Back-to-school season is a to-do list: supplies, physicals, schedules, cleats. Insurance never makes the list, which is a shame — because August is when several household coverage changes actually happen, and it's the cheapest month to get ahead of them.
Five moves, in order of how much money they represent.
1. If there's a new driver, call before the road test
The single largest coverage change most families will make this year is adding a
teenage driver. In Texas that commonly increases the household auto premium 50% to 100% or more, and almost nobody sees the number in advance.
Two things to do first. Get a quote
before the license so the number isn't a surprise, and re-shop the whole household while you have time — teen rating factors vary enormously between carriers, and the company that's been great for you and your spouse for a decade may be among the worst on a 16-year-old.
While you're at it, confirm which discounts your carrier will actually honor: good student (usually a B average or 3.0, with documentation), driver's education completion, and a telematics program if your teen is a careful driver. And which vehicle the teen gets rated on matters — often more than any discount.
One thing not to do: do not lower your liability limits to afford the increase. The teen years are exactly when you want more liability, not less.
2. Send a kid to college? Two questions, both worth money
Auto. If your student is
going away to school more than a set distance (commonly 100 miles) and not taking a car, most carriers will substantially reduce their rating. This is a big discount and it's badly underused. Report it when the semester starts.
If they are taking the car, tell the carrier where it will be garaged. Rating follows the location the car actually lives. An address change can move the premium either direction — but an unreported one can complicate a claim.
Renters and contents. Your homeowners policy typically extends limited coverage to a full-time student living in a dorm — usually a percentage of your personal property limit, often 10%, with your homeowners deductible applying. Two problems. That deductible may be $1,000 or more, which makes a stolen laptop claim pointless. And once they move
off campus into an apartment, that dorm extension usually stops applying entirely.
A renters policy for an off-campus student is typically $12 to $25 a month and includes something more valuable than the contents coverage: personal liability. If your kid's bathtub overflows into the unit below, or a guest gets hurt at their apartment, that's the coverage that responds.
3. Schedule the expensive electronics
A student laptop, tablet, and instrument collection can add up to thousands of dollars. Standard personal property coverage applies, but with your full deductible — and theft from a car often has its own restrictions.
For genuinely high-value items, scheduling them (listing them individually) gets you broader coverage, frequently no deductible, and protection against loss and accidental damage rather than only named perils. Instruments are the classic case: a school band instrument is a real dollar figure and it lives in a locker, a bus, and a car.
4. Sort out carpool liability before you're in the rotation
If you drive other people's children, your auto liability is what stands behind that. Texas minimum limits are 30/60/25 — that's $30,000 per injured person. A single serious injury to one passenger blows through that immediately, and everything above the limit reaches your assets.
Two practical steps. Raise your bodily injury limits; the cost of moving from state minimums to 100/300 or higher is usually far smaller than people assume. Then look at a personal umbrella policy — often a few hundred dollars a year for $1 million above your auto and home liability. For a household that drives other families' kids around, that's one of the best values in insurance.
5. Do the fifteen-minute August review
Life changes between school years, and policies don't update themselves. Fifteen minutes covers it:
- Is everyone in the household with a license actually listed on the auto policy?
- Are addresses and garaging locations current for everyone, including students?
- Has your home's rebuild cost changed? DFW construction costs have climbed hard, and a dwelling limit set five years ago may not rebuild your house today.
- What's your wind/hail deductible — a flat dollar amount, or a percentage of your dwelling limit? What's the actual dollar figure? Most homeowners can't answer this, and in North Texas it's the number with the biggest exposure attached.
- Did you add anything this year — trailer, boat, jet ski, side-by-side, a home business — that isn't listed anywhere?
That last one is where denied claims come from. Anything you bought or started that touches liability or property should be on a policy somewhere.
One more, for the parents
If your kid is about to start driving, that's usually also the moment to look honestly at life insurance and disability coverage. Not a pleasant topic in August, but it's a season when the household's dependence on your income is very visible. Term life is inexpensive at most working ages, and disability coverage — protection for your paycheck — is the one most working families skip entirely. Worth thirty minutes with someone who'll give you real numbers.
Where TAP fits
We're an independent agency in
Rhome working Wise, Denton, Tarrant, Parker, and Johnson counties. We handle auto, home, renters, umbrella, and life out of one office, so an August review is one conversation instead of four.
No charge, no obligation, and it usually turns up at least one gap.
Call (800) 666-2254 for a free quote — or text QUOTE to (817) 646-6700 ·
tapinsuretx.com
