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

[Anonymous]

Question 1: Can you afford this car? If no, then don't buy it. If so, go on to question 2.

Question 2: Why are you doing this? Is it a reward for being a "good kid"? Some other reason?

My general take on cars for teens:

_If_ they can afford it, and _if_ the kid really is good, then it makes sense for parents to supply some kind of vehicle for the kid's use. This works best if it is kept as a "family car" and titled in the parents' name, so that they can maintain control over when and how it is driven. This also gives the parents the chance to provide a safe car. While expecting the kid to earn money to pay for his own car is a good lesson, it may result in a cheap/unsafe car and/or lack of attention to school work (due to having to work enough to afford the car+gas+insurance+maintenance). If the child can contribute something to gas or insurance, that would be a good lesson. Obviously, if the parents cannot afford a reliable and safe car for their teen, then they should not feel badly about this, nor should they buy an unsafe or unreliable car.

Should the car be a new car, if the parents can afford it? Personally, I wouldn't do it. I want my children to know that money does not grow on trees. I want them to know that a reliable and safe car can be had for a reasonable price, even if it is not fancy or attractive, and I want them to have something to look forward to (better cars) later in life. I do not want to set up my children for disappointment in the future, and I want to be sure that the car that they can afford to buy with their first job will be better than the one that they had in high school. Also, the chances are good that one will get into an accident at some point with a first car. Even if there are no injuries, this will be a painful experience for the kid (emotionally). Why make it worse buy involving an expensive car?

If you really want to buy a fancy car for your kid, do it as a college graduation present or something. At that point, the child will have some driving experience and have developed good judgment as a driver.

[Anonymous]

Jeeps are tin cans. No way would I give a sixteen year old a death trap.

[Anonymous]

Nope. We can afford to buy DD a new car (and her dream car is a white Jeep?!), but we don't see it as a wise investment for a new driver. DH also said he would never put a teen driver in a Jeep or sports car. Many of her friends got new cars as soon as they turned 16. Many of them wrecked them soon after. With traffic the way it is around here, she's getting a reasonably priced, safe used car. Or she'll get my car and I'll treat myself to a new one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter really wants a loaded Jeep for her upcoming birthday, which is about $40,000. She's an all A student, co-captain of her athletic team, elected to student government, volunteers, works part-time after volunteer opportunity offered her a weekend job, dating a sweet boy at St Albans.

TROLL

There are no sweet boys from St. Albans - and why oh why does that have anything to do with whether she gets the car.

How is her dating history relevant? Would you change your mind if she wasn't dating someone from a Big 3 school?

[Anonymous]

I don't think there's anything wrong with buying a child a nice, new car but I wouldn't buy a Jeep. My parents bought me 2 new cars, one in high school and one in college, and I appreciated them, took care of them, and didn't act entitled because they also taught me to work hard, do well in school, etc...

[Anonymous]

I'm not hung up on the price. I would get her something with all the latest safety gadgets. Active braking, lane departure warning, etc.... To those out there saying get her a $10K car, you won't get any of those features on an older car. Teens need all the help they can get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter really wants a loaded Jeep for her upcoming birthday, which is about $40,000. She's an all A student, co-captain of her athletic team, elected to student government, volunteers, works part-time after volunteer opportunity offered her a weekend job, dating a sweet boy at St Albans.

TROLL

There are no sweet boys from St. Albans - and why oh why does that have anything to do with whether she gets the car.

How is her dating history relevant? Would you change your mind if she wasn't dating someone from a Big 3 school?

+1 . I don't know which is sadder, the fact that OP wants to buy DD a brand new Jeep or the fact that she is so proud of DD having a BF from a status school. She is grooming her daughter to value superficiality

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy a used car. Seriously.

Especially because that's what I always buy for MYSELF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter really wants a loaded Jeep for her upcoming birthday, which is about $40,000. She's an all A student, co-captain of her athletic team, elected to student government, volunteers, works part-time after volunteer opportunity offered her a weekend job, dating a sweet boy at St Albans.

Sounds like you have sold yourself on getting it for her. Do it if you can afford it. Though. If your kid was not as athletic or struggled in school would you do the same?

I'm one of the PP's who said we bought cars for our teens and would have at least considered buying this dream car if we could afford it. While I don't think athleticism makes much sense to tie in to the decision on the surface, I do agree with the idea that a car is a privilege and only deserved if the kid is a good kid in general and really has the whole package -- good grades, hobbies and/or a job that show productive use of time as a second indicator of responsibility, and otherwise looks to have their head on straight and to be headed for a bright future.

School performance was absolutely a key factor in our decision. We would buy a car for each child if and only if their grades for the previous year were all A's, and they could only use their car for as long as this continued to be the case. If grades slipped but remained above the threshold for our car insurance's good student discount, they could still use one of the family cars (a minor punishment in their eyes and would have been something of an inconvenience). If grades were too low to even get the insurance discount, they would have no business using our cars and they could either take public transportation or make arrangements with us/a sibling for rides. To me grades are an indicator of responsibility and are one of a few primary ways teen students should earn or lose privileges.

[Anonymous]

I am fine with OP's decision to get her daughter a car. Her money, her child, her decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jeeps are tin cans. No way would I give a sixteen year old a death trap.

The high center of gravity just invites a roll over wreck. Parents are so ignorant of the most simple things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter really wants a loaded Jeep for her upcoming birthday, which is about $40,000. She's an all A student, co-captain of her athletic team, elected to student government, volunteers, works part-time after volunteer opportunity offered her a weekend job, dating a sweet boy at St Albans.

That fact alone settles it. You buy her anything she wants.

[Anonymous]

Go to iihs.org and check the satiety ratings for this. Jeeps suck at safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am fine with OP's decision to get her daughter a car. Her money, her child, her decision.

She came here and asked the anonymous sages of DCUM for their collective opinion. It would be wrong to refuse her!

[Anonymous]

You would make her the coolest girl among her friends. Among their parents, they will think (and be correct) that you're the biggest idiot parent there is. But since you consider her boyfriend's status as a reason to buy her this car, clearly you're more interested in being her friend and helping her be cool than in her safety and teaching her important values. *shrug* You do you.