<p>I’m wondering just what the title of the thread says. Also, did you (as parents) pay for the car, or did your son/daughter pay or chip in? Was the car new or used? Who pays for insurance and gas? Alongside the paying for the car and insurance and gas, who pays for college?</p>
<p>Also, how necessary do you consider it for a 17-21 ish year old to have a car? Is it absolutely necessary, pretty helpful, or just a treat for a kid who is kind, does well in school, etc?</p>
<p>I’m a 20-year-old successful college student who goes to school across the country (in a suburban area where a car is very very helpful) from my house (also in a suburban area) who has never had my own car (I use my dad’s when I need to) and it’s beginning to wear on me…I’d like to see how common my situation is. I appreciate any answers!</p>
<p>Our daughter has use of a grandparent’s spare car when she is home and needs it. We (and she) consider cars a necessary evil. We have no plans to buy our daughter a car unless there appears to be an overriding need, which there isn’t at present. If she ever wants to buy a car we would pay for insurance, but she’d be responsible for gas, maintenance, repairs, etc. We do pay for her tuition, room, board and college fees. She pays for books and personal expenses. We’ve seen far too many kids in our area become slaves to their cars so we’re just not going there.</p>
<p>My daughter is 17 and does not have a car or her license. She is planning to get her license this summer but we have no plans to get her a car, and plan to send her off to college without one as well. The main reason for us is financial…if we had the money she would have a car. She is a top student at her school with many obligations on her time so getting a job and paying for a car is not a priority for her.</p>
<p>We don’t buy cars for our children (four of them) One survived at UCONN without a car, the next one survived at St. Lawrence without a car. Number #3 will go off to Alfred without a car & our son, a rising high school senior will certainly not get a car. UCONN was pretty close to us, SLU was about 6-7 hours & Alfred will be about 6-7 hours as well. There is always the possibility of getting a ride to a certain geographical location & then meeting your student at that location, especially with prevalence of cell phones. </p>
<p>It is difficult enough to pay for college without having to register, inspect, insure, maintain & pay taxes on a vehicle thrown in on top of that! What we do for one child, we have to do for all four! Not paying for weddings either! We need to retire at some point or else live in a cardboard box somewhere!</p>
<p>My son never had a car in college and managed just fine. He did not need one on campus, and during the summers when he had jobs at home, we were able to work out the family’s transportation needs so that people could drop off and pick up each other at their various jobs or other destinations, so he never needed one.</p>
<p>My daughter, who is in college now, does not have a car at school. But this time around, we have not been able to work out summer dropoff/pickup schedules, primarily because I now have a full-time job with rigid work hours. So last summer and this summer, our family has rented an extra car so that everyone can get to where they need to be. It costs a bit over $2000 (including a small surcharge on our insurance), but that’s a lot cheaper than owning an extra car year-round. Thus, our daughter has full-time access to a car in the summer. (Obviously, she doesn’t drive the rental. Enterprise would have a fit. I drive it, and she uses the car that is mine during the rest of the year.)</p>
<p>Our high school senior has had the exclusive use of a car since he was 16. It is a 6 year old Jeep which we pay to insure and maintain. He was responsible for gas until it went to $4+ a gallon, and somehow even though prices went down Im still paying for gas! When he got into a fender bender he was required to pay for all the body work to restore it. When he goes to college, he will leave the car behind for his younger brother who turns 16 in September. He will attend an out of state school where being carless will not create a hardship. It may be interesting when DS1 comes home for breaks and DS2 now has the car!</p>
<p>There is no way I could pay for college AND a car, and we live in an area with great public transportation. The kid has been using trains and buses since he was 13 years old to get around. He can basically walk out our door and take several trains and walk to his campus a few hours later–in fact, he’s already tried it!</p>
<p>I am the guilty one here. Our D1 has a mini cooper. We pay for the car, insurance and maintenance. We used to pay for the gas, but recently she has picked up the tab. She takes her car up to school. Our D2 is getting to drive soon. She is asking for her own car. We were thinking of giving D1’s car to her because D1 will be out of college by the time D2 could drive by herself. But D2 doesn’t think it’s fair she can’t pick out her own car. We could have 4 cars in our house soon.</p>
<p>As nice as we are right now, the idea is as soon as D1 is out of college then all is cut off. She’ll be on her own to support her life style, and if she couldn’t afford to have a car, then we will not pay for one.</p>
<p>Not that we need to justify why D1 has a car, but it did offer a lot of convenience to us when she was in high school. She did a lot of driving for us to her own ECs and her sister to various activities. At our kids’ school, everyone has a car, and most of them are nicer than what my husband and I drive.</p>
<p>When I purchased a new car last year due to a new job (longer commute plus travel), we kept the 10-yr old minivan for the kids to use. S1 used the car last summer while home from school to get to his job and social activities. But he (college sophomore) did not have a car at school and when S2 got his license this past winter, he was able to use the car to get to afterschool and sports activities. Now with both in the house this summer and needing transportation, they will have to duke it out between the two of them. Parents insure the car, but kids contribute $100 per month for the insurance and they pay for all gas themselves.</p>
