If you’ve got a 17-year-old, it can be hard to find car insurance for him or her. After all, insurance companies know that 17-year-old drivers are new drivers, and to that end they are a greater risk than more experienced drivers are. However, there are a few things you can do to lower your insurance rates and get car insurance for 17-year-old drivers that actually won’t put you in the poor house. (For this, you’ll also have to get the cooperation of your 17-year-old, though.)

Good students count

If your 17-year-old is a good student, he or she can qualify for discount for many insurance companies. That’s because insurance companies recognize that responsible students usually get good grades, and responsible students are also usually good drivers. So if your 17-year-old has a 3.0 grade point average or above, check into getting a so-called “good student discount.”

Get your 17-year-old to do “volunteer work”

Surprisingly or not, insurance companies also like responsible citizenry. So if your 17-year-old volunteers at the hospital on weekends or is involved in Scouts, for example, it may also reflect well on his or her insurance rates.

No sports cars for birthday presents

If you want to buy your kid a great car for his or her birthday, get something sensible. Your 17-year-old might not like it, but the insurance company most certainly will. Insurance companies know that sports cars and other “high-performance” vehicles can often mean riskier behavior behind the wheel, so insurance rates for these cars are higher, too. Opt for a sensible but still “cool” car like a sedan, and get one that has good safety rating.

Safe driving counts

Okay; we all know kids often don’t listen anyway, but tell your new driver that a good driving record is going to get him or her cheaper insurance, too. (This’ll be especially impactful if the driver has to pay for his or her own insurance, by the way.) New drivers get a double whammy automatically anyway because they have to go through a probationary period with their drivers licenses that make any moving violations they get more costly to them; however, if they drive much more safely, they’ll not only save their drivers licenses, but on insurance costs, too.

Take driver safety courses

Young drivers can also further improve their rates by taking driver safety courses — but this is especially important if the driver already has a moving violation on his or her record. Taking a driver safety course may show the insurance company that the driver is serious about becoming a safe driver, and therefore may give them a better rate on insurance. (By the way, these safety courses can also help already good young drivers with no moving violations get even lower rates.)

The color of the car you choose should be –

– anything but red or black, apparently. Even though most experts discount the color of the car as anything that hikes insurance rates, some are still on the fence about this. Even though it SHOULDN’T hike the cost of the insurance, experts are still saying it’s possible that having a red or black car could absolutely do this, simply because insurance companies can determine what they include as risk factors in their rates. So just to be safe, you may want to tell your child not to choose a car that’s black or red in color.

There is absolutely car insurance for 17-year-old drivers out there, and it doesn’t necessarily have to break the bank. Follow the above steps and see if you can save a little money in your own pocket, too.