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LOL! You sound like my husband. In our view, the kids get either car or private education, not both. Of course, it’s not really fair since we didn’t get them a choice!</p>
<p>" the kids get either car or private education"</p>
<p>we couldn’t even get that advanced. I have said there is no way we’ll ever pay for a “real” wedding. People spend more on that than on a car. More than my house cost. Am I turning into my parents yet? Do we really age, or just get dusty as the economy blows by us?</p>
<p>OldinJersey, that’s one reason we’re glad we have sons.</p>
<p>Old- I am encouraging elopement or at the very least a destination wedidng where a few close friends & family members meet in an exotic locale for the wedding. I remember mine, with 300 people!!! I don’t want to pay for that…and I cannot think of 300 people I would invite!!!</p>
<p>I heard something like this the other day …</p>
<p>Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a trusty old Ford
My friends all drive Porsches, but I cannot afford
The insurance, the payments on a Mercedes Benz
Oh Lord, won’t you help me keep up with my friends. …</p>
<p>sjmom, don’t count on not spending $$ for your sons’ weddings! 
We have three different family friends whose sons got married in the last year. They all contributed equally with the bride’s family to the costs of the wedding, and one paid even more than the bride’s side because they had a longer guest list. The days of the bride’s family paying for everything but the rehearsal dinner are long gone.</p>
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I’m with Oldinjersey & StickerShock. The safety & reliability factor pushes up the cost of the car – I just didn’t want my teenage daughter stranded alone on the highway at night with some clunker on its last legs. (One of the unfortunate side-effects of laws restricting teenage drivers from having passengers is that it does leave young kids in the situation of being alone on the road). My own car broke down the first week that my daughter had her license, while she was driving it – fortunately she was pulling up in our driveway at the time (cracked radiator). So I decided to buy a more recent model, used car – I got a Saturn with about 35,000 miles on it – and my daughter drove the newer car, while I drove the clunker after I fixed the radiator. My d. had to commute daily to her school – it was a 45 minute drive each way, and I simply didn’t want to do the driving any more. </p>
<p>My son attended a high school within walking distance of our house, with reliable bus service for rainy days – so he never had a car. I wouldn’t have bought him one because there was no need – and he simply didn’t want one. In fact, he never owned a car until age 23, when I gave him my old clunker (still running) when my d. went off to college, and then I took back the car she had been driving. (The irony is that the old clunker has been almost trouble-free since that first incident – but then again, my d. put a lot of miles on the newer car with her commute, maybe the clunker still lives because it was treated relatively gently).</p>
<p>alwaysamom- thanks for the encouragment, parents of girls are smiling now :)</p>
<p>calmom and others:</p>
<p>I just felt that the kid buying their own car should be an option. It’s what I did in HS and it wasn’t a clunker but I had worked and saved a lot by the time I was 16 and bought a car.</p>
<p>I agree that the car needs to be safe - especially for young and starting drivers. One can actually purchase safe and reliable cars without spending a fortune. Air bags, crumple zones, etc. have been in place for over 10 years now and cars are more reliable now (well, most) than they were when we were that age.</p>
<p>Regardless, since I decided that the number one job of my kids was to do well in HS and they didn’t disappoint, I did make sure that I have enough cars to reasonably go around without them having to purchase one themselves although these are family cars and not their own cars. I drive the oldest one (a 66 Mustang hundreds of Ks of miles), and the 2 new ones (a 98 Dodge with 136K miles and a 2005 Hyundai Tucson with low miles and every safety feature there is) are used by whoever needs them most at the time. If it hadn’t have been for the two driving kids I’d only have one of those 2 newer cars (I’ll likely keep the old Mustang forever unless I can con someone into trading me for an old vette ).</p>
<p>I do still expect the kids to proudly purchase their ‘own’ first car someday although it’ll be sometime after they graduate from college.</p>
<p>I worked, saved, and bought my own car when I was 16 too… and like i mentioned earlier, my little sister bought her own when she was 16. It’s a 97honda civic and she’s had it for two years now without a problem. her insurance (we’re in PA) is about 900/year and she pays that herself (she does not have collision on it.)</p>
<p>i work with a lady whose father bought her daughter (his granddaughter) a brand new car when she was 16 and she is now 19 and her insurance is 3700/year for it with no violations. This is what happens when you guys buy your kids new cars, when an older car will be much more affordable in the long run.</p>
<p>quote: “A 16 year old simply does not have the brain development to handle the responsibility, and the statistics show it.”</p>
<p>A bit harsh, no? In my AP Lang/Comp class we’d call that the logical fallacy of oversimplification.</p>
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<p>Perhaps you should take some other classes : </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_Adolescent_brain[/url]”>http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_Adolescent_brain</a></p>
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<p>fendergirl:</p>
<p>Both you and your sister should be proud of yourselves for this accomplishment.</p>
<p>I bought my first car as a teenager too, but back then, I got what was a good, safe used car (for the times) for less than 100 hours of work at just over the minimum wage, and a year’s liability insurance was another 100 hours of work. </p>