<p>D1 and S2 did not and have not had cars in high school or college. S1 had use of our 10+ year old Dodge Caravan for senior year of high school, when he needed to get to school at 6:30 AM (before the bus) and then to the community college in the evening for math classes. It wasn’t his car, though, it was our extra car. We sold it when we moved.</p>
<p>I bought myself a car in the summer after my junior year in college, from earnings at my summer job. I paid for insurance myself, plus maintenance, gas etc. I kept that car through grad school and for the first couple of years of work. I can’t imagine my parents giving me a car, nor can I imagine giving a car to any of our kids. If you want a car, figure out a way to pay for one yourself, including maintenance, gas and insurance.</p>
<p>We have one in HS and one in college and neither has a car. The college is in an urban area where a car would be more of a hassle than anything else. The HS kid shares one of our cars, and so far there hasn’t been a problem. H takes a commuter train to work, so his car is around all day for S to use. </p>
<p>Some kids around here have their own cars, but many drive the old beat-up car that their parents will eventually get rid of. S drives our 9-year-old station wagon, which is terminally uncool, but has side curtain airbags and that nice big crumple zone in the back!</p>
<p>Because he stays at his college for most of the summer, we start to worry that he may not be able to build up his driving skills/experiences by the time he graduates. He only drives during short winter breaks. Does any parent have a similar concern? What if, after graduation, he needs to drive in a big city for job-hunting/interview/etc, but we as parents are still concerned about his not so great driving skills/experience? (Strange as it is, he has never been enthusiastic about driving even though he has had the driver license for many many years. We guess when he starts to date, he may start to appreciate the usefulness of a car ;-))</p>
<p>Believe it or not, two of his suitemates even have not had their driver license yet. They were from a big city (NYC), and it is likely they mostly depended on the public transportation system in the past. It is starnge to me that they do not plan to learn to drive in the next couple of years, either.</p>
<p>Our oldest is a 20 year old college student who is across the country in an urban area. No car. He had a car which was a family hand me down from 16 through 18 when he went to school. When we gave him the car he paid half it’s current value to us. He paid the insurance, gas, registration, oil changes, tires when needed, basically all expenses associated with the car. Right before he went off to school he was in an accident. We got an insurance payment for the car. Daughter was just getting her license so we took that money plus half the cost of new car (she paid) and got her a car. She pays all associated expenses. The deal is that when her brother is home, which is very occassionally, they share the car.
At least for us the car is a privilege and the student pays all expenses.</p>
<p>Our D1 drives a stick, and is a very good driver. H says US is the only country where it is easy to get an automatic. H wanted to make sure D1 knew how to drive a stick when she is traveling. We opted for a new car because of safety reason - neither my husband nor I is very good at fixing anything mechanic.</p>
<p>No cars for kids in college or high school. Both of my D’s are late drivers, getting their DL the summer after high school graduation. Older D, one year out of college and working, will probably buy her own car soon. While at home, they shared my car.</p>
<p>We always had an (1) older car available for our (3) kid drivers; we paid maintenance, insurance.
Got a second when one needed a vehicle for a co-op job while at school. We owned it and paid the maintenance and insurance. (Actually, we kept the oldies when we got new ones).
Fast forward to 2 out of college with jobs and bought their own cars; we still have an old one around for the third child’s summers and breaks (no car at school, but uses Zipcar).</p>
<p>Our daughter, who is presently 20 and just finished her sophomore year, has a car which we bought her at the beginning of her junior year of high school. At the time, she was involved with dance, voice and acting classes after school as well as show rehearsals and performances that could go until late at night. She also worked weekends during the school year into the summer for an entertainment company and her jobs could be located in other towns, cities and states and last until 1 am. Simply put, she needed her own wheels and we needed to keep control of our own schedules and sanity.</p>
<p>She took her car to college, located in Philadelphia, not because she needed it for school (she doesn’t) but because of her continuing need to have transportation for outside shows she is in during the summer and for her jobs (for the same entertainment company). We paid for the car and cover the costs of owning and operating but the quid pro quo is that the money she earns is used to help defray her living expenses. We will continue this arrangement until she is out of college and employed.</p>
<p>Well kate43, I guess I am the exception here, because I gave both my daughters brand new Jeep Liberty’s on their 16th birthdays. They are fully loaded with nav systems, satelite radios, leather interiors, etc. My oldest was not expecting a car for her birthday, so she was totally surprised. We practically had to pick her up by her armpits and walk her to her car.</p>
<p>For me, giving them a car was necessary for my sanity. We live 30 mins away from school, and there is no bus. Carpooling was a nightmare because everyone has so many different activities and schedules. I was spending hours every day driving back and forth. I have not regretted giving them a car for one minute.</p>
<p>And we pay for everything as far as college goes. We give our daughter a monthly allowance, and she pays for gas out of that.</p>