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Millions of Americans have teenaged children who are about to start driving for the first time, or have recently done so. That often comes with a potentially considerable increase in their auto insurance costs, but many policyholders might not realize that it doesn't have to be that way. For this reason, it might be wise for insurance agents to do all they can to highlight the different ways in which consumers might be able to reduce their auto insurance premiums to offset the added cost of insuring a teen driver for the first time.

The most recent data shows that when a married couple adds a teen to their auto insurance policies, they pay an average 79 percent more for coverage nationwide, but on a state-by-state basis that number can be as much as 100 percent or more, according to a report from Fortune. However, there are also ways to keep those costs relatively limited, and drivers who can find a number of ways to do so will potentially be able to offset their added risk in whole or in part.

What can be done?
One of the biggest ways that safe drivers who don't actually drive very much might be able to slash their costs considerably is by allowing their insurers to track their habits, the report said. These programs alone can save drivers as much as 30 percent. Further, companies also offer discounts for teens who are good students - as much as 20 percent with some major insurers. Finally, when teens go off to college, their parents may still pay for their auto insurance risk even if they're not driving. As such, letting a company know about such a change might be a way to significantly reduce ongoing premiums while they're away at school.

Insurance agents who can highlight savings techniques for their clients might go a long way toward improving customer satisfaction overall. However, given the competition in the industry today, it's usually not just low prices that results in improved relationships between agent and consumer. In fact, some studies show that simply the ability to provide high-quality customer service when needed is actually more important to keeping customer retention rates as high as possible. Therefore finding a reasonable balance between these two ideas could be a way not only to keep current clients, but potentially attract new ones as well.

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