I want my teens to learn to drive when they are younger and have more restrictions and still live at home under my supervision. My son got in a lot of practice with us before he got his license, I'm glad he did it at 16 rather than once he had left for college.

We have a third car for him to use, it is not technically his and he doesn't have unlimited access, but it's made all of our lives a lot easier now that he can drive to his own activities. DH is the main driver of the kids, so he is using his car to drive younger daughter to her practices, I need mine for commuting, so having a third car has made all our lives easier.

We live in the suburbs, and the kids can walk to school but they can't access all of their activities using public transportation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t read the responses but as a teen...I had a job and had to pay half for any car, insurance and gas. In the metro area, DCs prefer Uber/public transportation and have no interest in driving

+1. The person who said high HHI teens tend to be walkable to a lot around here and therefore have less incentive to drive (especially in the age of uber). The teens I know in Georgetown and N Arlington and Old Town aren't that interested in driving.

This. It isn't an income thing so much as a location and culture thing.

Out in Western Loudoun county? You're driving at 16.

Georgetown? Probably not.

Anonymous wrote:In the suburbs. Almost every 16 year old has a car.

Yup. Was like this more than 30 yrs ago when I went to school in flyover country. Parents got tired of having to drive their kid everywhere. Public transportation was poor and no bus service either. Did not have anything to do with income. My BFF drove me to school everyday because she was a year older and yeah, she had her own car as soon as she turned 16 as did everyone else at my high school.

Doesn't this really depend on where you live? I live in the district - a car for my kid would be a nice-to-have but certainly not a necessity. He can take public transportation or a pretty cheap uber everywhere. If we lived in the suburbs though, I can see that it would be a major benefit for him to have a car to the whole family. If you have to drive everywhere, it takes the pressure off everyone.

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t read the responses but as a teen...I had a job and had to pay half for any car, insurance and gas. In the metro area, DCs prefer Uber/public transportation and have no interest in driving

+1. The person who said high HHI teens tend to be walkable to a lot around here and therefore have less incentive to drive (especially in the age of uber). The teens I know in Georgetown and N Arlington and Old Town aren't that interested in driving.

Parents please remember getting your teen a car can have devastating life consequences.

*I have a friend that lost her brother to a drunk driver (friend) in HS.
*I have a friend that's in his 40's now that was almost killed by a teen driver about 2 years ago. My friend was in a coma for months and even 2 years later is not back at work due to severe pain and cognitive issues related to the accident. Prior to the accident- he was a high flyer

Didn’t read the responses but as a teen...I had a job and had to pay half for any car, insurance and gas. In the metro area, DCs prefer Uber/public transportation and have no interest in driving

Anonymous wrote:At 16, kids do not need that level of independence (a car at their disposal 24/7). I enjoyed the leverage with my teens when they had to request to use a car on Friday night. It keeps them humble. In time, I bought my kids a used car.

My kid learned to use public transportation at 14, found a way to get around town on her own

Both my kids had cars. We got the first a used Honda. Dc went to a private school with no public transportation and we were thrilled not to have to drive to/from school anymore. The second went to public school and got DHs old car. That one didn't start driving until the summer before senior year and drove to school that year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my kid were in private, and getting him a car meant I could stop driving him to school, I’d get him a car.

Can’t they just borrow one of the family’s to drive to school? Why would you get them their own car?

Some parents have different work schedules so need both cars. I leave for work at 6 and DH leaves for work at 7:30. I get home at 4 and DH gets home at 6:30. We aren't walkable to a metro.

Anonymous wrote:If my kid were in private, and getting him a car meant I could stop driving him to school, I’d get him a car.

Can’t they just borrow one of the family’s to drive to school? Why would you get them their own car?

In the suburbs. Almost every 16 year old has a car.

A very wealthy family where I grew up have their kids the worst cars when they turned 16. Think no power windows, stick shift. I remember the son got a Buick model that wasn't even made anymore. I'm pretty sure the daughter didn't have air conditioning.

Once they graduated with no issues, they got nice cars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, isn’t this normal? A rite of passage? I’m not talking about a new BMW (which happened often in my HS), but an old beater, a pick up, a used car w/ some miles on it...High school lots are filled w/ student cars so obviously it’s the norm.

I had the near-exclusive use of a car (my parents old car; they bought a newer one) but it was not "my" car. It was in their name and they could revoke driving privileges on it. Also, I had to keep my GPA high enough to get the good student discount on their car insurance or else I had to pay to insure it myself. I think it's not unusual for high-school students to "get a car," but I think for most people that means they are allowed to use a family car.

We have a third car and it is known as “the car ds drives”, not “ds’ car”even though he is the only one who drives it. It is 12 years old and was dh’s before he got a new car last summer. It’s perfectly fine for what he needs.

That's our plan too. 10 year old Ford (my old car) for DS to drive next year.

Why make parenting decisions based on what the kid says is their expectation? What idiot parent does that?