Cars for your learner driving teens

[Noeuf]

I’m just curious. We have a decent income and I have a car. Kids are learning to drive and I know a lot of their friends were given cars as 17th birthday presents. We definitely messed up not planning ahead to pay for lessons etc but we’ve had a lot going on health wise and it just crept up.
How much / how did you fund cars, if you did? New/contract/old etc?
Really prefer not to hear too much about brand new top of the range models bought outright if possible - has to be achievable!

I paid for my son's lessons and test but am not buying him a car. If he finishes university and needs one for work I would help him out but over the summer he was insured to drive my car.

I don't think it's that normal to pay for cars for offspring, especially if they are going to university, they are difficult to park and are only really needed if you are doing a course where you do placements.

We spent around £3.5k on a car, lessons, test and insurance and saved around £700/year on bus fare (allowing for fuel costs).
Its a lot of money but worth it for us. We live rurally, 4dcs at 3 different schools and dp and I working around 120 hrs a week between us. Ds having a car is a massive help to us but if your dc can walk to school/work etc or there is a bus service that allows them some independence then it may not be worth it.

I do worry about parking. It’s a bit antisocial. We have two cars and two spaces on the drive but already loads of the houses have three cars / two plus van so the on road parking is very limited.

DS has a Fiat 500 which is a 1.2. Unusually it is a diesel and has proved extremely cheap to insure (£800 for a 17yo boy fully comp)

It's in a very fetching pastel shade which is so utterly opposed to DS's rock god image that it's quite amusing. Girls also love it and rave about how "cute" it is

Sorry should also have mentioned, DS paid for the car and the lessons himself. Lockdown definitely helped as he was furloughed from his job but had little option to spend it.

We paid for the first block of lessons for his 17th and we occasionally fill his tank up (hardly a big deal as it's tiny!) We were going to contribute what it would cost for us to insure the car towards his insurance as we borrow it occasionally, but in the end he was able to pay himself.

All ds's friends from wealthy families got new or newish cars. I don't agree with it. We saved and bought him a £2k car, taught him to drive and then paid for 10 lessons.

@Noeuf

This so so helpful thank you. The teens seem to have made friends with a lot of the local wealthy kids (garden pools/ massive houses) so we’ve had a lot of criticism when they were younger and less kind about the house we have etc. They have grown out of that thank god but I’m a bit stuck on what’s fair/normal when it comes to driving? I think my mum and I paid for lessons and then she bought a cheap car for me and my sister but this is going back 30 years.

Really good point about maintenance etc. They can’t learn in mine as it’s an automatic. Really fab to hear of cheaper cars lasting a long time.

I went to a niace private school some of them had been bought cars, some weren't. I wasn't and i was fine.

I do think it is good to learn and pass young. My friends who didnt dp it at school or uni really struggled to pass and drive confidently.

So I think driving lessons is a good gift for 17th.

If you are feeling generous and they pass then a banger for 18th &/or a levels while at uni. Maybe shared between the kids if appropriate

We bought a second hand Skoda Citigo for £3.5k and tax insure and run it for DS. We also paid for lessons.

I'm older (36) but I got an older Fiat uno with v low mileage. The rule was I had that for a year, no accidents, no scrapes, no points, no parking tickets, NOTHING. And then I could have a brand new car

Dd was bought her first car (a used 1.4 litre Fiesta)
Because of the pandemic she didn't get to do her test until she was 18 and just finished A-levels. She pays insurance and maintenance. She started saving from her Saturday job sinc she was 16 and after A-levels went full time so has no problems paying the insurance.
Due to the pandemic her Dad took her out for lessons and she had the odd professional lesson between lockdowns. She watched a lot of YouTube videos as well. (There are a lot of instructors with advice )

I should add I sold the Uno on to someone at uni and it kept going for ages! After that I had a Fiat Punto. I now have a VW polo which is great

New-er (doesn’t have to be brand new) cars tend to be cheaper on insurance and a lot of them cheaper on tax because of the safety features lowers insurance. Also, after driving my newer car, then driving my sisters learned 05 plate car I realised how bloody hard it is to drive an old car 😂

We took out a savings plan when the DC were born. It was worth about £4000 when they turned 18. Dc1 bought a VW Up and DC2 bought a Toyota Aygo. Both excellent cars for youngsters. Insurance and tax pretty cheap.

I would look at the insurance groups first, dd has a Mazda 2 and it was cheap to insure

Oh that’s a good tip thank you, I’ll look at insurance. Very useful to get a sense of the costs.

We bought a Citroen C1 just before ds1 started learning to drive. Our other car is an automatic, 2 litre, so wasn’t suitable. It’s my car, but he can use it now he has passed, if it’s availabw. We have a black box insurance, which I pay for, but is pretty reasonable because the car is small. He’s unlikely to need/want/be able to afford to run one for Uni, so this set up suits us for now. He has a job and fills the car up with petrol.

We pay for lessons - birthday present- but wouldn’t buy a car. We don’t even have a car ourselves.

Learning to drive is a must where we live. Whether we its affordable or not, it has to be done. Both my DDs passed this year (May and last week). I paid for the lessons and tests. DH helped out with the cars (10 plate fiestas) plus their own savings Friday m when they were babies.

DD1 will buy another car next year once her BabyBond matures. Its why we did it.

We paid for driving lessons.We also bought a car that they could drive ( Clio) that we also used. 10 years on we have a fiesta that our youngest could potentially drive and that the older DC borrow when needed.

Friday?! No idea where that came from! Should read FROM

A few of the DC's friends were bought cars for 18th birthday but they were largely the ones who lived rurally. Those who lived in town didn't have the need

Get something cheapish, low engine size and reliable, OP.

I've just bought my youngest son a used Kia Picanto., 1.1 litre. It was just over £3k.

He's just turned 17 and has a provisional licence. Its £900 insurance at the moment with a black box (i'm on it too as a named driver).

I expect it to go up to about £1700-ish when he passes.

Both of my DS had part time jobs and saved birthday and Christmas money to pay for lessons and a car. As did I. They're 21 and 22 now.

Thinking about this too. Ds(17) has his test at the end of November, if he passes he has Christmas and his 18th within a few weeks of each other. He has around £1200 saved up and would obviously love a car.

We havent bought a car since 2013 and the prices now for second hand cars are much higher than I expected. A 2013 1L Fiesta seems to be around £6k in used car showrooms 😱 (private is maybe a bit cheaper!). We have a ford focus estate which is ridiculously expensive to insure for him once he had passed.

Thank you for the advice, good idea on black box and engine size.