Did You Buy Your Child A Car?

[Belindabelle]

Just wondering if you bought or helped to buy your child a car when they passed the driving test.

It seems to be the done thing around here. Loads of little Fiats, Micros and Minis appearing for 17/18th Birthday presents.

No, but I put them on my insurance (which cost a lot!) so they could use mine.

No didn't buy daughter a car, paid for driving lesson's and paid half of her first years insurance.

Not at 17. DD shared my little hatchback when she passed her test and we bought her one at 20 when she really needed one for work. Same applies to DS. Don't see the point in spending a fortune for them to tootle round the corner to sixth form every day.

We do plan on buying one because we live rurally, not on a bus route, nearest bus stop is 3 miles away. They can't realistically have a job without so they need the car to get a job to afford a car!
Considering the hours they'll be working around school etc it means driving rural roads in the dark, especially in winter.
For that reason an old banger isn't really ideal, at least with a newer car we can be confident it won't break down and will have more safety features.
Life is genuinely harder for everyone nowadays, less job certainty, harder to get on the housing ladder and if I can help in any way give them a head start I will, I believe a car is one of those headstarts.

Not yet , but plenty at dc school do. Often new cars on finance or lease too. Dc may learn this summer and would need a cheap and cheerful run about as neither of our cars are suitable. We live on a bus route so less pressure to learn than some but it runs limited hours especially at weekends.

Yes, for both of them, but it was much to my benefit as it meant they could drive themselves to and from XDP so I didn't have to put up with him waltzing into my house and patronising me any more.

DDs car was bought for £3k in 2011; I bought it back off her in 2013 then gave it to her again in 2017 and she's only just sold it a few weeks ago. It was like selling a family member. .

DSs car was bought in 2008 for about the same amount and he is still driving it!

I think we will probably either hand down my Nemo or get her something similar but because we live in the back of beyond and she'll be expected to ferry her siblings around. But it'll be to share when the next 2 get their tests. They're only 15 months apart.

Not at seventeen, no. They thought we were the meanest parents ever until a school friend had a tragic accident killing himself and his younger sister. We live in the middle of no where but I’d rather taxi drive and waited until they had the maturity to resist peer pressure re messing around in a potentially lethal weapon.
Statistically, young drivers are much, more likely to have very serious accidents. The risk quadruples with another youngster in the car. Ours had to wait.
We bought one a car whilst in third year of med school to enable them to get to placements. We actually did a lease deal so they had a new, reliable car and no servicing costs. Another we bought a broken old VW campervan to do up. The other we went halves on as he wanted a new Mercedes sports car. The youngest has no car yet.

Quite a few people get new ones because they come with free insurance for 18year olds. I thought it was weird until I saw the deals worked out better.
Mine aren’t getting a car though. They’ll borrow mine if needed

Yes. Lessons for 17th and a pug 206 £800.

Yes we did. We were abroad and they passed at 16, oldest drove Dads car for a while then got his own it cost us $2000 I think. Then he moved counrties, we bought it back and gave it to the next teen at 16. Then he moved so we bought it back yet again. Dh says we bought the same car three times.
We paid the insurance, they paid their own petrol and needed a part time job to buy it. Both worked at weekends and summer holidays, one in a shop the other in fast food.

When our ds was learning to drive his aunt ( my dsis) gave him her old car it was about 3 yrs old .

No, not lessons either. We aren't rural

We paid for DS lessons, he had 20 in total. I wouldn’t have him practicing in our cars, the insurance was very expensive but also I thought it had the potential to be stressful.

I’m trading my car in and buying an almost new hatchback which he will be allowed to drive. Waiting a few weeks post passing his test for him to be 18 meant the insurance was 700 instead of 1300.

We thought about buying him his own car, this means he can drive but as the car is mine he can’t just use it whenever he wants.

Yes - it was a Citroen C3 which cost £1500 and the insurance was £800. To insure him on my Fiesta (1.25l , so not a super speedy one) as a named driver would have been over £2.5k.

I never got one. My brother did however.. 😕

Yes, we have paid for all lessons and new cars for all four dds.
Rather they had new reliable cars than old bangers and the deals on service and insurance were better.
But we can afford it, so feel lucky we can do this for them.
That said eldest dsd.. Was stroppy when her father chose a sensible vw polo and not the fashionable convertible fiat 500 in mint green she wanted... He was clear.. If he buys it he chooses, if she wanted fiat she buys it... Funny how she suddenly thought polo was OK.
The other three all gladly took what was offered!

I couldn't drive my parents' car as it was a 2.5L tank so they bought me a Rover 25 for £300. I loved it - such an old man car I paid for everything else but when I sold it they took back the £300.

My last car was a shit heap 12 year old Peugeot 206 with a mind of its own and I was glad to see the back of it. I'm picking up my Fiat 500 tomorrow and it feels like Christmas Eve

yes - first set of driving lessons and a 2nd smaller family car that will be kept at home for younger siblings when she goes to university next year.

I think if you can afford to why not - whether it's their car or a shared car or whatever - it's a great life skill to have under your belt when you're still a teen

Yes we did. For both of our daughters and paid for their lessons. We are about to start again for DS who turns 17 in May and then will do it again for DS12 when he turns 17.

We have made many sacrifices to do this and the cars were all old run arounds.

Yes, paid for driving lessons for both of them and then when they passed bought a £1000 car for them to share and paid the insurance. I've also been known to put petrol in it!

Yes, second hand, less than £4K each. They all looked after them. Two still have theirs, one other has traded it in for an upgrade after a few years. We will do the same for the last child in a few months.

Where we live there is a real mix, some get brand new cars, lots get second hand, most don’t get one at all.

Yes.
We bought both lads a car for about 2.5k each and insurance (2k each year)
We pay all the running costs for Ds2 such as fuel, tax etc.

Yes . Both DDs got cars when they could drive. We live rurally and it was worth it so could stop giving them lifts everywhere.

Not when they passed. They were insured for my car to start with. We reasoned they were never going to be able to afford running costs in sixth form or as students.
DC1 got my car when we replaced it, when he left home to work. We bought DC2 a second-hand car, nothing fancy, when they were in their 3rd year.