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[quote=Anonymous]I agree that the goal is an AP who appreciates the car and doesn't abuse the privilege.  I imagine most APs, at 20 or so, don't get how expensive it is to offer a car and how much of a mental hurdle it is to share it.  From my perspective, I paid $20,000 (or more) for this car, I pay $800 every 6 months for insurance on this car, I pay the hundreds when the windshield cracks or it's bumped up on a garage pole a bit.  I pay the maintenance and the thousands when it needs a new part.  I pay sometimes $300 a month in gas just by driving to work, going away for one weekend, and taking a few trips to Target.  For a typical car, by the time you pay the car note, gas, insurance, and maintenance, you can be talking $500-1,000 a month.  Obviously this varies depending on the car, how much you drive, etc.  But the point is, it can be really expensive.  And because I paid for all that, I tend to want to use it when I want to use it and not have to wait for it to come back because it's out all night again or wait for it to get out of the shop because my au pair had an accident.

And then you have someone giving you attitude as if you're being completely unfair because she wants to take the car yet again to a friend's house and you actually tell her once that no, you'd like it to be home because you might need to run an errand and would she mind just taking the bus like you usually do, and it's really really difficult not to get disgusted by the lack of appreciation.  Particularly when you let her know up front that she would have limited car use because you live right by the Metro.

I've had to really learn to let it go and just be clear about expectations and not feel guilty.  But I can completely see why a host mom would want to just eliminate the car discussion altogether.  It can get very challenging if you have an AP who is the least bit immature or who has really never had to pay for anything herself before.[/quote]

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