Cars for teens
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Anonymous
| What do you think is a good way to have a teen contribute to a car, gas, insurance, etc? Let's assume that the goal is for the teen to get a nice but not extravagant car at 16 (a late model Honda CRV would be an example). The teen has approximately $10k saved up (almost exclusively from gifts, not from a job). Should we require the teen to contribute $5k of his/her funds? Should we require the teen to pay for gas? For insurance? We want to use this as a learning opportunity and to teach responsibility. |
Anonymous
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Really depends on the kid and the family's overall financially situation. What has the child spent savings on before? Does the child have a job or will he be expected to get a job?
My plan is to give my son my old car, which happens to be a CRV. Perfect choice, IMO. Safe and slow. So no need to really pay for purchase. He will likely pay for gas during the summer when he has a job. And for regular service, like oil changes. I think insurance will be too much. But the regular out of pocket expenses are a good way for them to understand the constant cost of a vehicle. I don't want my son to try to work year round to support a car. I want him to focus on school during the school year. Accidents mean immediate loss of driving priveleges. Time and cost determined by severity. |
Anonymous
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Go for big, ugly, and slow.
http://www.nbc29.com/story/22807787/iihs-teens-cars-should-be-big-slow-ugly Have teen pay for gas. |
Anonymous
| I like the idea of paying the ongoing expenses. But, there has to be a sufficient steady source of income and opportunity to earn it. I'm almost at this point and not sure of logistics yet. |
Anonymous
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I won't buy my kids their first car. If they want to borrow a car, they can borrow our (older) Volvo, and they have to put gas in the car.
We pay the increase in car insurance for adding them to the policy, but if they get in a car accident and our insurance goes up they have to pay that increase. |
Anonymous
| I like them to repay me in the type of currency they have: earning/maintaining a 3.5 GPA (at a competetive HS) and running the occasional errand for me. They don't have paying jobs during the school year and their summer job money goes mostly towards spending money for college. |
Anonymous
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I bought used cars for my twins to drive (1998 and 2001 Honda CRVs), but the cars still belong to me--my kids just get to drive them to college & jobs. They pay for their own gas, while I cover the insurance.
If they decide they want the cars once they're on their own--assuming the cars last!--then they can pay me the blue book value for the vehicles at that time. |
Anonymous
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We are giving DSS a car when he turns 16 next year. Current plans are for that to be the vehicle I am now driving, which is a Nissan Xterra- not fancy at all, but reliable and not embarrassing for a teenage boy.
Since we have paid for the car, and he lives in another state, his mother will put him on her insurance and pay for the increase. That's her contribution. His is that he will need to have a job to pay for gas and such. This was the most even 3-way-split of car responsibilities we could come up with. Everyone contributes a reasonable amount that is appropriate for what they can afford. |
Anonymous
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PP, ook at rollover stats for the Xterra.
It's pretty easy for an inexperienced driver to roll a car with a high center of gravity. |
Anonymous
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12:31 again. A quick google search shows that, at least for several model years, the Xterra had the highest rollover rate for any SUV.
Even if you don't feel like it could roll over easily, an inexperienced driver can jerk the wheel a bit too much and send it into a rollover. |
Anonymous
| Well when we have a spare few thousand lying around to buy a perfect car, we will. Until then, he will learn to drive as much as possible in the Xterra so he can get used to handling it and be warned of the possibility of rollovers. It's what we have to give him so we just have to work with it! |
Anonymous
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It depends on the kid and their schedule. Jobs vs class load/sports. Our boys attend school out of district so we have to provide transportation. I am counting down the days till they drive. (but still worried sick).
We are currently planning on going the grandpa car route. Old cars they can't drive fast and ugly so they won't pick up chicks - and cheap from relatives getting rid of cars (lined up and ready to go). We are already making them learn to work on the cars. I don't want them to be clueless when it comes to car maintenance. (DH is a car nut, so we have the tools and knowledge). I tell them they can't grow up to be an engineer if they've never touched a gear. I don't care how much STEM they study. We have not figured out the insurance/gas issue yet. |
Anonymous
You don't have to wait. Sell the Xterra and use the money to buy something safer. |
Anonymous
| I'm pretty surprised by the responses here. DS and DD were able to pick out a car in the price range we saw fit (20-25k) when they started to drive. I was given a BWM convertible on my 16th birthday and I still love and miss that car today, my parents required I make all As for them to pay the insurance and gas. We have the same policy, Bs mean the child pays for gas and Cs mean you pay the insurance anything else and you lose the car. |
Anonymous
Aren't you and your kids soooo lucky? Gosh, it must be nice to be you. |