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Every year, a new crop of drivers takes to the road for the first time, and that leaves many parents and teens alike across the country with a lot of questions that need answering about how this kind of thing will affect their monthly auto insurance costs. New data suggests that not all parts of the U.S. are created equal when it comes to the additional premiums parents have to pay for teen drivers, however. It might therefore be important for insurance agents to work closely with customers to make sure they fully understand what this will cost them, and why.

Today, about 30 percent of all costs from auto accidents come as a result of teen drivers, despite the fact that people between the ages of 16 and 19 years old nationwide only make up a much smaller portion of the actual population, according to a new study from the consumer savings site WalletHub. As a consequence, it can be quite costly to insure teen drivers in particular, and parents will have to prepare for that eventuality.

What's the best option?
Depending upon where families live, it might be possible for parents to put their kids on their insurance coverage, rather than getting them their own high-cost plans, the report said. That, in turn, can help to keep overall risk to insurers - and therefore, the total cost of the policy - as minimal as possible.

""Having a parent-teen contract is a very good idea,"" Laurence Steinberg, a professor of psychology and author of a book on adolescence, told the site.""The contract can specify which expenses the teen is responsible for and can also include agreements about the teen paying for any additional insurance costs if he or she has an accident. That will motivate safer driving. It also makes sense to have some rules about when the teen can drive and when he or she cannot, as a way of limiting unnecessary driving. That will keep gas and maintenance costs down.""

Insurance agents who are better able to reach out to clients and regularly let them know about potential issues they might face with respect to their coverage might end up creating a significant positive impression on those policyholders. That, in turn, can improve customer satisfaction overall, and that factor alone is shown to play into retention and even added business far more so than simply the ability to provide lower prices.

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