Adding a Teen Driver to Your Car Insurance in Illinois

Call your insurance agent when your teen gets a learner’s permit, and add them to your policy before they get a license. Some companies cover a permit driver under your policy for free. Others want them listed from day one.

Here is how the Illinois rules line up with your insurance.

When can a teen start driving in Illinois?

At 15, a teen can get an instruction permit with a parent’s consent. The Hoffman Estates Police Department lays out the state’s rules for new drivers.

Your teen has to have the permit for at least nine months. Your teen has to practice for at least 50 hours, including 10 hours at night, with a licensed adult age 21 or older.

Do you have to add a teen with a permit?

It depends on the company. Some cover a permit driver through your policy as long as an adult is in the car. Others ask you to list the teen right away.

Call us before the first practice drive. One phone call now beats a claim that gets denied later.

What changes when your teen gets a license?

Once your teen has a license, they need to be on your policy as a driver. This is usually when the price goes up.

For the first 12 months, a new driver under 18 can have only one passenger under age 20. Brothers, sisters and their own children do not count. A ticket in that first year adds six more months to the limit.

How much does adding a teen cost?

Adding a new driver almost always raises the price. Teens have less time behind the wheel, and insurance companies price for that.

How much it goes up depends on the company, the car and your teen. That is why comparing companies helps here more than almost anywhere else.

What discounts can help?

Ask about these when you add your teen:

• A good student discount, for teens with good grades in school.
• A driver education discount, for finishing an approved course.
• A defensive driving course, offered by some companies.
• Putting your teen on an older, safer car instead of the newest one.
• Putting your home and cars with the same company.

No company offers every one of these. We check across the companies we work with and tell you which ones apply.

Help for families in Schaumburg

We help families in Schaumburg, Streamwood, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates and Elgin add new drivers, in English and in Spanish. Read more about our auto insurance in Schaumburg.

Call us at (847) 238-3861 before your teen’s first drive. We are open Saturdays, which makes it easy to come in together.