Anything wrong with buying your teen an nice car? ($40,000 and up)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Work hard / smart and then make a whole bunch of money. Then idiots who did not / could not do the same try to spend your money. If you can easily write a $40,000 check, buy whatever car you want. Don't listen to these jealous fools.

I have two brothers. One makes maybe $150k a year and the other makes crazy money. One of his Companies went public and he made in excess of $50 million that one year. Does not make nearly that amount of money now but mid-7 figures a year. Under some of the prior posters, they should both be buying the same cheap reliable car. Did they do that? Nope! Poor brother bought his daughter a $2,000 beater. Rich brother bought his son a new 7 series BMW. Both were good choices for each.

Me kids are too young for cars but with a HHI of "only" $500k, there will be no 7 series for us or our kid.

Someone who makes 150k is far from "poor".

[Anonymous]

If you ask me, there's not only something wrong with buying your teen a "nice" car, there is something wrong with any of us buying cars. We have our heads in the sand with regard to the environment. We should be investing in public transportation, and making cities pedestrian and bike friendly. If you have money for a good car, and need a car, get an electric or hybrid. The most efficient you can afford. Same for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Buy used and put the balance into a Roth IRA or some investment mechanism for her. She will be so appreciative in a few short years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you ask me, there's not only something wrong with buying your teen a "nice" car, there is something wrong with any of us buying cars. We have our heads in the sand with regard to the environment. We should be investing in public transportation, and making cities pedestrian and bike friendly. If you have money for a good car, and need a car, get an electric or hybrid. The most efficient you can afford. Same for your kid.

I was going to write something similar. If you've got that kind of money, get an electric car. Don't set you kid up to be an ass right out of the gate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would buy it. But if they broke up I would take it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents were wealthy but only bought me very basic things. I think that was a great approach - I learned I could survive on a minimum, work for more if I wanted, and did not need them at all financially once I graduated. It was up to me whether I wanted to pursue high paying careers or lower paying / more interesting ones and I had a good sense of what each lifestyle would be like and I had a good control over my money and ability to manage it when I graduated.

Give kids what they need, not what they want. Let them learn how much of a WANT something is and what it means to work for it.

+1 -- That's how I grew up as well and how we're raising our kids.

[Anonymous]

there is something wrong with someone that needs to ask a bunch of anonymous people if they should spend 40K for a teens car. I feel sorry for people that need that kind of attention. I would recommend you spend the 40 K on therapy and see why you need so much attention.

[Anonymous]

Wow. If OP and family are billionaires and are used to getting and having whatever they want, then I can understand this question, but I assume they are not because I don't the question would be asked in those circumstances.

I assume OP can afford this car, so that's not the issue. But a child who'd even ASK for a $40k car is shocking to me. My kids are much younger but I will be doing all I can to make sure that they don't become as entitled as this. I would seriously be questioning my parenting and the values I'd instilled in my child.

My parents could easily have afforded a very expensive car for me, and they were concerned about safety so they didn't want me to drive an old car, so they got me a 2nd hand (2 year old) small VW, which was worth around $10k. The idea of a 17 year old driving a huge brand new jeep is just embarrassing to me. We moved here from abroad (yes, I know I will now be told that my opinion is completely invalid, or that I should go back home) and love most things about it here, but this particular aspect of American culture really disturbs me.

[Anonymous]

The parking lot of the big 3 is full of nice cars -- hell even Wilson! ... many far nicer than 40k... this outrage is funny to me.

[Anonymous]

TJHS is full of new Audis Jeeps BMWs...

[Anonymous]

HA ha HA ha HA ha

is this for real people? a 40,000 car for a teenager? I don't care what your income is, it's about values. What kind of values do you want to teach your child? Any kind of awareness of the cost of things and working for them? Or of other people in the world? Spend $30,000 and have them give the rest to charity.

Just ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. If OP and family are billionaires and are used to getting and having whatever they want, then I can understand this question, but I assume they are not because I don't the question would be asked in those circumstances.

I assume OP can afford this car, so that's not the issue. But a child who'd even ASK for a $40k car is shocking to me. My kids are much younger but I will be doing all I can to make sure that they don't become as entitled as this. I would seriously be questioning my parenting and the values I'd instilled in my child.

My parents could easily have afforded a very expensive car for me, and they were concerned about safety so they didn't want me to drive an old car, so they got me a 2nd hand (2 year old) small VW, which was worth around $10k. The idea of a 17 year old driving a huge brand new jeep is just embarrassing to me. We moved here from abroad (yes, I know I will now be told that my opinion is completely invalid, or that I should go back home) and love most things about it here, but this particular aspect of American culture really disturbs me.

+1, and I grew up on the east coast. It's this particular microcosm of DC though. As well as some wealthy areas in the northeast and san fran area.

[Anonymous]

The fact you are asking this board for thoughts, shows me that you are not totally out of touch of what is appropriate. For normal average families, buying a 40K Jeep is not reasonable. It's not reasonable because it's new, expensive, not a safe car, bad for the environment, and does not teach your child the value of money. Are you going to finance her first apartment after college to make it the penthouse because she "deserved" it and got good grades? When will it stop? A car gets you from point A to point B and is supposed to be safe. A more practical reason to get a modest car is that teenagers are the worst drivers and will have the highest accident rate. A cool car will also lead to her driving her friends around which is just going to cause trouble (speeding, unsafe speeds on curves, texting, etc).

It also teaches that superfluous attributes (like status) is valuable. It's troublesome to me that she even asked for a car like this, there's probably more than one instance of entitlement with her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought my son a nice car because he's like the OP's daughter — good grades, involvement, awesome kid — and growing up I always wished I could have been that rich kid driving a nice car to high school.

Yes, but is he dating a sweet girl at a Big 3 school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parking lot of the big 3 is full of nice cars -- hell even Wilson! ... many far nicer than 40k... this outrage is funny to me.

Right, because the big 3 are representative of what's right with America. Lol.