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).

Dinosaurs - couldn't agree with you more, but DD had one driving lesson and said "I'm not ready and would rather concentrate on my A levels" (no, one was not enough) but at university I only knew one person with a car (although it may be different now) but, mainly, repeated suggestions tend to make a just 18 year old dig their (or at least her) heels in very firmly.

We can suggest and advise but ultimately they have to make their own choices. Thank you though.

Lots of these new car deals are basically just hire though; you hand the car back after three years with nothing to show for it.

As for safety, in God forbid, a collision between my son's 10 year old three series BMW and a Fiat 500, well I know which one I'd want him to be in.

Cars are a minefield! Ok, so there are a few possible reasons why she should have a car before she's even passed her test. (Though I learned purely during lessons, but by the by). And possibly she is very rural. I still think a brand new car for a non driver is a bit silly, it's so easy to scrape/ bump etc. Get a car you don't care about until you're a good driver.

I live on a Tube line AND a good bus route, and there is secondary down the road. Loads of the kids get cars in 6th form (it is a fairly affluent area). My kids will go to that school and I am kind of dreading the pressure, because I don't really agree with it. They can walk to school. They can get the bus/ tube/ cycle to friends'. I may even get a bit of an old banger of a second car for the family for them to learn in, if needs be. But not a brand new car for them personally before they can even drive or have money to pay for tax, insurance, petrol.

Still, I don't 'approve' of many ways people spend their money. As long as they have it (which isn't guaranteed in this day and age). Isn't that what MN is all about? Judging others in a superficial manner and venting on here?

My parents didn't have very much money when we were growing up but they put some away each month and when we were 18 we got the money. It was enough for a new car and some left over which went on the insurance for the first year. I've never had an accident and I'm 42 next month.

If it's something you want to do for your kids then do it, it doesn't make them spoiled or not able to appreciate the value of money. I'm the same now, if I don't have the money then I don't have it, I'd rather save a little each month than use credit.

Each to their own

Tinkly I'd love to see the insurance premium if a NEW driver had a BMW 3 series. ... There is a reason 99.9 % of new drivers run around in cars with lawn mower type engines

merry you possibly don't see the need as your children are in a different position to others. Like you I don't see the need for it to be brand new, but buying second hand can have its own problems. So I can understand people's reasons - if you went to uni without a car and had no issues you would find it strange to want one.

I too went to uni without one, but my goodness I made sure I had one for my second year!

When dd2 needs to learn to drive, we will be getting her a new car. Because she needs adaptions and so can't drive our current one, and they're expensive so we'll be getting one that lasts for as long as possible.

My friend's parents bought her a new car, she had to drive quite a way to school (also taking a sibling) and they wanted something reliable. I don't blame them TBH as it meant the parents didn't need to do the school run or worry about breakdowns in the winter.

Oh Pillocks Originally the car was ours and our son was a named driver from 19 or so. I think it cost about £1600 to add him. He's nearly 22 now, never had an accident and pays a bit less.

I think 17 is a bit young to be driving about to be honest, though my kids were 18 when they passed) and I would worry more if my kid was in a lawnmower car.

I had to self-finance learning to drive and buying/running a car. I also had a father who insisted that if I thought I was old enough and capable enough to drive, I was old and capable enough to learn how to carry out basic safety checks and maintenance on my car. It has stood me in a good stead throughout my life, although as a 17-year-old I remember seething with resentment spending half my saturday job earnings on driving lessons while my same-aged next-door neighbour had hers paid for.

I aspire to bring up my DC to be self-sufficient. My role as a parent is to raise adults who no longer need me, because there are no guarantees I'll be around (my mum died when I was 19). I'd have gone under if I hadn't been raised the way I was.

That said, generosity is a beautiful thing and there is no harm in making life easier for someone. I am resigned to the fact that while I may make my DC pay for their own driving lessons like I did, I will probably have to pay for the licence/tests and contribute towards their first car simply because it is so damn expensive compared to nearly 25 years ago when I learned.

My biggest misgiving in 17-year-olds having a new car is simply whether or not they have the maturity and experience to handle such high-performance cars. When I and my peers had our first cars, they would rattle if you went above 60 and you had no choice but to slow down significantly on tight bends because power steering wasn't as common. I think that (plus fewer people learning to drive) is a factor in why accident rates among young drivers are so much higher now. But these days even an old car possesses a performance level far above the vehicles I was driving at 17.

I haven't read every post, so maybe I'm repeating but young new driver insurance is VERY expensive.

Our 18yo has recently passed his test and we wanted to insure him as an additional driver (for occasional use only) on my mid sized (not at all sporty) car. Our current insurer said they won't insure ANY driver who's been licensed less than a year quotes from other insurers were thousands of £££.

It can be cheaper to buy an additional car (with small engine size and cheap insurance class), than to add a new driver on to a parents existing car. A small NEW car actually makes sense from a number of points of view, but particularly reliability and safety, and this is the option we are going for.

However, it is ludicrous to buy the car before the test has even been passed- it is very much harder to pass it now!