What cars do private school mums drive?

At my DS's school it ranges from Polos and Micras, through battered old Volvo estates, through to the Aston Martins, chauffeur -driven Bentleys and then there are the helicopter crowd…. But no one cares!

Cars are annoying, I was so pleased to accept a place in a school in the middle of the city for DC, nobody comes by car! I tend to judge more the ££££ 4x4 than the Ford Mondeos though, we have a ££ 4x4 BTW :)

I just (reluctantly) parted with my 12 year old Megane, and have replaced it with a Mazda3. All sorts at our school, from knackers to stunners, with the vast majority being practical family cars.

Mostly 4x4's - I live very close to a private school, they all turn outside my house.

Meh, there are snobs everywhere. They make me grin.

Ha ha at this thread

I drive an (old, tatty, knackered) 4 x 4

This photo was at a (private) school event last year. There are other cars out of shot and they're mostly 4x4s.

I couldn't care less what car anyone drives tbh

want2be I went to a private girls school on the Wirral. I have no idea what cars the parents drove though because nearly everyone came by bus. There were loads of people on free places though due to the Council using it as the Catholic 11+ school. Therefore, it was only a bit posh ;) Maybe that is why I don't drive a flash car - according to a previous poster only a new generation of private school parents have flash cars. Actually, I can't afford one!

Brenda You come across as having a chip on your shoulder.

I agree with DancingDino that many of parents at the state school drove flashier cars compared to the majority of parents at the private school I attended. I was in the North West on the Wirral so it was rather middle class with pockets of real poverty. Towards the upper years no one had a car that less than 5 years old yet at the state school newer cars were very common.

If your post at (16:52) was directed at me, the reason people know what car we drive is that school is one block from our home plus 3 of DD's classmates live on the same block as us so they see us coming and going, just as we see them coming as going. I might walk the kids to school but the class see each other all the time as we all live so close to each other. I know one parent drives a Maserati even though they also walk their DS to school every single day. They live 3 blocks from us and we often end up at the supermarket on Sunday morning at 7am to snag all the weekly specials.

I am a private school mum, I don't have a car.

I am no longer a Private school mum my son is now home tutored.

I used to drive one of 2 little convertibles, no I am not filthy rich one of my cars is my social life and my hobby and the other was slightly more practical.

There was a mix of ever car, age and make at my son's old school.

I never judged anyone on their cars. I am sure many people thought I was rather eccentric, I think that is a fair appraisal of my personality. I would imagine that is because I am always over dressed rather than what I drive.

DanciingDinosaur: the rest of the population means the rest of the population - not the privileged enclave around the small catchment of a primary school.

Though I do agree that of course there are parents who are wealthy and are confident that their children will end up well educated in the state sector.

In fact I am someone who if I didn't have a car, didn't go on our annual holiday abroad and didn't save for the future could, at a pinch, afford to privately educate one child. If due to some unforeseen issue, like insurmountable bullying or the local school being taken over by Whackford Squeers , I had to remove a DC this would be my contingency, and I consider myself very lucky to have that fallback.

But to pretend that roughly the average wealth, and level of disposable income for buying expensive cars is like for like across state and private sector is ...not realistic.

But think how cheap your insurance will be now that DH is a middled aged baldie (as long as you don't let DS drive it though).

Indeed. I think our car insurance becoming 'cheap' even though DPs car was, up to a few months ago, a high insurance group sporty estate, was the thing that made DP and I realise that we are no longer 'young'.

We are early 40s, but I think a combination of having no DCs and a lot of our friends being at least 10 years younger made us forget that we were hurtling towards middle age.

Even more so now we have swapped said sporty estate for something that is more suited to pulling our caravan .

I drive a Nissan Primera

Cruickshank- you forgot all the tradesman's vans. Lots of kids get dropped off at private schools in them!

Cruikshank :)

Who cares about cars, really?

Beaufort

DH is making small noises about getting something German and sporty. It will be entirely wasted on a middle aged baldie

But think how cheap your insurance will be now that DH is a middled aged baldie (as long as you don't let DS drive it though).

Car park is full of Range Rover Overfinch, Bentleys, Ferrari, Porsche and a couple of Rollers.....a lot of footballers kids are here

This has probably already been said, but as far as I can tell it is received mumsnet wisdom that all parents at private schools drive clapped-out volvos. They also never go on foreign holidays. They're just like the 94% of the population who don't chunk out thousands on education every year, you see.

There's a wide range. Aston Martins, yes, but not many. Lots of 4x4s, some big and shiny, some battered and mud-spattered.
Lots of the kids come in via public transport, walking or bike.

Private schools are attended by kids who:

1. have parents who can afford it easily
2. have parents who can afford it if they cut back on other things
3. have the attributes to get scholarships
4. have parents whose level of income allows them to access hardship bursaries

and modes of transport to and from school reflect that.
No one with any sense cares.

There is no correlation in my experience of nice cars and stacks of money. There is a correlation between nice cars and company cars.

We are not remotely interested in cars. I buy a French MPV about every 10 years, when the old one starts getting a bit cranky. DH drives a small congestion charge beating car. DS has a 9 year old Ka.

The people who care are the people who matter least and ime even the people with the poshest cars didn't particularly care. There were quite a lot of families who started when the boys were 8 in brand new Mercedes/Audi/BMW estates who are still driving the same car 12 years later.

Now we've nearly paid all the fees and are coming out of the other end DH is making small noises about getting something German and sporty. It will be entirely wasted on a middle aged baldie but I expect DS will wangle a few drives in it

An 8 yr old Ford Focus.

I see quite a few flash cars on the school run and a number of not so flash ones.

Generally I don't give a shiny sweetie wrapper what people drive, but I must admit to judging people who drive huge,expensive people carriers for their 2 DCs and then are unable to park.

And it's obvious that more people who can afford private school will be able to afford an expensive car (IF they want one) than the rest of the population.

Not necessarily. Its the state school down the road from dc's private school that have lots of flashy cars. Probably because they're not spending the cash on private school fees.

An 11 year old ford mondeo :-)

I don't notice the people who care. Maybe it is because I don't care what they think of me and all the other parents who don't have flash cars :)