<p>I’m still in college, but my parents bought my car for me and pick up the tab on the insurance as well. You really, really need one down here (North Carolina). Everyone in my graduating HS class had a car, and as far as I know no student was forced to pay for their own vehicle. Aside from some trouble (DUIs) and a few wrecks, no one really had a car-related problem while I was in high school.</p>
<p>We are struggling with this question right now. Our D is going to the States from Canada and the big problem we see is that by car it is less than a 2 hour drive but by public transit it is 20 hours. Which means that she cannot easily come home if need be plus the bus fare is $150. If we do buy a car for her it will be a used one and we will pay for it but she will pay insurance and gas. Repairs we can split. We look at it and say that if we go pick her up once a month to come home it really means 2 trips, one to get her and one to bring her back which means extra mileage on our car and $100 extra a month on gas. She does not really need a car at school because it would probably be a longer walk to her car from the dorm than it is to her classes. It is tough decision because there are some good things about her having one and just as many bad things. We may try the first year without the car and see how that goes.</p>
<p>Yes, I bought my daughter a car when she turned 16. It’s a '95 Honda Civic that looks like it never spent a night in a garage, but it’s all hers. We agreed that it was my job to support her, and her job to do well in school. She was always busy in high school; her duties in the different clubs she belonged to had her volunteering in all manner of different places - my work hours would never have allowed to me taxi her around, so having a car made sense. I paid for her insurance, registration, tag, etc. She paid for her gas out of her tutoring money. She’s getting ready to head off to college, and insists that she wants her car with her, even though most students there do not have a car, nor do they need one. If she ends up taking it with her (and if the poor thing makes it 1508 miles), I will no doubt still be paying its expenses. Hopefully, she will still be able to take care of the gas for it.</p>
<p>Where we live every kid is given new keys at 16. Period. Every kid except ours. I got my first car at 37. If our son wants to bag groceries or hustle making money after school we say “go for it” but new keys for just achieving in school? No. We expect that. He’s young for his age and the last thing he needs is to be driving around town using up gas $$ with his friends, not doing homework. That’s just our case. Everyone’s different.</p>
<p>Our son has been driving his dad’s 97 volvo since he was 16. It gave his dad a good excuse to buy himself a new car (an '06 mazda speed6). His high school is only 5 minutes away, but the way they assign kids to schools in our county, and the 45 minute ride twice a week to hockey practice late at night would have meant dragging myself and a youger child all over town to see friends and practice. For graduation/18th birthday gift the boys traded cars!! LOL!! Now my son has the newest car in the house, and my husband is driving his 97 volvo again!! My daughter is horrified, and is secrectly praying it dies before her 16th birthday!!</p>