Does buying a brand new first car for a 17-year-old make sense?

[TheAzurePeer]

This came up in conversation with DH and I’m interested in others opinions.

A family we know, grandparents have bought their 17 year old grandson a brand new small car to learn to drive in.

DH was saying how ridiculous this is. I initially agreed but thinking about it I’m not so sure. Logic seems to be he’ll bash/scrape it so no point buying new. But why does it matter if you bash a new or old car? End result is the same no? And 17 year olds (boys in particular) do tend to crash so surely want them in the newest car possible (if finances allow) because newer cars are safer?

And the parents drive larger cars (SUV) so he couldn’t learn in their car cause of insurance. It’s not as if grandparents can’t afford to buy the car.

Am I missing something or does this seem to make sense?

The cost of insurance in a new car will be eye watering! My son (who is 15) has been researching the cost of car insurance. It’s £1400 a year on a £1500 car!!

DH asked this and they said it was about the same for a 3 year old car that they had looked at.

It doesn't need to make sense to everyone, it just needs to make sense to the person doing it. Some things are just a preference, this is one of those. If someone has cash to spare then a new car is fine.

No, no way!

He'll run it into a ditch at some point. Why waste your time money on a new car

They shouldn't buy him any car, if he wanted a car he should get a job and save up to buy a car. So spoilt.

We bought our children new cars for their 17th birthdays. They drove them once they had enough lessons for their instructor to feel they were safe to do so. No bumps or scrapes.

I don’t think it needs to make sense to anyone else. We wanted to buy them a new car so we did. There wasn’t much else to it.

Didn't vauxhall do an offer about 10-15 years ago where you bought a new car and got at least one year of free insurance (maybe more?).
And it was a bit of a no brainer if you could afford the monthly payments.

As a grown adult I have never bought a brand new car for myself so it seems extravagant to me. BUT if they can easily afford it then yes, I guess it makes sense to have a car that is less likely to develop faults and be more roadworthy and safer, and hopefully cost less in repairs in the long run.

Seems excessive to me.
New drivers are literally just learning to drive and navigate the skills required to drive using their own common sense and intuition, something that takes time to hone.
Accidents happen unfortunately and the cost of insurance coupled with car repairs will be extortionate.
My peers who were handed new cars like this (many years ago) didn’t appreciate how lucky they were and really didn’t look after such an expensive gift. Sometimes having to work hard for something makes you appreciate, value it and look after it.

We found new cars were cheaper to insure.
( still.not cheap though!)

They shouldn't buy him any car, if he wanted a car he should get a job and save up to buy a car. So spoilt.
I hugely disagree.
Why is someone 'spoiled' if they are treated to a lovely gift.
We bought both our boys a car, paid for insurance for the first couple of years but it didnt make them entitled or anything!

Depends where you live really. Mine needed me to drive them to any job they got because there was no public transport. So giving them the use of a car made my life a whole lot easier! The actual car remained ours, but we did pay to insure them on it (which wasn't as bad as we feared as it was an older car). I know this isn't the same as the OP, but we're going to end up giving one of them the car anyway as we no longer need it ourselves.

I don't buy new cars for myself but when it came to DC we bought decent cars about three years old. Neither DC got bumps or scratches.
I think it's more the power of the car that's important. Assuming cost isn't an issue I think a 17 year old in a very powerful car is not sensible.

Are you kidding?! We supported 3 sons through learning to drive (all in their 30s now and paying for their own car & insurance) and no way would brand new cars have made sense. None were irresponsible drivers, but the old Mazda 3 they used suffered regular scrapes and prangs.

Buying a new car at any age doesnt make sense, buy at 12/18 months old, your getting the same new model with safety and tech but avoiding the ridiculous depreciation.
I didnt crash or knock my car after i passed and plenty of my friends didnt, give the lad some credit before you assume he's going to ditch it!

Now this is interesting. We always PCP cars, having a new car is nice and we were paying cash we’d have something much cheaper (I know plenty of people have different opinions around that).

So I suppose if you don’t buy new cars yourself it’s hard to see how to justify it for a brand new driver.

Anyone buying a brand new car needs their head examined, IMO.

We bought an older car as wanted the kids to learn to drive and park ‘properly’ i.e. without all the screens and assists and electronics to tell them what to do! I’m sure when they upgrade they’ll get something with more modern features but I’m glad they have an inkling of how a proper manual car feels and how to fix minor issues.

I’d also be less annoyed if they did scrape it!!

This was my initial thought - and DHs too - but surely it’ll cost the same to repair an old car as a new car? So what’s the difference?

It entirely their business what they buy for their Grandchildren.

Your DH is free to make different choices for his own family.

Agree. My daughter did this. Gives them responsibility and drive. Why are they just being given stuff!

Buying a new car never makes sense.

we bought dd an 11 month old ex demo Hyundai i10. Far cheaper than a brand new one.

Repairing a new car will likely cost considerably more, a light front end tap will upset/break all kinds of sensors - what would have cost a new bumper and some paint years ago, can now cost thousands.

We live miles from anywhere. No buses so the taxi of mum and dad.
At 17 my DC were still in full time education and giving them a car was as much for my benefit as theirs. Might be different in a city though probably still useful.
Being given a car did not stop them working hard at a school and uni and getting good jobs. .

When dd passed her test dh was temporarily medically unable to drive so we sold his car to buy dd one for her birthday.

as we were also caring for elderly grandparents it helped us a lot her being able to drive.

Over 90% of people use a PCP I believe and almost always they are new cars