Kids and Car Insurance....Need input

My son gets his license next week. He has a car already courtesy of grandpa for completing his Eagle Project. Our insurance is going to go up about $30 a month. Not a big deal and we do have completely separate finances. DH pays this one and I pay for all the cell phones. It evens out. So it is not about the money. But, here is the question... He said that when BS16 goes to college we are not paying for his insurance. I said we will and we will pay for it until he is out of school. Rates are very high for boys and I think that is my responsibility. Unless of course tickets or accidents cause problems. Then we will discuss it. But, he is a good kid so I think it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

DH had a fit when I said this. BS plans on medical school so we are talking a long time for us to pay this.

How long have you paid for the kids/skids car insurance? My parents paid mine through about half of college. I had some accidents and they took me off. I had some vision problems and didn't figure it out until a couple of fender benders.

Originally I wanted BS15 to get a part time job to pay his insurance, but with his AP classes and activities, there is no time and I don't want his grades to drop. I will not pay for gas or maintenance on his car. That is up to him. I don't give an allowance anymore either. Stopped that when he got the truck. I had to pay for title and insurance and emissions. That ate up his allowance for two months. So I think I am still teaching responsibilities, but I don't think he can afford for us not to pay for his insurance. If he maintains B average in college, why shouldn't we pay?

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We had to leave our insurance

We had to leave our insurance company that I had for 10 years and start shopping for another to get it that low. It was a pain and finally done this week. Ours was 88 a month increase. And that is with the Honor roll discount.

H and I just had this

H and I just had this argument the other day. I have my DS20 on our insurance and he pays me every month for his portion.

Unfortunately, he got in an accident last week. This caused H to go on a tirade about how his name is getting dragged through the mud, blah, blah.

I reminded him that I was still getting back support for DS and either way, he was reimbursing us each month. H thinks that since DS is over 18, I should be keeping all the back support. It's so crazy because if it were BM and the support HE'S paying, it would be completely opposite.

With all that said, H is probably right and I would not have fought him so much if he would have been able to discuss it in a civilized manner instead of yelling right away.

Unfortunately, this is not an easy subject and my H and I never came to any conclusion of any kind...

Since he is a good kid,

Since he is a good kid, performing well in school and the insurance is not all that much money I see no problem with paying his insurance through college. Med school though, ..... things can change significantly in that time frame so I would not commit one way or the other on that.

We would have covered my SS's insurance through college if he had performed in HS as your BS is performing. But, he did not so we will not. We have him on our policy until he gets out of basic then he goes on USAA insurance and pays his own.

That will save us about $1200/yr.

I would make him pay it. My

I would make him pay it. My SD totaled - that's right totaled - 4 cars of which my DH paid for and also paid the insurance on. Then he wised up and cut her off (thanks to my HUGE meltdown even though I was not paying). She of course had fit - but that was 5 years ago and since she was responsible for the insurance she has not had one accident.

She actually thanked me later - said is the was the kick in the butt she needed to grow oup.

I assure you the price is

I assure you the price is correct. We have had the truck for awhile and been paying the increase. It went up 30 then. It will be another 30 after he gets his license. So we are talking 60 total increase adding him and his truck. Also, DH and I have perfect records and no accidents. Also, swithcing the homeowners helped keep it down.

That's what I was thinking

That's what I was thinking Druzzilla - I want to know what insurance company covers a 16 year old boy for only $30.00 a month more - my SS 16 when he got his license BM started bitching because it was over $200 a month to insure him - we refuse to help because SS refuses to get a job and BM did not discuss the purchase of the car or how insurance would be paid she just went ahead and did it and expected us to pay half we said driving was a privilege not a right - so she covers it herself and SS tells me that if he works it cuts into his fun time with his friends. And SS has been on the high honors every year of his high school life and is in the National Honor Society and takes all advance courses and his insurance is still well over $200 a month so I would say for $30.00 go for it but I would make him pay it because it is such a small amount!!

I agree that you are teaching

I agree that you are teaching your BS responsibility. Keep him on the car insurance as long as he continues to do well in school.

I wanted to take the same approach with my SS18. I am carrying him on my car insurance right now. I agreed to this while he was living with us, had a job and was paying his own monthly expenses. Well, SS made several irresponsible decisions during a short time including:
- quitting his job
- not paying his bills
- lying about his intent to pay bills
- lack of communication in regards to his bill-paying status
- multiple tickets (parking, missed tolls, etc.)

DH and I gave SS several opportunities to work things out and he refused. Now DH is conflicted about whether or not to cancel the insurance b/c he doesn't want SS to rack up additional tickets, have the car impounded, lose his license, etc. I say those are great teaching opportunities - let the kid enjoy the consequences if he chooses to drive with no insurance.

Money is not the issue here.

Money is not the issue here. Funny thing is DH thinks he should live at home the first two years and commute. If he gets into the school he wants that is a 45 minute commute for him. So I would definitel have no problem paying for it if he is willing to live at home.

We are talking about really a good kid here and I am not bragging. I really don't see him as the type to have that many wrecks. Also, being such a strict mom, I have told him that he only gets one car, which he already has, the next he is on his own for. So he better take care of this one.

DH bought SD a car when she

DH bought SD a car when she got her license. He had thought there was an agreement between him and BM; he would buy the car, she would pay the insurance. She totally refused that and it would have cost over $2k per year for SD to get her own policy. So DH kept the car in his name and added it to his insurance, and paid the extra. SD had a couple of minor accidents while in high school, and while they weren't her fault, she is an aggressive driver so my inlaws and I sort of hounded DH to sign the car over to SD. Originally she was supposed to pay a share of the increased insurance cost, but of course DH never enforced it, so he never received a penny from her. Not only that, she stuck him with all the maintenance bills too. SD did fairly well in school and has a good enough gpa in college now to qualify for scholarships, but she never learned that driving is a privilege, not a right. If she had a different attitude, I never would have minded DH paying for the insurance, etc. I think it depends on each kid and your circumstances. But it never hurts to teach them responsibility; I know I personally was proud to pay for my own things as a teenager.

I swear it is only 30 when we

I swear it is only 30 when we added him w/license. We already had added the extra car 6 months ago...that was 30 more a month then. It really helps that DH and I have good records and no claims. I priced about 10 companies and we switched. Hopefully we don't regret the switch. We will see. I really liked our old carrier. That increase was 88 a month when we added the car and the 16 year old. This one is 60. 28 dollar savings...