or collision protection. For more coverage options rate information, check out our data sheet below.
Demographic Information | Geico Quote | Progressive Quote |
---|---|---|
17-year-old male in Florida | $260.02 | $527.45 |
17-year-old female in Florida | $235.60 | $511.33 |
17-year-old male in Maine | $207.49 | $293.96 |
17-year-old female in Maine | $197.74 | $271.74 |
Typically, rates are higher for males than female teen drivers because a young female driver is statistically less likely to be in an accident.
This table should really show the importance of comparison shopping for car insurance! It’s obvious how much price varies between just these two insurance companies.
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How can you save money on your teen’s car insurance?
Still, you can lower your insurance costs. The insights below will help you save money when your 17-year-old gets a driver’s license:
- Increase your deductible – According to insurance industry experts, you should increase your deductible in order to lower your premiums. When your child reaches the driving age, increasing your deductible can lower your premiums by as much as 40 percent.
- Take driver’s education – Enrolling your teen in driver’s education can save you up to 20 percent off your premiums. Most insurance companies have instructional booklets and videos on safe driving and may offer discounts to customers who use them.
- Keep your teen’s grades up – Most insurers give discounts of up to 25 percent to 17-year-olds who maintain high GPA scores, as these students are considered more responsible than those with average scores.
- Don’t purchase new cars – Understandably, some parents want their 17-year-olds to have cars with the latest safety features or want to replace their current cars with new ones. However, if you do not want your premiums to rise, avoid buying a new car for your teen or yourself.
Another money-saving option involves taking your teen driver off your policy completely. Take your 17-year-old off the policy when he goes to college. This is only realistic if:
- You are confident your child will not drive when he’s away
- He won’t have access to his own car
Otherwise, you will be putting your family in a great financial risk. If your teen is not insured and causes a fatal accident, you could be taken to court end up in financial ruin.
How can you keep your teen safe on the road?
If you are looking to reduce your premiums over time, you have to take measures that will also help to keep your teenager alive. They include:
- Restricting nighttime driving – According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, for every mile driven, the fatal crash rate for teens at night is nearly four times higher than it is during the day. There is also a greater risk of drunken fatalities during the night.
- Increasing supervised driving – Today, over 14 states require teenage drivers to undergo more than 50 hours of driving instruction. Many of them require the instructions to cover nighttime driving for more than 10 hours.
- Limiting Passengers – Teens face a higher risk of fatality when they are driving packed cars, so young drivers need to be mindful of this if they plan to carpool.
- Not tolerating traffic rules violations – In some states, 17-year-olds who get a ticket or violate other restrictions in the state lose their driver’s license. The offenders have to take driving lessons afresh. Some violations such as driving while drunk are considered so serious that the teen driver may be denied a driver’s license for more than a year.
- Talk to your teen about distracted driving – Tell your teens that using their phone or talking too much to passengers in the car is very dangerous. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), eight people are killed in the United States every day as a result of distracted driving.
How do you find the best teen car insurance company?
Finding the best auto insurance provider for your 17-year-old is simply a matter of shopping around.
You have to compare quotes from different insurers to get a good deal.
Use our free search tool to compare multiple quotes in your area. Simply enter your ZIP code and access hundreds of car insurance quotes in seconds!
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Enter your ZIP code below to view companies that have cheap car insurance rates.
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Where can I buy cheap 17-year-old car insurance rates online?
17-year-old drivers are at a higher risk of accidents, so adding a 17-year-old to your car insurance may double your current rates. Shop around to find affordable auto insurance rates for 17-year-old teen drivers.
- Cheap car insurance is difficult to find for teenage drivers
- It is cheaper for you to add your teen to your own policy rather than purchasing a separate policy
- Teenage drivers are considered high-risk drivers because of their lack of experience
- Find out the ways to save on car insurance for teenagers
- For a complete guide to navigate how gender and age affects insurance rates, check out our complete guide
Ahhh, you are on the age-old quest of finding cheap car insurance for a young driver. The bad news is cheap car insurance and the word teen just don’t go hand in hand. The good news is that there are ways to save money on your insurance, but you have to be willing to shop around.
One of the most expensive types of drivers to insure today is a teen driver. They simply lack the experience and the understanding of their mortality to make insurance companies comfortable when it comes to providing insurance for this age group.
While a 17-year-old driver may be less to insure if they have had 2 years of driving experience, assuming they started driving at 15 years of age, they still won’t find much in the way of cheap car insurance. The most you can hope for is finding more affordable car insurance.
Enter your zip code now and get your online car insurance quotes today!
Why is car insurance so expensive for 17-year-olds?
It isn’t just 17-year-old teens that face the high cost of car insurance, it is teen drivers in general.
While a teen will see a reduction in price when they turn 19, the real changes don’t start occurring until you are in your early to mid 20’s.
The bottom line is, as mentioned above, a 17-year-old doesn’t have the driving experience necessary to place them in the safe driver category, even if they have, to date, been a safe driver.
What’s more, most teens really don’t understand the concept of being able to die, which usually makes them a little more reckless behind the wheel of a car.
When you look at statistics for car accidents, teen drivers are unequivocally responsible for the highest levels of deaths for any car accident type.
In addition, the highest percentage of every type of accident, including drunk driving accidents, are caused by teens; it’s no wonder that car insurance companies are leery when it comes to providing insurance to this age group.
What’s worse is that male drivers are statistically worse drivers than female drivers are. This means if you have a teen boy who is 17, you will be paying more for your insurance than your neighbor who has a teen girl who is 17.
