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Smart Shopper Best Car for a new teenage driver
554 messages, Last post on Nov 08, 2009 at 7:33 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: graphicguy (Jan 24, 2007 6:32 am) Speed? Oh, yeah, the driver was the captain of the football team and supposedly a very good kid. BTW, a study, years ago, indicated that for most HS kids who got a car their grades went down. |
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Replying to: 1racefan (Jan 24, 2007 10:03 am) I think most of this stems from the recent observations I've had with some of my son's friends. I'm fortunate enough that I can provide my son with a comfortable life. He doesn't have to worry about food, shelter, an education. I've got those covered for him. He's learned some hard and expensive lessons (as have I) along the way. I lifted his license for a year when he was 16 after he wrecked MY car. Courts wouldn't do it, but I did. After I gave him his license back, he was faced with some humongous insurance premiums (he had to work and save up for 8 months to afford his insurance premium, again). He learned a lesson from that. He's been stranded before by not keeping his maintenance (battery) up to date on his car. He learned a lesson from that, too. He worked, scrimped and saved for a couple of years to get enough money from me to match his $$$ to get a car. He learned a lesson from that. What I hear from some of my son's friends is that they're entitled to a car. I don't get that. To add insult to injury, they don't want just any car, they want the sporty, bigger buck models. And, they'll whine, cajole, cry, threaten, and browbeat their parents until they get what they want. Some of those parents cave. I refuse to let anyone to be that manipulative towards me. What's worse, the parents pony up the $$$ to get them that sporty ride, It's easier than to teach their kids what it really means to own a car. The kids learned nothing. The parents have succeeded in doing little more than placating little Johnny or Janey for a little while so they don't have to get involved. Nothing's learned or taught. That's where the disservice comes in. |
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Replying to: jack47 (Jan 24, 2007 10:09 am) i don't think a high-schooler or college-bound child needs wheels. nope. i thought most colleges didn't allow kids to bring vehicles (not only a distraction, but also a parking headache) on campus anyway. only time you'd be allowed to have them is if you lived off campus... but if you live off campus, shouldn't you be walking to / from class everyday and concentrating on studies? i know i had to concentrate on studies. i did not need a vehicle in high-school or undergraduate school. by the time i went back to grad school, i owned my own vehicle. when i was a junior in college, i got a very well-used and rusted VW Rabbit that got me through to my first job, where i bought my first (used) vehicle. my parents initially helped me with insurance while i was still in college. by that time though, I was 20 and had slogged through 3 years of engineering school, on my way to the last year and interviews. now i know there's going to be exceptions and true needs, but i think kids are given vehicles much much much too early. at 17 or 18, what do you know about the world? i know there are gonna be parents saying our child needs a ride out to college campus, but i don't buy it. i think we have an obligation to drive our children to campus and back each semester. a good way for us to review what just transpired, or review what needs to get done to get the new semester started off right. i guess i'm old fashion. a kid having any sort of vehicle in high-school? i'm with you. just say "no, sooooo sorry. that's what the bus is for". |
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The best car for a teen is a big domestic boat with the smallest engine available. This past weekend my son drove my 2000 Concorde off a cliff into the trees. Car was destroyed, kid didn't get a scratch...until he got home!
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Replying to: user777 (Jan 24, 2007 11:18 am) well, i needed one to get back and forth to work after school and on weekends. But I paid for everything on the vehicle out of my own pocket ... well almost everything. Parents ponied up $1k for each of their kids as an advanced HS graduation gift. Both my brother and sister had to pay it back when they didn't graduate. |
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Jan 24, 2007 12:16 pm) did it "jump out in front of him"?
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Replying to: user777 (Jan 24, 2007 11:18 am) I don't think so. You would be hardpressed to find a college that does not allow vehicles. tidester, host
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Replying to: tidester (Jan 24, 2007 1:09 pm) |
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I don't think so. You would be hardpressed to find a college that does not allow vehicles. For freshmen, maybe... My daughter is a freshman at Colorado State University this year, and both her and her roommate have a car with them on campus. When we went to the orientation 18 months ago, the question came up about the need to have a car. Of the 4 or 5 kids on the panel, they were split on the subject .. some said yes, others no. My daughter comes home every other weekend, and it's about 90-100 miles one way. Plus, she will venture off-campus occasionally for a trip to Target or the movie theatre. In my opinion, it has worked out well for her to have a car. Fortunately, she also happens to live in a dorm at the edge of campus, so she's never had a problem with parking. |
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Replying to: user777 (Jan 24, 2007 11:18 am) next year is college, so back to no car. i don't see any reason to deny it in the mean time. my philosophy is to give my kids the reasonable advantages i can, and to let out the rope a bit, too. before my daughter got her license, she had driven in ct,ma,ri,ny,mi,oh and in. since then, add pa,md,de and nc. i still worry when they take the car, but they gotta grow up.
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