To think that it's ridiculous, to buy a 17 year old a brand new car?

[ILiveAtTheBeach]

That's exactly what my DD's best friends parents have done. A brand spanking new car, for her 17th birthday. A 65 plate. She can't even drive yet (obvs). She is still at school, so I guess when she does pass, that all costs associated with the car (fuel/insurance/road tax) will be paid for by the parents??!!

Thank goodness, my DD also thinks it's crazy. But I'm sure some parents in the friendship group, will now feel slightly pressured to buy their kids a car.

I mean, I could maybe understand getting your kids a car for say £1-2k, but I think even that would be extremely generous.

I had to buy my own first car and pay for all costs that went with that. It was old and cheap. And I was working FT.

They are not particularly well off (if their house is anything to go buy).

What LaLyra said:

Children don't become spoilt, greedy and entitled because their parents buy them things. Children because spoilt, greedy and entitled because their parents allow them to be so.

In my year group, some were bought brand new cars on their 17th birthday. Some were bought second hand cars. Some had a part time job, saved up and bought their own. I don't think that puts any more pressure on parents of the peer group any more than "Tom is allowed to play halo/cod/assassin's creed, why can't I" - which my children got out of by the time they hit 7-8.

A new car is often safer than an older model with better fuel efficiency. That said I'd never buy a brand new car just because I think they're a waste of money for anyone given the amount they depreciate as soon as you drive them off the forecourt. But I'd be more than happy to buy a 6 month old ex demonstrator type car for me or my children.

I also think that your comment about judging income by house size is ridiculous. Smaller house may well mean larger disposable income whereas large "detached job" may mean most of the monthly income swallowed by mortgage so very little else to play with. House size is not an indication of social status! (Otherwise you would all wrongly assume that I am a millionaire 😅)(sorry, couldn't resist)

YABU - people can make their own choices about what to spend their money on. It's no more crazy than buying your DC their own house when they're older, or paying for their wedding or holiday - people can do what they please with their own disposable incomes.

It's ridiculous to buy someone a car who can't even drive. why anyone would think otherwise.

Not ridiculous at all. perhaps they are happier knowing that they have a garuntee and a good safety rating and useful features rather than.there child driving about in a banger. a 17 ur old broken down on a hard shoulder in a battered old car would be bloody terrifying. plus there's parts to consider. can you get them for the car. would they cost more than.car is worth. I'd not let my kids ride with someone in a rust bucket etc.

MYOB

Yes but why buy it before she's even started lessons?

Or before she's even decided where to go to uni, whether she wants to travel, where she's going to work and so on.

Merry - well, not rediculous if you really don't want them to learn in your car, or they can't learn in your car (eg if it's a company car or automatic and they need to learn on a manual) - everyone I know who tried to learn without having access to a car to practice in outside of lessons spent a small fortune on lessons. If you'd buy a car for them after they'd pass, makes sense to buy it before hand to increase the chance of them passing (particularly if you're going to be funding the lessons). Waiting and forcing learning to be only during a one hour lesson a week seems rediculous if you are prepared to buy the car once they (eventually) pass anyway.

The only people I know who passed with less than 10 professional lessons did so because they were out in the car pretty much daily practicing with parents/partner and just used paid for lessons to 'tidy up' skills they'd learned already.

SirChen - cars can be sold. Many students arrive at uni with a car, if working pretty much anywhere in Europe, the car can be taken with her (or part-exchanged for something more suitable)....

I don't think we'd buy our DCs cars, but then we a) are unlikely to be able to easily afford it at 17 as will be still be paying our mortgage, b) we don't drive company cars or automatics, and c) we have chosen to live in a town, under a mile to a train station with good links into London and close to a bus route. The 'need' might be greater if you've made different decisions about home location, your own car(s) and have different levels of disposible income....

I agree it might be better to buy it in preparation for lessons, especially if it's not possible to use a family car.

Also some teenagers have jobs, work experience, etc. my DDs school was also quite a distance away, hence her friends lived in a wide area which made it all but impossible to reach each other without a car. Quite an incentive to learn actually!

So I think it really depends on the circumstances.

Of course they can be sold - but it doesn't really make sense to sell a car less than a year. As for arriving at uni with a car - depends on the uni. None of DSs friends have arrived at halls or flats with cars - nowhere to park them in the city centre, and what limited spaces there are cost a fortune to park 24 hours a day. Again - same thing with working. If you're young and living in the city centre it might not be practical or cost effective to park a car there - so although you can sell it, again, it doesn't make much sense to do so a year after you've bought a car for your 17 year old.

Much more sensible to wait and see what your 18 year old is going to do with the next few years of their lives before shelling out several thousand pounds for the car, plus the running costs.

The amount of hassle we have just been through sorting out insurance for our ds was such a nightmare that we looked at every possible option including buying a new small car that would be for me and ds and would also be for ds2 when he learns. In some cases it is far cheaper to have a new small car and insurance costs are crippling

Why are you so bothered OP. You sound very jealous. If I could afford this I would. I got sort of lucky because my Mum gave my DD her old car - which was quite old, but only she had owned it from new and had kept it all fully serviced etc and had hardly done any miles. But I would not have bought a second hand car whose provenance I did not know.

We used it when she was at Uni and had nowhere to park. We paid for the insurance as a birthday present and we serviced it. Because we could and she deserved it.

I missed the part where it said she hadn't decided where she was going to uni yet, though I don't see the relevance.

FWIW I knew where I was going to uni from the age of about 13, including what I was going to study. I spent 6 years at uni in London (my first choice) after a year of travelling - and was very glad to have my car!

Or before she's even decided where to go to uni, whether she wants to travel, where she's going to work and so on.