Teenagers don’t always know what’s best for themselves. They often think about how much fun something would be instead of thinking about whether or not it’s safe. If you’re worried about your teenage son or daughter making poor decisions while behind the wheel, talk to him/her about why it might be better to wait until after graduation before taking the keys away. You could also encourage them to get their license at 18 rather than 19.
Is it hard to get car insurance for 17-year-olds?
While insurance companies don’t really like ensuring teens, that doesn’t mean that they won’t insure them. The good news is that most major and many small insurance companies sell auto insurance policies to any age group.
You do need to be aware, however, that the cost of insuring a 17-year-old will generally be at least two times the cost of your own insurance and it could be more!
If you allow your teen to drive your personal vehicle and you have a full coverage insurance policy, then you will be paying a high premium for your child’s auto insurance.
What’s more, if you drive a nice vehicle or worse, a sports car, then you can really expect to pay more for your auto insurance.
Sports cars and teens are a terrible combination as far as car insurance companies are concerned and they will ensure that you pay for the privilege of letting your 17-year-old drive your expensive car!
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Can I find affordable car insurance for a 17-year-old?
While you may not be able to find cheap car insurance for your teen, it is possible that you could find car insurance that is a bit more affordable than double your current insurance rates; but you may have to make some changes to make that happen. Here are some pointers:
- The first thing that you really want to consider is having your teen in their own car and keeping them off of your insurance policy altogether. Buying your teen their own vehicle may be the furthest thing from your mind, but if they have their own car that doesn’t require high levels of insurance, then you will save money
- Another thing you should consider is a high deductible for your child’s insurance policy. For parents that can’t afford a $1000 deductible, make your teen open an account to keep that money in
- Most insurance companies offer discounts for drivers of any age that take defensive driving courses. Not only is this a good idea to save money, but it is a good idea in general for all teen drivers
Is there anything else to help keep my teen’s car insurance as low as possible?
The biggest thing that will help lower the car insurance premium of a teenager is time. Once the young driver turns 25, they will be considered a safer adult driver and their insurance rates will decrease.
Until that time, there are a few things that will help keep a teenager’s insurance rate lower.
Many auto insurance companies will offer discounts to help you save money on your premiums, and some of them benefit young drivers.
If your teenager is a good student and gets a “B” average or greater, they will usually be able to take advantage of a good student discount.
The reason for this is because insurance companies equate good students with those who are responsible drivers, so their chances of being in an auto accident are lower. The good student discount is one of the most common discounts you’ll find when it comes to insurance for teens.
While you’re signing up for that good student discount, make sure you’re taking advantage of any other discounts offered by your insurer, such as the multi-car discount, discounts for safety ratings on your vehicle, and the safe driving discount. If you’re eligible for multiple discounts, you could lower your auto insurance premium significantly.
Lastly, you need to ensure that you shop around for your 17-year old’s car insurance. Get auto insurance quotes from multiple companies. This is the only way to ensure that you are getting the lowest price for your child’s auto insurance.
The older your teenager is when he or she starts driving, the cheaper their insurance will be. For most teenagers, the thought of waiting even longer to drive is unbearable, but if they are willing to (or if they are paying for their own insurance), they may choose to put off driving for a year or so in order to save a little money.
The type of vehicle the teenager drives may also help save money. A vehicle with anti-theft and safety features may help them save a bit on their premium.
Enter your zip code for your free car insurance quotes today!
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does car insurance cost for a 17-year-old driver?
The cost of car insurance for a 17-year-old driver can vary based on several factors, including location, type of vehicle, driving history, and the insurance provider. However, on average, insurance rates for young drivers tend to be higher compared to older and more experienced drivers.
Why are car insurance rates higher for 17-year-old drivers?
Car insurance rates are higher for 17-year-old drivers due to their lack of driving experience and higher statistical risk of being involved in accidents. Young drivers are more likely to engage in risky driving behaviors, leading insurance companies to view them as higher-risk customers.
Are there any ways to reduce car insurance rates for a 17-year-old driver?
While it may be challenging to significantly reduce car insurance rates for a 17-year-old driver, there are a few strategies that may help. These include maintaining good grades (as some insurers offer discounts for students with a certain GPA), completing a driver’s education course, driving a safe and low-risk vehicle, and considering being added as an additional driver to a parent’s policy.
Can a 17-year-old driver get their own car insurance policy?
In most cases, a 17-year-old driver can get their own car insurance policy; however, it might be more cost-effective to be added as an additional driver to a parent’s policy. Insurance rates for standalone policies tend to be higher due to the young driver’s lack of driving history.
What are the pros of car insurance for a 17-year-old driver?
- Provides financial protection in case of an accident or damage to the vehicle.
- Can help cover medical expenses resulting from an accident.
- Gives parents peace of mind knowing their child is covered in case of unforeseen events.
What are the cons of car insurance for a 17-year-old driver?
- Higher insurance rates compared to more experienced drivers.
- Limited options for affordable coverage.
- Limited control over premium costs due to factors like age and driving experience.
Free Car Insurance Comparison
Enter your ZIP code below to view companies that have cheap car insurance rates.
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Joel Ohman
Founder & CFP®
Joel Ohman is the CEO of a private equity backed digital media company. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, author, angel investor, and serial entrepreneur who loves creating new things, whether books or businesses. He has also previously served as the founder and resident CFP® of a national insurance agency, Real Time Health Quotes. He has an MBA from the University of South Florida. Jo...
Founder & CFP®
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about auto insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything auto insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by auto insurance experts.