If Community Services Minister Judy Streatch wants to replace this SUV, she'll have to buy or lease her own vehicle. (CBC)

Cabinet ministers in Nova Scotia will no longer be allowed government-leased vehicles, after the teenage son of the community services minister crashed her SUV.

Premier Rodney MacDonald said ministers will now have to buy or lease their own vehicles.

"It certainly ensures that there is clarity on the issue, because I want to make sure that there is clarity for ministers, and there's no grey areas and there's clarity for the public," MacDonald said Thursday.

The leased vehicles will be turned over to the government fleet, the premier said, and they must only be used for government business.

While taking the keys away from cabinet ministers is intended to settle any confusion about responsibility, the move may ultimately cost taxpayers more money.

With the new plan, cabinet ministers can opt for a monthly $700 car allowance and a gas card or claim up to 40 cents a kilometre.

However, most of the 11 vehicles leased for ministers cost less than $700 a month. If Agriculture Minister Brooke Taylor, who drives a 2006 Chev Impala, goes with the monthly plan, taxpayers will be paying $2,800 a year more for his transportation needs.

"In my estimation, the leases at the end of the day would probably save money," said Transportation Minister Murray Scott.

The change comes after the 17-year-old son of Community Services Minister Judy Streatch damaged her taxpayer-funded SUV in a crash Saturday night in New Ross.

Streatch said her son Jordan was going to the store for ice cream when he lost control of the 2008 Ford Escape hybrid and ended up in a ditch. Neither Jordan nor his girlfriend, who was also in the SUV, were injured.

The minister told reporters about the crash on Monday, saying she paid a premium for her son to use the car and that insurance would cover the repair bill.

The next day, after the opposition complained, Streatch said she would pay for the repairs herself. She said she didn't know that taxpayers would have been left with the bill under the government's self-insurance plan.

As it turned out, Streatch had not obtained written permission to let her son drive the vehicle, though she claims she was told that he could.

Scott said Tuesday that not a single cabinet minister was following policy to get written permission before family members used their government-leased vehicles.