So she can simply drive to go and see friends? We bought the cars before the children passed their tests. They had extra driving experience from us in their cars and learned to drive in their cars. The cars would still have been here wherever they went to Uni. Our children gave up work when they went to Uni. The courses are far too intensive to work and study. All lived at home and commuted anyway.

My first car was a van I bought with my brother for about 1 k after my granny died. It fit all our band equipment in it I think it was at least 2 litre engine. Since then I have always appreciated a bit of oomph in an engine.
And I am feeling quite defensive on behalf of my 13 year old car. She is not an "old banger". Au contraire, she , like her mama, gets better with age. Over the years I have learned quite a bit about cars and maintenence, and I never get patronised by mechanics.
I have usually had really good cars, but old ones, and I don't necessarily think a brand new cheap car is better than an old warhorse. I wouldn't buy a new car for 17 year old, but that's because I know you can find perfectly good deals on absolute gems for very little cash.

The OP hasn't said that hadn't decided where to go to uni - I was pointing out that a 17 year old who hasn't passed their test yet may very well end up going down a completely different path at 18 (as my DS1 did), and it may be that the car ends up sitting on your driveway or in your street for months on end not being driven and costing a fortune in repayments etc.

If that's not an issue, then fair enough obviously - but to my pragmatic mind, it would make far more sense to wait and see where they actually ended up after they left school.

Look, op some people are richer than others and can spend their money as they see fit. If I was loaded, I'd probably buy my kids a brand new car for their 17th birthday. Not to be flashy, I wouldn't buy them a Mercedes or something, just to be safe, practical, reliable I'd get a new "basic" vehicle. I had a clapped out old piece of shit when i was younger (which I paid for before you get cross!) and it was unreliable and although roadworthy it would have been safer if everything worked/was easy. I broke down loads of times and that's what you get with knackered old cars.

a 17 ur old broken down on a hard shoulder in a battered old car would be bloody terrifying

Errrr why? What difference does the state of the car make in this situation? And quite honestly if breaking down on the motorway is so terrifying then surely they are not old enough or responsible enough to be driving in the first place?! That kind of thing happens in new cars too (albeit less often), so perhaps he/she shouldn't be on the motorway if they don't have breakdown cover.

Rather than buying your child a brand new car, perhaps try teaching them what to do in such circumstances. That they don't sit in the car on the hard shoulder but at the very least move behind the barrier, whatever the weather, and that the arrows on the posts point to the nearest telephone point.

You are only at uni half the year, a few near us leave their cars at home, but I know quite a few who take them. All my DDs close friends have cars at uni.
But again, there is a world of difference in how you might use a car depending on what course you are doing.

Ah well there would be another child really to learn if child number one no longer needed it...ditto two and three....

I'm less keen on having older cars, perhaps as I used to have one as a young adult and it broke down lots! Even though I was aware of what to do, it was still annoying and yes scary, particularly at night.

A 17 yo who hasn't passed her test yet may not go to uni at all but start work (and need the car for the commute). Or she may use it for her last year of school to give her parents a break from ferrying her around. Or she may leave it at home for use in holidays, or take it to uni with her, or for a variety of reasons for which anyone else might buy a car.

Just because she may or may not know what she'll be doing in a year's time is as much argument to get it as not.

Sd's mum has promised her a car for her 17th.

Thing is we live in central London. Parking controlled zones, traffic jams, congestion charge and all. It's far easier to get the tube.

Don't know where she's going to park it, or drive it to. Or who's going to pay tax/insurance, her mum constantly pleads poverty and we certainly can't afford it.

Crazy idea.

A 17 year old having a car, brand new or not, is ridiculous. There seems to be an expectation these days that young people somehow need a car as soon as they have passed their test, regardless.

I think the longer a young person can do without a car, the better. They would be much better off using their legs, cycles, public transport than being burdened with the costs of a car. I don't think anyone has mentioned the costs to the environment yet have they?

And how they afford the insurance is beyond me.

Granted their may be a few who cannot get around without, but I'd say that's the minority.

Where do you all live where new cars are cheaper than second hand ones? Is there some special part of the UK where the economy works backwards and cars increase in value with age? All I can think is you guys have never even looked in Autotrader. And as to the crash safety issue - cars now are not any safer than they were 10, 12, 15 years ago. They met the EU standards then and they meet them now. Look it up if you don't believe me. It's just advertising, based on fear, to get people into even deeper debt. Agreed, it is beyond ridiculous. How is a brand new car, paid for by parents, helping a young person get prepared for adult life? Poor things will get a nasty shock when they get out into the real world and have to pay their own way! Although if parents have that much spare cash, maybe they never will. That's another thread.

We got ours cars when they passed their tests, simply because they would have been uninsurable in our cars, (intrigued by the poster who has managed to insure a 17 year old in an e class merc or a 4x4 ).

We had a good look around and quickly realised that anything under £2500 was quite likely to be a lot of trouble. So we ended up spending more than we intended: about £3000 each via a mate's car dealership.

Our kids use their cars loads; DD used hers to get home from an extremely well paid but unsocial hours part time job; DS has his at Uni 20 miles away and pops home frequently.

Many of our kids' friends got brand new cars at 17 or 18 and, in my observation, it did tend to be the ones I already had down as being entitled and rather spoilt. It tended to be the ones who'd never had a part time job too.

DH and I are very comfortable financially; we could easily afford brand new cars for our kids, but we feel it is a big part of our job as parents to try and give our very fortunate children some sense of the value of money.

Although if parents have that much spare cash...

They probably won't have by the time their children have reached 25 and they've bought them cars, houses, weddings etc etc