[Viffermike]

OP: This is not new. Generally speaking, vehicle insurance cost goes down as you age -- just as, generally speaking, health insurance cost goes up as you age. It's common sense backed up by many, many years' worth of empirical statistical data. Insurance is all about risk assessment -- personal biases set aside, would you trust a car in the hands of a 17-year-old as opposed to, say, a 45-year-old?

My advice: Purchase your daughter a relatively inexpensive-to-insure first vehicle (an Exx BMW will not qualify as this) and have her listed as the primary driver.