I guess I may have been the one to start the rust issue, so I was definitely showing my age. I remember my father buying a Volvo 1800ES in the early 70s when they lived just north of Chicago – and, yes, the first thing he did was get the Ziebart treatment. Are they still in business?
@aboutthesame:
If they are, it is along the lines of the undercoating and sealer treatment they try to get you to buy at the dealership when you buy a car, it is useless. Cars in that era were rust buckets, and having Italian cars even more so (kind of ironic that the process that makes steel rust resistant, galvanizing, is named after an Italian, Italian car makes knew nothing of Galvanized steel lol), you saw cars with leprosy and rust through happening after a couple of years, these days the only rust I see on cars is where they have been damaged and not repaired, or trucks that get rough use.
I did not say that I ever bought it (1979 and 1991 and 2000 and 2004 purchases – all in California) – only that Dad did, And, you did not disagree with the Colonel. 
I’ve always had manual cars, and one daughter took the time to learn on it but really didn’t have a lot of experience driving because I took it to work every day and she only drove a few times per week. She went to live with her uncle for the summer and was driving one of his cars. I said “You’d better not be talking on the phone or texting while driving.” She said “Mom, I can’t even change the radio station!” It’s a VW bus without power steering and breaks.
I think one of the reason we don’t see rust on cars as much is because parts of the cars are now made of plastic…
The reason we don’t see rust on cars is because most cars these days use double sided galvanized steel on the body panels (most cars today don’t have plastic body panels, the bumpers are plastic as is the trim, but the hood, trunk, roof, and body panels are still steel). Frame rails are often made of galvanized steel, and things like control arms and suspension components are likely made of much better quality materials than they once were. Plus the painting and priming technology is infinitely superior today to what existed back then, and it all adds up to cars that don’t rust. I had a 1987 Plymouth Sundance, not exactly a high end car, it had a stainless steel exhaust system, and the body after 15 years and 110,000 miles didn’t have 1 spot of rust on it, and it was not garaged, was driven on streets with salt used on them. The reality was that 40 years ago and before, no one really thought of keeping cars any length of time, and the auto industry was not exactly concerned about longevity, far from it, and things like galvanized steel were seen as ‘added expense’, so why do it? What happened was people expected cars to last longer, thanks to what the Japanese cars started, and they wanted a car that didn’t rust out, car makers responded, and those who didn’t found themselves in a deep hole and had to catch up (the italians never really did and dropped from the US market, other makers, especially the big three, were forced to improve).
My 22yo S owns his car, but it is on my policy. Cheaper that way because he gets the same discounts I get. Check with your insurance company. We buy extra liability insurance, it is cheap and well worth the piece of mind. Why is my 22 yo still on my policy? because he always has been. I am sure at some point, just like his cell phone, he will take over the policy. Probably when he buys his next car.
My agent said he allows kids who own their own car to stay under parents’ group of policies until age 25 when rates are more reasonable for males. We didn’t even have to ask for it.
@mamom: It is interesting that the insurance company would allow that, where your S owns the car but is on your policy, I didn’t think they allowed such things (in large part, because by forcing your S to have his own policy, they can really jack up the rates, since he wouldn’t have multi car discount, homeowners insurance discount and so forth:). In some ways that makes sense, though, because they might assume that since it is on your policy, the kid will think twice before doing something stupid and getting your rates jacked up (the wrath of mom being a mighty thing:)
No to spending extra on antirust coating- it’s a dealer ripoff. Never did it for many decades. Indiana charges license fees based on the car’s value unlike many other states- this means the cheap car costs less to license than the luxury car- unless they have changed since eons ago. Eons ago my mom bought my car and paid the loan, fees and insurance when I was a medical student. Got an IN driver’s license for residency there but kept the WI plates (also don’t think we bothered telling them, should have I guess).
I don’t think a manual transmission is needed- just establish rules about no other drivers. My concern would be - why does she need a car? Many large schools typically have hard to find/expensive parking and few have cars. Something to figure out. I’ll bet there are buses that get to major airports for usual times many students are traveling (not sure if people would had NW to O’Hare or SE to Indy). I know that is the case for Madison, WI to O’Hare.