@citivas Go with the zip car. My son uses it when ever he needs to go off campus. No purchase of insurance necessary, no payment for gas( gas card is in the car and you must put gas in it if it’s less than half a tank) and the hourly rates are cheap. By his campus, outside Philly, he pays an average of $6.50 an hour for the rental. No brainer. I’m not sure what the sign up fee was but it was not crazy. Too many headaches with a car on campus.
My relative used zip car all 4 years when he was at Pamona. It worked perfectly for him and his folks felt it was a much better solution (for them and him) than him having a car on campus.
Of course, it depends on how readily available such vehicles are available as needed, etc. If the inventory of vehicles is too low, and there aren’t good public transit options, that would weigh toward looking at other options.
I Be very nervous with my kids driving in snow and ice, particularly in and around a campus. Heck, H and I wouldn’t want to drive in snow and ice either.
My parents bought a third car for me to use during my sophomore year of college. However, at some point my younger brother who was still in high school got a job delivering pizzas so they took the car back for him to use. While that was annoying, it was definitely better to have loved a car and lost then to never have loved a car at all :). So I wouldn’t worry about that aspect of letting him use the car but then taking it back.