<p>These days, a reliable safe used car is going to be at least 500-600 hours work at just over the minimum wage, and a year’s insurance about 200 to 300 hours work.</p>
<p>It’s possible for a teenager to do it, of course, but if you live in an area where there’s no safe way but a car to get to work, if your kid has a job, you have a job getting him there.</p>
<p>Conyat, my sister paid 4,000 for her civic two years ago… of which she saved up that money from one summer of working. (and if I may add, the trade in value of her car today is 6500. Talk about getting a good deal deal…) And I would think it would be much easier to get your child to work for ONE summer as opposed to putting down 10k or whatever for a “reliable car” plus their insurance costs for the next five years or so of their lives. And I don’t understand why anyone would do that as opposed to buying a cheaper, used car anyway. They are just as safe as long as you pick one with air bags or something like that. </p>
<p>On a side note, my boyfriends parents bought two “family cars” for him and his brother cars when they were 16… and they were like 800 dollars a piece. they kept them until about two weeks ago (ie, 8 years), when my boyfriend bought a new Scion tC and his brother bought a Mini Cooper. They both took the responsibility of selling those cars and their parents got the profits (200 dollars for one, 600 for the other… so it cost their parents a net amount of 800 dollars to have cars for their kids to drive for 8 years of their lives.) Both of their cars had air bags and were safe, reliable cars. If I were a parent buying my kid a car for 10k (or whatever it is parents are spending on kids cars these days) I’d have to look at that figure and probably have a heart attack since their parents did it for 1600 dollars for two cars/two kids.</p>
<p>We found a car for my D last night. We had scoured the net for used cars—safe SUVs with relatively low (60K) milage in decent shape. We found a goodie, under budget (1/3 her saved money and 2/3 our donation). It leaves plenty left over for my D to pay the first half of her insurance. It took just 2 weeks of research and several visits to private sellers and dealers. We ran into what we think is a Katrina car…we’re in NJ. It was gorgeous, under market price, clean as a whistle, and smelled like a swamp inside! Looking further, we saw rusted bolts and screw holes. We passed on that one. Scary! My D is looking seriously at a college where she can take a car, and most likely will be driving home on some weekends, so a car for her is a practical choice.</p>
<p>This is a hot button issue with me. Where we live all the kids get luxury vehicles at 16 when they get their licenses. They expect it and their parents are thrilled to be able to do it for them. I personally think its ludicrous. I’m with Berurah and Weenie on this one. We have a company car and a family car, and when S reaches driving age we may break down and buy another FAMILY car, but until he’s paying his own bills, the car isn’t HIS. (and it won’t be a luxury vehicle, I can assure you). His school is in the city so its a 45 mins commute…with sports etc. it may make sense for him to drive himself starting senior year but it depends on how mature he is. The entitlement around here drives me to distraction. NONE of the kids work summers or anything. God forbid!!</p>
<p>That is the case in my town, too. But there are also kids here who work hard to get a used non-luxury car. My D worked all last summer, saved every penny, and is working 2 days a week after school now to do this. She will also work either 2 or 3 jobs this summer, in addition to doing her annual charity show, to pay for gas and insurance and put money away for college. We are happy to be able to kick in and add enough to get her a car that (hopefully) won’t be a money pit. The car won’t be registered as hers for years, though, because of insurance concerns here in NJ.</p>
<p>I hire a lot of teenagers to work in the pet shop. I have to hire a lot – because they don’t last very long! I can think of only one girl that was working to support her car however. Most of them get a job to raise money for a specific “thing” like a summer trip with a youth group.</p>
<p>Most of these teens have access to a car – essentially their own car, purchased for them. Their work ethic varies all over the lot – but the ones that don’t need the money, but want the money work out the best. Along with the teens that have a clear view of where they want to go in life (and in college). </p>
<p>By the way – they start out at 10-11 hours a week and about $8. For some of them, that’s too many hours and not enough money!</p>
<p>Our kids have never earned enough money over the summer to pay for a car AND have spending money for college. I’m thinking of the oft repeated threads about, “How much money do you give your kids to spend at college?” Many of us replied that we don’t give them anything and they get by on what they saved over the summer. My daughter has worked every summer since she was 16 and before that she babysat, for two Christmas breaks she worked retail and she has a 10 hour workweek at College. She has less then $1,000. in her bank account. She has been able to pay for trips and concerts and gas and who knows what else but I’m glad we were able to give her use of one of our cars to save her from that expense. She needed a car at her college this year and will have to drive it back from Illinois after graduation. The downside is that she drives the 1996 Jetta, stick shift so it will be hard to find a co-pilot.</p>
<p>kathiep, that’s our story. The other thing is that we really wouldn’t let them have a job during the school year in HS. I’ve posted before about the tough workload they’ve had, and we always thought that doing well in school was their job. They really CAN’T buy a car, at least until they graduate from college. We may end up giving them one of our used cars at that time.</p>