Your Teenagers First Car

[jaye614]

How old were they? Who paid for the car? Who paid for the insurance, maintenance? Any restrictions as driving only to school, no driving during bad weather, etc?

 

[tc]

We purchased our girls cars when they turned 16. We made the down payment, they made the monthly payments till they went to college, then we paid them off. We still pay maintenance and insurance. We don't pay for college, so we gave them a car so they can get jobs. When they graduate from college, they take over insurance and maintenance (although I'm sure their dad will continue to change the oil for them).

When they were in high school, we had many rules regarding a car, but they are very hard to enforce. Number one was, if you get a speeding ticket, you lose the car, no ifs, ands or buts. They never got one until in college (the rule expired when they graduated). Also, the first year they were not allowed to drive it out of town, just in town. It was a big deal when they could go to Boulder and then Denver. They need to get experience with city traffic before they can handle 75 on the interstate. They always were to wear their seatbelt and not talk on the cell phone when driving. Also, no more people in the car than there are seatbelts for. These are harder to enforce, but we have many eyes around town.

Good luck, I'm glad those days are over for us!!!

 

[Kteacher]

MY DS turns 16 in December. He will get my old car, a '91 Explorer. He will need to pay for his gas and insurance costs. The same curfews that he has now will continue.

 

[Ranatra]

My oldest DS worked and bought his first car when he was 17. He paid for the maintenance and insurance.
He had to be in by 11:00 on a junior license which I thought was a great idea. I did not allow him to drive when the weather was bad and a snow storm was coming. He was allowed to drive to school during his senior year.
My DD just bought her first car, she is a freshman in college (which we do pay for)and had some money saved up from working, and graduation. She will also pay her insurance.
To each his own, but I don't believe in buying a teen a new car. I have friends that bought their kids BRAND new cars when they got their license. I think that is a very bad idea. Why should they have everything just handed to them?? What is that teaching them?? Sorry, it's just a real pet peeve of mine.
I worked and bought my first car when I was 18. No one was going to hand me a car. There were 5 kids in our family! We all bought our own cars and we weren't afraid to work for it!
My middle son who is a senior in college (yes, which we pay for)
still has not bought a car. I think he's waiting until he finishes school.

 

[JulesMom]

DD just turned 16 and has had her license for about 3 weeks.

She drives my old car a '99 Taurus, but it is not considered "her" car. We pay for gas & insurance. She only drives around our suburbs. And if her plans change she HAS to call us.

 

[Evil Princess]

I just got my first car a month ago (I'm 17).

It's a 2001 Hyundai Tiburon...cute too! Little and sporty, but its kind of like a fake sports car. Sooooo slow. But thats alright. I shopped around for 5 weeks, I was really picky. Wanted something two door, cute and little, not green...the list was so long and insane, but the waiting paid off.

I paid for half of the car, my parents pay for my insurance. I pay for all gas and repairs that come along.

Seems like a pretty fair deal to me! I worked my butt off this summer for that car.

I don't really have that many restrictions. When I got my car I already had been 17 for six months. I drive to work, to school, to the gym...wherever I can. I take my brother and sister to their afterschool activities. I drive like a grandma, I'm very protective of my car and refrain from doing stupid things at all costs. The car comes home when I come home, so I do have a cerfew on it. I live on Long Island, I need a car to get everywhere.

Although my car is fairly new, it still was a used car and not a brand new car. It's a Hyundai, so its cheaper, plus we got an amazing deal at 10,500 dollars, power everything too, nice car, i love it. <3

 

[christineann]

My son is 17, and he got a 1998 Dodge Ram extended cab pickup last year after meeting certain requirements: good grades, one year of driving with no tickets or accidents, saving up a down payment in excess of $1000. We got a great deal on the truck because it had over 80,000 miles on it. It's very safe. He pays whatever he can toward the payment (I won't let him work on school days because of his course load) and pays for all gas. He does so much for me, like running errands and taking his sister to school, sports practices, etc. so I pay the insurance and help with payments.

A lot of the kids in his class were given brand new cars as soon as they turned 15 (one kid even got a Humvee). Every one of the cars has been wrecked, and the kids faced very little punishment, if any.

 

[Keli]

That is my nightmare, that I will think I'm handing my dd a car when really I'm just buying her coffin. The pics in my signature right now are of dd and her car but she bought it wrecked and she and her dad are fixing it up. They are talking about stuff that I don't understand (glass pacs? headers? scoops? straight exhaust? nos?) but I know it's all supposed to give the stupid thing more power. Uuuuggghhh! It's hard to be a mama!

 

[wld]

We got both our DD's cars when they turned 16. I wanted them to have a bigger and safer and more dependable car than they could afford. My parents did the same for me. I pay insurance and gas although now my oldest is in college she does the gas. In the beginning only 1 other person was allowed in their car. They could only drive to school and back and had to work up to driving in town (we're country folk). I always need to know where they are driving and when they will be back. Call if you will be late (got them cell phones for peace of mind). Any break in any rule gets the car taken away until I say they can have it back, and I don't have to give a time limit. Any, any indication of drinking or smoking results in permanent removal of the car.

It's a test on your nerves no doubt. In MI we have the graduated license and required number of hours to drive with an adult before they get the license. That helped me too. I trust my daughters driving more than them riding with one of their friends!!Sounds like DD and her father are having great bonding time though.

 

[4greatboys]

My oldest ds is 15--he is going to be taking driving lessons in about a month. We already have a car for him. Its a 97 Monte Carlo. It was mine--then I got a new truck--gave car to dh. He then got a new truck so we kept the car because the dealership wanted to give us little to nothing for it. He will need to get a weekend job to buy gas and help with the ins. Whenever he is rich enough to get his own car he can use this one as a trade in or whatever. He will only be allowed to drive his brother--my 12 yr old to school, not 20 friends.
Bad thing is I have another 2 yrs behind him. Insurance is going to break us for sure, lol.

 

[Pam]

Our DD turned 17 in Sept. She bought her own car in May. She paid for it completely by herself and it is titled in her name. She is also responsible for half of the insurance - her share comes to $700.00 per year.

She drives to dance class every week, which is 30 miles one way. She also drives to school every day (she takes her brother, who is in middle school), she also drives to all dance line practices, youth group meetings, etc.

During the school year, and dance recital time in June, she gets $10.00 a week in gas money from us. She has to pay for the rest out of her pocket.

She has a 9:30 pm curfew during the school week, 11:00 on Friday and Sat. nights, although she is usually home by 10:30 pm.

She had to have some repairs done last month - that were $225.00. She paid for them herself. She's learning that it isn't cheap to maintain a car and I think she's a little more cautious about driving and taking care of the car.
Pam

 

[Jodi1980]

bump

 

[nativetxn]

When my ds got his license he inherited my 17 year old station wagon. We paid the insurance (not very expensive for such an old car), fuel and maintenance (not much required).

He drove himself to football, hockey, String Orchestra and all of his drama stuff. I was so relieved when he finally got his license There was no restriction about bad weather because...well...we live in Michigan, if he couldn't drive in bad weather I would still have been driving him around to all his sports, orchestra and drama obligations. Winter in Michigan is just not very nice weather.

He was, fortunately, a responsible driver. He was too busy with his sports, orchestra and Drama obligations to go joy riding so that was helpful.