Adult Children & Auto Insurance: How Long Can They Stay On Their Parent's Insurance?

You can keep any members of your household on your auto insurance policy as long as they live with you.  It does not matter if your son is 18 or 38, if he is a college student, if he is working, or if he is sitting in front of the T.V. 24/7.  (I hope he’s not doing that last one for your sake!)  Just make sure the insurance company is aware that he will be a driver of one of your cars, and he will be covered.

As far as keeping the cost down, that is another matter.  Now that he is 18, the cost could come down just a bit from when he was a brand new driver, but only if he hasn’t gotten any tickets and hasn’t had any accidents.  Teenagers make our premiums go up substantially when we put them on our policies because they are notoriously risky drivers; statistics show that they drive faster and have more crashes than any other age group, especially the males among them.  Still, there are some things you can do to keep the cost somewhat lower overall.

Some insurance companies will give a discount if an insured takes a defensive driving course; some insurers even offer the courses themselves, such as AAA.  Additionally, there are discounts for having:

• Multiple vehicles on the same policy
• Multiple policies (such as homeowner’s, life, disability, health) with the same insurance company
• Low vehicle mileage (perhaps your son only uses the car for local errands and drives no more than seven or eight thousand miles a year for example)
• Safety features on the car, such as airbags, anti-lock brakes, etc.,
• An anti-theft device, such as a steering wheel lock or a car alarm
• Good driver discounts if there have been no accidents for three or more years

These should help keep the cost down some.  Eventually, I’m sure your son will get a job and be able to pay for his own insurance policy.