Your Teenager's Automobile

[Jodi1980]

Do you help with the payments, insurance, gas?

 

[jimmiej]

Oldest DD helped pay off DW's last car & now it's hers. We paid cash for youngest DD's car. Told them they get one car each from us-that's it. We pay for insurance, they pay for gas.

 

[Pugdog007]

I paid cash for the car (Beetle). I pay insurance. She pays for fuel, however I fill it up for her whenever she lets me drive it.

 

[DisneyJules]

Well I'm not quite a teenager (I'm 20) I just bought my first car. I payed for the majority, seeing as I didn't have enough money to buy it in the first place and did not want to take out a loan, my dad put in 1000 and loaned me a couple more. I'm just paying it off now. I do pay for the insurance and I do of course pay for my gas. I sure wasn't in a very good financial when I was 16 or 17, I'm glad I waited.

 

[aprilgail2]

My dad got me my first car for my 16th birthday. He paid for the car and the insurance until Iwas 20 and not in college and working....I paid for my own gas though. I've already planned out what years to get new cars so that once my 4 year old daughter starts driving I will be able to give her my old one and buy myself a new one! I usually get new ones every 3-4 years..once they start needing lots of maintainance I get rid of them. Used to be a family joke that once a car needed its first brake job I would trade it in!!

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I bought my DD her car for her 16th Bday and we pay ins, gas.

DS will be 16 this Tuesday and we are looking for him a car right now . We will pay for his Ins, gas also .

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Our first ds is lucky as he is inheriting deceased fil 1993 cadillac. He is working as a lifeguard this summer to pay for the ins., he wont drive it until he chips in. If he is old enough to drive, he is old enough to work. He has a part time winter job too as a bowling coach so that should help with gas money. I havent thought about the next 2 ds yet. I feel if you have to work for something and not get it handed to you, then you will appreciate it more. You have a sense of ownership in it. etc.

 

[mamajoan]

DS-17 drives my big old 94 Chrysler New Yorker... he loves that car! He is a big kid and the car is comfy with leather and a great stereo. No car payments but the insurance is ghastly.. $750 for six months upper limit liability... whew! For now he does not have to pay his insurance because he must drive his younger sister and be available for all errands for us. He also has to keep a B avg to decrease the cost of the insurance which comes around in the next couple months. These things are non negotiable if wants to drive..

I am encouraging him to get a part time job since summer school is over. He may have to put in money for gas and insurance at that time.

Our eldest son... who did not have B avg... had a job and paid for 75% of his insurance... as he also had to be available for errands etc. He covered his own gasoline.

 

[fanofmickey]

Our DD was given one of our older vehicles to drive at 16 and we purchased new for ourselves. She has to pay for all gas and 1/2 of her insurance. We will occasionally drive the car to make sure it is driving well and fill it up for her, as she does family errands sometimes and drives siblings around.

 

[Lynn CC]

We gave DS a car that was already in the family (one of 4 cars). We pay ins, gas, repairs until he gets out of HS/college.

 

[chell]

My dad bought me a car when I turned 16, but I had to pay for all upkeep, gas, insurance, etc.

 

[mtemm]

I was 17 when I bought my first car...OMG, 20 years ago! where did the time go? anyway, I didn't even tell my mom I was buying it....just brought it home. I paid for insurance, gas, everything. before I bought it when I used my parents cars, they paid.

 

[PattnFmly]

I got the use of, the older family car when I got my license (at 16). No car of my own. And I was expected to pay the entire cost of putting me on the car insurance policy (the difference, if you will). My parents helped me find a car when I was 20 and that car was dying, but I had to buy it myself. I was in college and working part time. They were helping with college costs but figured driving was a privilege and if I wanted that privilege I needed to learn responsibility and pay for it myself.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Well I'm the teenager, but here's how it goes in my house. My first car was a "3rd car" that my mom and stepdad bought that I could use for school, going out, babysitting, whenever I needed it. I chipped in for gas, but until school started this past September I wasn't the one driving it the most. So I just paid gas for how much I drove it. Mom paid insurance and maintenance. That car got totalled in an accident, and even though it's likely that the insurance companies will see it as my fault, the police and my mom don't believe it was, therefore she continues to pay my insurance. My dad bought me my second car just a couple months ago. This one is all mine, I'm the only one who drives it unless my mom is carless, then I let her. I pay for all the gas. Mom pays insurance, dad pays maintenance. I have a job this summer, but during the school year I only babysit. The cash I get from that is just enough to pay gas. My dad will not let me hold an actual job during the school year, because he feels that I need to concentrate on my grades, and they want me to have time and an excuse to socialize. They pay for stuff because they expect me to be saving allowance and leftover babysitting money for college.

 

[Chris2597]

My dd inherited her deceased gf's car, drove it to college for a couple of months and then we found her a nice used car to drive back and forth to school.....we paid half of her ins. and helped occasionally with gas, we paid all of the maintenance....DS inherited her car when she graduated from college and bought a new mustang....DS drove the car for about a year and then got dh truck when he purchased a new one. DS pays half of his insurance and gas, we pay for maintenance. He graduated from hs in June and shows no signs of going to college.....so he will get the entire car bill.....

 

[crz4mm2]

I pay for the liability, she pays for the rest of the full coverage. She pays her own gas too.
She paid for the car herself too.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

when i got my license, i just drove my parents older car...then 2 years ago, they bought me a newer and more reliable car since i would be driving alot....they pay insurance, and i pay for most of my gas..during the school year, they give me 50.00 a month towards gas since i am commuting to school

 

[Aimeedyan]

When I turned 16, Dad bought a cash car for me to use (i was responsible at that point for taking my siblings to school running other errands, etc) I got sick of driving it (very unreliable) so I bought my own car when I turned 17. I saved money from my afterschool job until I had a nice down payment, and dad helped me with that as well. Parents paid my insurance, I paid car payments, gas, any upkeep.

I am glad that at 17 I was able to purchase my own car. It taught me alot about responsiblities... keeping a job, budgeting money, building credit. When I graduated, I refinanced it completely in my own name.

DH and I want to (hopefully) buy each child a dependable decent car, but expect them to pay insurance, gas and maintenance. It all equals about the same (payments vs those things) in $ amounts. If we space our children out like we want, we should be able to do that okay

 

[Mad4Mickey]

Since this thread was started I bought my son a Camaro . We are paying for full coverage insurance, gas, The whole shabang.
Now here is the kicker. I paid cash for this out of my savings . Now my Daughter who is in college that we pay for wants a Camaro and wants us to buy it for her . We are going to do it but do you think I should pay for everything for her ? Just wanted your thoughts .

 

[krissy3483]

I'm going to be completely honest here and say that I don't see any reason why a college student cannot pay for his or her own gas. I'm starting my senior year and work full time as well in order to pay my own rent, insurance, gas, and all my bills. I'm sure an on-campus job a few hours a week would cover gas costs. It just seems to me that someone that age should be working for some of what they have. Please don't take this the wrong way, if you have the ability to help your children like that, I think that's wonderful, and they're very lucky.