<p>I’m completely at a loss as to why you’d send your kid off to college with an “expensive import car” when you seem to have little faith in her ability to use common sense. </p>
<p>I can’t really weigh in because I’ve always had my own car. When I use my parents’ car, I treat it with respect because, you know, it’s not mine and that’s common courtesy. </p>
<p>To me, by far the most important rule would be “never, ever drive under the influence of anything.” More or less, everything else can be fixed. I don’t know why you wouldn’t let her drive drunk friends home- it would make me proud if my child was taking care of her inebriated friends and ensuring that they get somewhere safe. </p>
<p>I’m at a loss about the curfew. Why on earth would you set curfew for a young adult not living at home as if they are still there and still underage? Is this curfew in effect WITHOUT the car? What if she has a late night at her internship or a study group? Between this and the cell phone tracker app, some people seem really controlling of their kids. </p>
<p>Agreed…why is there a curfew when your kid is away at college? And how would you even enforce such a thing? Once my kids got to college, I did not control their comings and goings as in high school. That time was up. </p>
<p>I’ll add…your kid must be around 20 years old or close to it. Not that I am advocating for this, but I was married at age 20. My parents did not control anything about my life (even though they continued to pay for my education and related expenses). My youngest daughter went to college at 16 1/2, and while she wasn’t 18 yet, we no longer controlled this stuff because college is a time for independence. </p>
<p>You break it you buy it. Don’t drink and drive. The rest of this crap is just mind boggling. As romanigyseyes said, if you have such little faith in your daughters decision making ability, why bother giving her your car to use in the first place?</p>
<p>Yes there is a cell phone tracker app…but your kids have to accept your invitation to be tracked. I wouldn’t even bother to ask my kids. They are 26 and 29. </p>
<p>I know folks who have this with their spouses and all of their adult kids who accepted. I personally think that is way over the top.</p>
<p>If the OPs kid is responsible enough to drive the car, then she should not need a contract. And she is doing this for an internship, not for recreation. </p>
<p>There’s nothing really wrong with discussing some of these things with your kid if they are around age 19, but the need for a written contract seems over the top if a kid is responsible enough to have the car at college. A contract seems more appropriate for a 16 year old who may not be so responsible (we never had that for our kids at any age but I suppose it may be useful with a less than mature responsible teen still in high school).</p>
<p>There are non-tracker safety apps like Circle of 6 and StaySafe that send out a GPS signal if you alert it to or if you don’t turn off the alert (respectively). I do have Circle of 6 which my parents are on- but it is initiated by me and they ONLY get an alert if I send one. IMO, those are very good, common sense apps for any college student to have. </p>
<p>Apps that allow another person to access your location at any point they feel like it are way over the top IMO</p>
<p>My rules (not written) for son and daughter driving cars registered in my name. They have the same rules since they began driving in high school (and the same rules for son who is living off campus and daughter living at home). </p>
<p>Drive safely. Use common sense.
Follow driving laws.
No loaning the car to others.
Wash the car when necessary (and keep the inside clean).
If maintenance is needed (or a light comes on the dash or the car starts making a funny noise) let me know.
Always have your driver’s license and AAA road service cards on you when driving.
Traffic and parking tickets – keep me advised.<br>
And once a year or so we go over what’s in the glove box and is to remain in the glove box – AAA membership cards in case you’re in an accident, vehicle registration and car manuals. </p>
<p>Regarding the OP and a curfew, I’m assuming Mom & Dad’s expensive car is being used only during the D’s internship, and most likely the car is the one under a curfew (not really the daughter). </p>
<p>IF I thought I needed a contract for my Son to use common sense and follow the laws, then I don’t think I would let him have the car. I mean, if he is so irresponsible and naive that he needs a contract, do I really think he is going to read and remember said contract? I suppose it might help if the penalty was spelled out because the child couldn’t say they didn’t know the penalties. I believe there are those kids who will break the rules and those who won’t, regardless of contract. The rule breakers will just hope they don’t get caught.</p>
<p>Obviously your rules and expectations need to be spelled out/discussed, not necessarily with contract. It is not a bad idea to get discussion points because some things you don’t think of until they happen to you.</p>
<p>I guess that we are all coming from different experiences. S is a college Sr this year, but has been driving since 17 and has had the privilege of driving our “extra” vehicle. With his experience he should be aware of most of the things in the contact. A less experienced driver may not. I would never give him an expensive import car to drive. When his was in the shop one day I let him ride his bike to work since my car only has 6k miles on it!</p>
<p>He did have a rough winter, he slid into a curb in the first snow (hasn’t been much snow since he got his license until this year) and came home and handed us $ when he told us he bent the rim. He also had a minor accident for which he paid the repairs to our vehicle (no damage to other party). He didn’t even ask to submit it to insurance. He knew (without contract!) that if he broke it, he has to fix it. These were the only incidents since he started driving.</p>
<p>Oh, did you put in the contract about calling police if there is an accident, and even if police are called, to get all the info from the other drivers? When other Son got rear-ended (hard) he didn’t get the info and we had to wait to find out the insurance of the responsible party. I wanted to hit him in the head! (but hey, it was his car and his problem so…)I have a friend, an adult, who also didn’t get the info when she got rear ended, and she should know better. Put a form in the glove box to use for collecting the info.</p>
<p>MLM, in another post, the OP said they have a “family curfew” and wants her D to adhere to it when away. I got the impression it was not for the car. </p>
<p>Talking about a micro-management control freak, I once heard of an extreme case: While a girl was dating with a guy for the first time at a restaurant, she spent some time to text her parents to report the “progress” in realtime! Sometimes, you could never under-estimate the strong tie between a kid and the parents in some culture. Actually, I heard that in some culture, a girl should be accompanied by her trusted friend or relative while she is dating.</p>
<p>Yes, and there are some cultures where it’s appropriate to kill your child because of dishonor and cultures where the children have no say in who they marry and cultures where bio parents are irrelevant and you belong to the community and on and on. Luckily, many of us are not of the mindset that just because it’s done, doesn’t make it right. </p>