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?

Not a brand new car no. A couple of years old and maybe put the difference towards tax and insurance if the grandparents are feeling super generous

Why? A ding is a ding - I wouldn’t care and would just leave it. Anything more inexpensive the insurance pays for. And that’s what insurance is for.

Chips Away don’t charge more based on the age of the car.

DP has been frankly emotionally blackmailed by ex and DD into financing a brand new Audi for his DD to learn to drive in. I have no doubt it will fuel her expectations in life that she can live the high life doing nothing. To hell with the fact he can ill afford the monthly repayments while paying for his DS to attend private school, which he’s also struggling to afford on his own, as well the maintenance of it. I personally would have bought her a decent 2nd hand car to learn in and she can trade it using it as a deposit when she’s able to afford the repayments on a new car herself. He’s also now obligated to do the same for his DS when the time comes.

Not advising just sharing our experience.

We bought a second hand Polo for DD, she was 19. DD went out on her first solo drive. She didn’t go far, just around the block.

We lived in London then, lovely summer afternoon, the balcony door was open. She was going to park in the reserved place over the road. I heard - crunch -, I instinctively it was her, looked out and there she was, she had misjudged the turning into the parking space and hit the wall. We booked it into the garage. She had had it less than 24 hours.

Many years on, she is the best driver I know!

That article doesn't really mention the obvious alternative which is to buy a car.
I've noticed when buying cars that the dealers are keener to sell some kind of finance deal than actually selling the car which tells you where the profit is.
I would encourage my DC to just buy what they can afford.

Learn in an older cat and if they are accident free at 21 buy them a new one then as insurance will be a lot cheaper with 4 years no claim discount.

Interesting question. If you read some of these responses, no-one should ever, under any circumstances, buy a new car. Which rather begs the question where the hell are all the second hand cars going to come from? The rental market, presumably, so they'll all be wrecked by the time anyone else buys them. So of course people, us included, buy new cars. Not least because we had years (and years and years...) of second hand crap so when we could afford it we had no qualms. The hit is the depreciation, but manage the finance deal and the PCP and it's all totally affordable and justifiable (for us).

And if course having a new car is about prestige. It's new. No-one's abused it, or crashed it and repaired it. And we will keep it looking like new. Good old us - we worked to get here and it's a pleasure for us.

Should a 17 yo have a new car? Financially it makes no sense, but if it can be afforded that's irrelevant. A 2 or 3 year old car would be just as safe and economical. The key question is "would it be appreciated?". The posters who seem to be saying a car in the hands of a 17yo will get pranged whether it's new or old seem to be missing the point. New things should be looked after. If this can't be done then no. Second hand.

We bought ours a 9y old car and it’s been an absolute money pit. Selling it soon as he’s off to uni somewhere with reasonable public transport (unlike home) and he can share our cars when he is home. He wouldn’t have been able to work on his gap year without a car though.
Probably a 2 y old car would be ideal with some warranty still. Some friends have bought ex demos for their kids which work out a bit cheaper. I agree it’s the size of the engine rather than the age of the car which is the main factor for insurance though. Ours was £1.4k for year 1 down to £900 for year 2 for a 1 litre car non black box policy (due to his work hours which made black box uneconomical)

I had a one year old car as my first car. I didn’t crash or damage it, I sold it over 10 years later in great condition. I’d personally prefer my DC had a safe newer car if possible.

My son got a new car when he passed his test at 17, he used the instructor's car for lessons and practiced in a small van from DH's business. The reason we chose to do this was he was going to uni 350 miles away on a semi rural campus so we wanted something reliable. The insurance on a 1.0L Corsa was no worse than on many older cars.

It was me who questioned this earlier.

Your first post said "Over 90% of people use a PCP I believe and almost always they are new cars" which I understood to mean that 90% of people buying a car (new or used) use PCP, but it actually means 90% of people who buy a brand new car use PCP.

I can believe the vast majority of people buying a brand new car use some sort of finance, but I don't think most people are buying brand new cars, are they?

Just looked it up (very crudely) and it's about 20 - 25% who buy brand new.

I guess if you've got the funds to buy a brand new car then insurance cost really isn't such a big concern. I'm sure a 1 or 2 year old car would be just as reliable and about 1/2 the price. And if you buy from a dealership you'd probably still get a pretty decent warranty.
I mean it's obviously personal choice, but I don't think there's really sound justification for buying a brand new car for safety or reliability reasons.

My grandparents did this for my cousins. One totalled theirs after 2 weeks. It didn't seem like a good idea to me, but my judgement is somewhat clouded by them not doing the same for me.

This is how my 50 year old husband got on the road back in the 90s. Parents bought his first car with one of those deals, he then sold it after the free insurance ran out and that plus a small loan made it affordable for him to get another on a similar deal (loan was
still cheaper than insuring either the first car or the second) and then 5 or 6 years down the line he had a damn good car, had built up a good no claims period and dropped way down in terms of age-related /new driver risk for insurance purposes.

