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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is there a high school or college student in your family (or any adult, really) that needs a car?  Would she be willing to give them the car--enabling her to feel like the "hero" for helping that person out?
A couple years ago my mom was at the point where she could no longer drive--which SHE was actually ok with, but my dad was not.   My brother was able to convince my dad that my son (who happened to be turning 16 at that time) REALLY needed a car, and wouldn't it be wonderful if my mom could give him her car?[/quote]

This is what we ended up doing.  My mom (who has Alzheimer's and now lives with us as she is no longer able to manage on her own) started having anxiety a couple of years ago, which we believe was the first clue that cognitive decline had begun.  She started saying she was afraid to drive, but from time to time would still drive short distances to the grocery store or wherever.  She has never driven long distances on her own, even when she was younger.

Then last May, we got a call from the manager at her senior apartment that she had gone out driving, got lost, and was escorted home by the police.  To this day she can't tell us where she was going or how she got lost.  Thankfully she had the presence of mind to pull over and stop the car, and was able to identify herself to the police and say where she lived.  A few months later she received a notice in the mail from EZ Pass that she failed to pay a toll on the NJ Turnpike so we had to pay that toll and the accompanying fine.  She never goes on the Turnpike so that goes to show that she had no idea where she was or what she was doing that day.  My brother and I took the keys and she never drove again after that.  From time to time she'd ask where her keys were, and she had a couple of meltdowns about no longer being able to drive, but then, with our encouragement, she got the idea to give her car to my 16 year old son who is learning to drive.  We brought it down to Virginia, had it titled and tagged and insured, and it now lives in our driveway where she can see it.  She asks about it from time to time and we assure her that we are taking very good care of it for her and my son is thrilled to have a 2013 VW Jetta with only about 37,000 miles on it.  She has no desire to drive because she is not at all familiar with Virginia roads, and we've also replaced her NJ driver's license with a Virginia state ID.[/quote]

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