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?

Strange response.
Why does it mean the kid is spoilt ?

This.

As lots of others have said Id never buy brand new for myself, let alone for anyone else! I have bought 3 nearly new cars for about half the price of new that have lasted me 7-10 years before changing them.

Where do you live?

Hahaha I've never had a brand new car for myself, so bollocks would I buy my kid one!

I mean I have already started teaching DD14 to drive round the farm in my 4x4 just so she's confident starting, stopping and steering, so by the time she's 17 and does her test she'll have far more experience than most. But she won't be getting brand new, or all her insurance and running costs paid for - why should she? She will work and pay towards it and learn that nothing comes for free

I wouldn’t! When I got my first car I’m the 90s, I’d reversed it into a post after a few months. I’d got fag burns in the seat, An AA recovery vehicle drove into me (not my fault at all) and it needed a new bumper at around £700 back then. It was not a new car but only a few year old. My next car got stolen and dumped as a write-off whilst at uni. I have to this day, never bought a new car, although my current car only had 1000 miles on the clock.

My husband bought our daughter a car for her 18th birthday even though I'd made it clear I didn't support it. He did it, not for her, but so he could brag to his mates about it and he thought it should something she would be grateful to him for. I was very upset because what he'd actually done (and selfishly IMHO) was deprive her of the satisfaction and achievement of saving and paying for her first big purchase.

The difference between insuring a car to learn to drive in and a car for someone newly passed their test is eye watering. DD is to share my car once she passes, mine is 14 years old and perfectly safe (no lane assist etc but I would hope she was safe enough to drive without those things and want her to concentrate and not rely on the car to think for her!) Insurance will be about £800 per year once she passes. I looked into getting a new small car, something like a VW Up or similar, not brand new, probably about 3 years old and it would be my car with her and DH as names drivers. The insurance was going to be about £1700 per year. Over double!

Plus the excess for her was about £900.

My current 14 year old car is only worth about £2500 - if she dings it I was planning to replace it in the next couple of years anyway 🤷‍♀️ and the insurance hasn’t cost thousands!

If you can afford to pay the insurance and the excess easily then I suppose it isn’t a problem - for a newly qualified driver I would say you really do need to weigh up the first year costs - it is a extremely high likelihood they will need to use that insurance within the first year so factor this costs into the running costs!

Not to mention knocks. Why would you buy them brand new?

This completely depends upon where the family lives.

If parents have chosen a location with sparse public transport where cycling or walking to wherever the older teenagers need to get to isn't practical, then part of that is planning on paying for driving lessons and providing a car to be used IMO. That's speaking as a parent who did bring my children up in a daft location for various reasons (fantastic for kids under ten, increasingly less convenient after that).

Our older kids also mucked in with picking up the younger ones after passing their tests, as well as obviously no longer needing lifts from us. It's not wholly for the teen in situations where a car is necessary - it's easier for everyone including parents.

If you live in a city obviously it's a different equation, but a 17 year old generally has no say in where they live and parents are accountable.

Some of my kids' grandparents paid for their lessons and first cars, but our kids don't have that kind of grandparents - we pay for everything until the child is finished with education, at which point they pay for themselves.

We didn't buy new, but I'd guess primarily because the safety of the human is vastly more important than a few knocks and scratches on the car.

It's more about crumple zones etc than lame assist. Lane assist is definitely a double edged sword safety wise IMO!

This was also our thinking.

Enough power to pull away/ overtake in sensible ways, not enough to be crazy. Insurance cost is tied to power too.

Safety is the priority in choosing a car for a teenager if parents are paying (teenage boys may disagree but won't turn down a boring car if the alternative is no car!)

Mine haven’t had anyone to gift them even old cars and had to buy themselves so always get cheap first cars.

However, none of them had more than minor prangs but all of them had expensive issues with their cars because of the age of the car. I wouldn’t be against a new driver having a better first car if they can afford it as it’s likely to work better with less issues.

I’ve never had a new car but if I had enough cash to buy my children a new car while still having thousands in the bank I’d probably do it. Although I’d have to be a cash millionaire.
Im thankful some people buy new cars otherwise I wouldn’t be able to buy second hand ones.

The most expensive top of the range car won’t make up for a bad driver.

It depends.

The new car will have the latest safety standards, but anything not ancient is pretty safe.

There's a few considerations. A new car will depreciate fast, usually main dealer servicing is expected, and each inevitable little scrape becomes an expensive fix rather than ignoring it or spending a few quid on a touch up.

If you buy a typical learner car, many people will outgrow it quite soon, at which point the depreciation (especially if you haven't maintained it) really bites hard.

If you buy an older car, someone else has had the big depreciation. The odd small scrape won't bother a lot of people. Servicing and repairs can be done anywhere. You could buy a non-typical learner car, which might, surprisingly, be cheaper to insure.

You'd want them in a brand new car when they crash? 😂😂😂

I'd be surprised if they could afford insurance for a 17 year old in a brand new car

Yes. I’d rather have a smashed up car and an intact child (grandchild in this case) than the other way round! Who gives a shit about the car? That’s what insurance is for.

Not in the UK and most people would have a new car long before their current car conked out. So if their warranty was for 6 years they’d probably go for something new around then instead of waiting for it to start going wrong. What happens to older cars? A lot are shipped abroad to African countries as well as some Asian countries. Then there’s also the fact that quite often a car will be given to an extended family member as a house car or kept by the owner as a spare car or house car. What’s left are generally bought by people who are on very low salaries who can’t get bank loans ir credit, or by others perhaps needing a better kind of car. Expats seem to go for leasing in a big way now that cars aren’t really given as part of a package these days and if they don’t lease they are probably the ones buying the better second hand cars though I do see them in new ones also.

I think the second hand car market where I lives is around 5% of annual car sales whereas in the UK google tells me it’s 79%.

Yes. It’s only a car. Crikey, I’ve just had a new car and and at 68 I’ve not even had a parking ticket in my almost 50 years of driving but the first thing my children asked when we were looking at cars was - what safety features does it have?

I think if you can afford a brand new car you can also afford the new driver insurance.

Not necessarily spoilt 🤷‍♀️

if you live in an area where a car is almost a requirement if you want to have a life, then a teen driving can take the pressure off the parents.

neither of mine were bought a car, but they had their driving lessons, insurance etc and use of my car when they wanted.

spoilt? No. It meant I got my life back instead of running them to their sports training, competitions, school, to see friends etc.

so it probably benefited me more than them. Saved me money for one as they got a sports scholarship so their uni is costing me nothing.

I think being in a brand new car can hamper a new drivers confidence.

Good driving requires confidence, and that's so much easier to gain in something that's already got a few dents in it, rather than something with absolutely pristine paintwork.

It's like having a new phone. I'm far more likely to drop it in the first month or so than at. Any other point, precisely because it's brand new and I'm being too careful with it and so I fumble it

That doesn't really follow, by that logic a person could afford everything because they can afford one thing, how does that work?