Allstate Has Many Options To Keep Your College Bound Kids Driving Safely

Sending your child off to college can be an exhilarating and exasperating transition, for both parents and students. If your college bound child intends to drive while at school and you are currently an Allstate insurance customer, adding these kids to your family car insurance coverage is one way to address that concern.

Chances are good that you have already added your college bound child as a driver on your family car insurance policy. When college students are added to Allstate auto insurance family coverage, they can enjoy the same protection assurances as drivers already insured under the policy. There are a few questions unique to the college student you should address.

Car on campus, or not?

If your child will be staying on the campus of his or her college without a vehicle, then you can actually remove the child from your policy for the months that he or she is away. As long as the child does not live at home for longer than a month during the school year, you don’t have to list the child as a driver if they don’t have access to a car that is covered on your policy.

Some of the other factors you will need to consider before adding your college student to your family’s Allstate car insurance policy include:

How much driving will the student be doing?

Depending on whether your college bound kids are going away to college or commuting to a nearby campus, you may want to either increase the coverage or scale it back accordingly. If your college student is leaving a car parked at home while s/he lives on campus, you’ll be in a good position to be able to save a few extra dollars a month on the family’s car insurance.

How far away is the campus?

If your child’s college is at least 100 miles away from home and no one will be driving his/her car, let your Allstate agent know immediately. Your child may qualify for what’s called the “resident student” discount, which can help lower your car insurance bill by as much as 30 percent. On the other hand, if your kids’ daily commute has him/her driving longer distances to get to campus and back, now may be the good time to revisit your coverage limits to make sure that your kids are properly insured.

How safe is the campus?

If your college-bound kids are taking up temporary residence at a campus away from home, enlist the help of your

No matter your vehicle Allstate has coverage for a college student. Image Credit: Skunkworks Photographic Creative Commons license

insurance agent and check into the crime and vandalism rates for the campus and its surroundings. This will give you and your child a good idea of what to expect as s/he prepares for life in new surroundings. If your child is going away to college and bringing a car to an environment with a higher crime rate, you may want to include comprehensive coverage at levels suitable to protect against theft or vandalism damage. It might also not be a bad time to invest in anti-theft devices for any car headed to campus. Doing so may not only cut back on the likelihood of things being stolen or damaged, but it might also land you a premium discount.

Table – Average Cost of College (student) Car Insurance

Applies to 18 Y/O Male drivers with a two door sedan.

*Washington D.C. is included although not a State.

Graph – State by State Comparion of Auto Insurance Costs for College Students

*Most students pay 4 to 5k with a big majority paying 6K and up as shown by the graph.

Discounts you should look for

Speaking of discounts your car insurance premium most likely went up when you added your college bound driver and those rates will likely stay higher. There are ways that you can offset this increase, such as taking advantage of the various premium discounts you and your student driver may be eligible for. If you are not already doing so, look into saving money with these Allstate discounts:

Multi-car discount

– if you insure all of your vehicles with Allstate, you can save money across the board thanks to discounts for multi-car accounts

Multi-policy discount

– known as bundling, if you insure your home, life and cars with Allstate, you get a money-saving multi-policy discount on all three

Safe driver discount

– if you and/or your kids have had no tickets or accidents in the past few years, you all can get discounts for being good drivers

Organizational and club discounts

– Allstate offers discounts for being a member of certain organizations and clubs, and there may be fraternities or sororities your son or daughter joins that qualify for these discounts

Good grades discounts

– if your college student maintains good grades, there can be a discount on premium (up until s/he turns 25).

Art center college of design Pasadena, CA. Image Credit: seier+seier Creative Commons license

When your kids head to college, you’ll have to decide whether to keep them on your family car insurance policy or give them a bit of tough love and require them to find their own car insurance coverage. In nearly every case, adding or maintaining them on a family policy will ease the burden of cost and if you’re in the good hands of an Allstate policy, it could actually help you tally more discounts by having your kids stay with you.

(Please note: this article is informational in its intent as the author has no affiliation with Allstate or any other insurance company.)

Jeff Davidson

Jeff Davidson has worked in market research, public relations, consulting, writing, marking and sales in the car insurance industry for more than 25 years. He is currently a writer with Reply!. See his other article on safe driving tips for teens and families.