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[quote=Anonymous]Well first of all, this is something you need to figure out BEFORE you match so the AP knows what she's getting into.  Honestly, as long as you put it all out there up front, there are a wide variety of totally ok car policies.

Do you live out in the suburbs with no public transportation at all?  Then you should probably at least share a car with her.  Do you live in the suburbs with one bus line that runs every hour?  Then you should probably at least share a car with her.  Do you live in the middle of the city next to the Metro?  Then you would be 100% OK not offering her personal use of the car (as long as she knows that).

Most families we know share a car with their AP (so the AP can use it, but needs to always ask first).  There is a ton of variation on car rules though.  Some people have a car curfew, some don't; some have restriction on how far you can go - next state?  Within a certain mile radius?  Into the city or not? Some people have restrictions on who else you can or how many people.  Some people have rules about gas useage (APs pay for their own personal gas, but how that actually ends up working varies by host family).  Some people have rules about keeping the car clean.  You must define rules up front for who pays when she's in an accident - typically, she pays the deductible if it's her fault on her personal time.  If it's while she's driving the kids, you might consider splitting it even if it is her fault.

Really, you just need to consider what you're comfortable with and also what you yourself would be willing to do.  Would you want to rely solely on public transportation for a year in your area?  If not, then you should probably try to share a car with her.  If you'd be fine with that, then no need.  We lived in the city with our first and our LCC said most APs in her cluster didn't have personal care use.  Now that we live out further, we've found that most share a car with a host parent.[/quote]

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