Buying car for HS kid (only child) who is going to college in 2 years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like it would really help YOU for him to have a car these next two years.

Perhaps it would help to reframe the decision that way. How will this help you? It's not necessarily a $15K outlay if you choose to sell the car in two more years. Used cars don't depreciate as fast as new cars, so maybe it's a $3-5K decision (plus insurance) for the next two years.

And if he needs the car for college in 2 years, then you'll be glad you already bought one, and don't have the additional outlay when college tuition is due. He can get a part-time job to help contribute toward the monthly cost.

This is the right way of thinking about it. It is really only 3k-5k for a couple of years of driving, and then the decision of selling or not can be made when the time comes.

There is a used car shortage and there aren’t any decent used cars anymore for 8-14k. If you can get a good one for 15-20k that will last another 100k miles, then that is about as good as it gets these days.

We will be giving our 16 year old son DH’s 10 year old but very good condition car when DH buys a new car for himself.