In other worlds, people like me bought a £500 banger and nursed it through MOTs for 3 years until car cancer (rust) became terminal...bloody loved that car, though!

Edit - typo and clarity

Bought nearly new for my son. He’s a student nurse and not spoiled in the slightest thanks.

We bought new cars for twins. We did have the same issue of both parents having powerful automatics while twin 1 wanted to learn to drive a manual car. But the main motivation was really safety. I almost don’t understand why parents who can afford new or decent cars for their new drivers don’t invest in the safest car they can afford for them. I watch parents get better cars for themselves and less safe cars for their kids with min driving experience.

It’s not the new drivers themselves - they are all well trained these days I think due to very high standards at the drivers test centres. It’s the other people on the road who have been driving for years and have poor driving styles such as undercutting / no indication etc. or tragic accidents - I recently had a car flip over on front of me on the motorway after clipping another car and it had literally cartwheeled infront of us boot to bonnet while we were all doing 60 miles an hour - would a new driver react as calmly as I did considering I’ve had almost 40 years of driving experience?

I actually think not many people look into it properly. Our kids have new Audis with less than one litre engines - our insurance has been cheaper than anyone else’s I know. My kids drive new Audis and I drive my beat up over 10 years old plus car - and I am bloodly pleased to do so as huge peace of mind knowing our kids are less likely then me to have car trouble.

and the loan on a new car is a better rate than a second hand car. Just shop around - ask for discounts and you’ll get them.

But most importantly get a car with less than one litre of petrol as they are the cheapest to insure for a new driver.

We did this with our twin 1 - got a demo model. But with twin 2 the dealer offered a better loan deal for brand new car so it worked out cheaper to not buy a demo but buy brand new.

Our children have always had a new car when they learned to drive. There’s next to no public transport where we live and the second hand car market isn’t really a thing either so the greater majority of people (even teenagers) only ever own new cars.

Our DS requested to drive our old golf soft top. We were buying him a secondhand Corsa. He wanted the flash and passed five days after his 17th birthday. At 18 he bought a Audi which he still drives at 27. Our DD drives my sport mini which she took her test in. Both drove to school for practice, I drove home.
I don't think it's the value of the car because a lot of new cars have advanced safety features it's whether they are sensible enough to look after it.
Also there are few manual new cars. That might be a consideration.
Admiral was the cheapest insurance if the DC went on a family policy.

I grew up in a time when parents did not routinely buy cars for their children. In my case they didn’t even pay for my driving lessons so I was 22 when I could afford to learn. Realistically am I going to do the same for my DD14 when she’s old enough? Probably not to be fair. I do think there is a value in working and saving up for things and judging by the way she treats her phone we do not quite have the level of care I would want. That being said would I buy her a new car - absolutely not. If she wants to drive a new car she can definitely get saving and have the pleasure of paying for that for herself. I’m quite happy for other people to buy themselves new cars if that’s what floats their boat and I can see the attraction.

When I think about safety and accidents speed is a contributing factor in a lot of accidents and deaths and serious injury . I teach speed awareness courses and I don’t actually get tons of teens but that may be that they were going to fast to qualify for courses. ( and overall teens may represent a lower percentage of drivers ) I do get teenagers coming on courses with provisional licenses and I dont know what that says about the quality of supervision they’re getting. I think the real danger lies in carrying passengers and showing off and no amount of “ modern features “ are going to compensate for that.

If they've got the money then I guess it's up to them if they want to treat their grandson?

Why would anyone else care what they do with their money? Presumably they are aware of the costs of insurance, repairs etc and wanted to do it anyway.

I’m a driving instructor so have loads of experience on what seventeen year olds buy. Nobody so far has had a brand new one bar motability. Usually a fifteen year old Fiesta.

The student who bought a three year old car actually got really cheap insurance, the insurers reckon the safety equipment means less accidents.

And this is the time when you want a car to look after you the most. Go for an NCAP five star safety rating, that was my biggest criteria and my son was bought a decent car that will look after and last him. His is ten years old but a good, solid car with the best safety rating.

My daughter had a brand new car before she passed her test. It was small, insurance fine.

As an adult I did buy a car from new 15 years ago and it's still my car now. The only downside is there was a good deal on the base models, so my car is rather basic (doesn't even have air con).

While people are saying the car might get damaged that could happen to anyone, and also not even be their fault. While admittedly there are a few prangs caused by me, there are also a number caused by unknowns.

If the son is taking it to college where often students have to park on the street (at least where I am they do) then whatever car he gets is likely to be at risk.

Are you in the UK? Where are 2nd hand cars not a thing, does everyone keep a car from day 1 until it no longer works?

I wouldn't buy a car for my children but i know plenty of people who have done although not brand new

I suppose if you have the money and are happy to spend it on that it's up to you really