If you bought your teen a car (or will buy them a car)...questions about money.
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Anonymous
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How many kids do you have, and how many years apart are they?
What is your HHI? What kind of car did you buy them (and was it new? used?) Did you get any type of "outside help?" Like did a grandparent contribute some money? Did you feel you had to sacrifice in other areas (vacations, home renovations, etc) to afford the car? I guess I'm just surprised (maybe a bit jealous) when I see a teen with a new ($25,000+) car, and then a couple years later their younger sibling also gets a new car... |
Anonymous
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25k cars for teens are ridiculous. New drivers get into fender benders, insurance rates are sky high even if they never have an accident.
I have three teens: 18, 16, and 13. The 18 year old has been driving for 18 months. We bought him a 2001 Honda Civic for $2000. He's had one fender bender, pretty minor considering, and we paid $600 out of pocket to get it fixed. The 16 year old has a learners permit, and won't be able to sit for the test until March. I don't plan on getting him his own car. He can have the Civic when his brother goes to college in August. Until then they can share, or drive my car (2007 Dodge Nitro -- which is the primary car used for learning to drive, it's very easy). I'm not buying myself anything new until all three kids are successful drivers. IMO, it's ridiculous to use outside help, savings, or have car payment for teen drivers. Use that money for college. Even if college is covered, buy your teen a new car when they are in college and need a vehicle. Do not waste money now when they are learning. I am not sacrificing my savings, vacation fund, their college, or even my spending money for cars. |
Anonymous
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My 16 yo DS when he gets his regular license in a few months will be driving my old Ford (10 years old).
My 13 yo DD will be driving who knows what.... We'll figure out a used car, nothing fancy. I know a lot of people justify brand new by pointing out the safety features, which is fine. But I suspect other cars come with good safety features other than the brand new Jeeps I see all the kids in at my kids' HS.... |
Anonymous
| 2 kids. 3 years apart. 350k HHI currently. Till the time they are at home and even at college, they drive their family car that happens to be a Prius. They make do with carpooling, public transportation, Uber when there is no coverage. They have to always, always, always think about and coordinate transportation. Having said that they will get a new Prius (paid for by us) once they need a car for a job. We are currently a two car household. |
Anonymous
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Both kids (three years apart) used the one family car while in HS. Both had one very minor fender bender. Insurance rates are not that bad.
Older DD has a 2005 Forester that she got during sophomore year of college. It was $5000 (less than 70K miles) and mostly paid for by a grandmother with some money from DD. We pay her insurance for now. Younger DS (college freshman) will get our 2012 car at some point, or maybe we would consider getting him an older used car like DD got (after sophomore year). We tend to just keep a car until it dies. It would have been nice to have another car around but it wasn't necessary. They weren't both driving at the same time and we don't use it a lot. |
Anonymous
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How many kids do you have, and how many years apart are they? 2, 4 years apart
What is your HHI? $200,000 in a lower cost of living area than DMV What kind of car did you buy them (and was it new? used?) Oldest will either drive my current 6yo vehicle or I'll keep mine and he will get a used vehicle Did you get any type of "outside help?" Like did a grandparent contribute some money? Don't expect to other than grandparents gifting DC $ for gas Did you feel you had to sacrifice in other areas (vacations, home renovations, etc) to afford the car? No I guess I'm just surprised (maybe a bit jealous) when I see a teen with a new ($25,000+) car, and then a couple years later their younger sibling also gets a new car... Not happening in our house, especially with the higher likelihood that they'll get in an accident. |
Anonymous
| Three kids two of whom drive. Bought them cars at $4k to $5k. Then there were in ice tale that increased the cost by about another!1k each. We paid cash for them. We did not sacrifice other areas. Honestly I dont care if they have cars but it just happened to work out that way for us. |
Anonymous
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HHI 200K
2 teens..1 HS...1 College No cars yet. College student may buy 10 year old car from grandparents next year when they plan to trade it in. We will pay insurance until he graduates. |
Anonymous
| Car for ds bought by grandparent, but we chose it. DD got a car from us. Both new Elantras with rear view camera and merging alerts. We pay for all insurance and maintenance. Kids is college now. DD's car sitting in my driveway. |
Anonymous
| We had to take away a grandparent’s car so we softened the blow by allowing them to give the grandchild the first car. |
Anonymous
| I have twins. They will get my old, beat up SUV to share. |
Anonymous
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I have a 17 year old DS. When he got his permit, we agreed that we'd match his contribution to purchase him a used vehicle. He's spent the past year saving half of his checks from a job at a pizza parlor- ended up with about $2100 (plus our $2100). He got a 2004 Honda Accord with 136k on it. Not much to look at, but Accords are reliable and safe so it's all goo. Plus we keep telling him to think of stories he'll have to tell his kids ..."uphill to school both ways in snow up to my hips" kind of thing. All those parents who buy their kids new cars when they're 16 are robbing them of potential stories and hardships to share with their kids. That's our story and we're sticking to it, LOL!
We could've afforded something nicer, but that's not really the point. |
Anonymous
| I have a 16YO stepDD and a 3 and 4YO. We have full custody of stepDD. Instead of buying her a car we took the money that we would have spent ($10K) and gave it to MIL to put towards a new car and in turn she gave stepDD her 2006 Corolla with 190K miles on it. DH hated the thought of our 16YO driving a nicer car than his mom! StepDD pays us for insurance and personal property tax. She has a job at a pizza place. Our HHI is $350K. I'm very happy with our decision, no teen needs a $10K+ car! My theory is that they need a car that will get them through college, because after they graduate and start their "adult" life, they WILL think they need a new car and they'll want something nicer than their current car - so you set the bar low!! |
Anonymous
How many kids do you have, and how many years apart are they? 2 kids and 3.5yrs apart What is your HHI? 500K plus What kind of car did you buy them (and was it new? used?) New Honda Civic Did you get any type of "outside help?" Like did a grandparent contribute some money? No outside help Did you feel you had to sacrifice in other areas (vacations, home renovations, etc) to afford the car? No, I would not have gotten my kid a new car if it meant sacrifice, they would have saved for a junker like i did. |
Anonymous
| These responses are comical, since most of what I see in our UMC NOVA community are new, expensive cars. Not the 2K beaters and used cars people are saying they bought their kids. |