DD and taking car to uni

[mostlikelyanunpopularviewpoint]

After being disappointed with her A Level results, my middle DD has finally got her act together and has thankfully received offers from Manchester and Kent for after her gap year is over.

We are having a bit of a disagreement over her car.

DD wants to take it and potentially rent a parking space

I think she should leave it, she won't really need it at uni and can get the train home and drive it in the long holidays. I may then use the car myself during term time as I can't afford my own car- I will also then put some money towards her insurance

She has savings to pay for her car at uni

Who is being unreasonable? Or more sensible?

I think DD is just wasting her money!

She will end up as a taxi service. Maybe she ill figure this out herself and decide to leave it at home in her second year.

Being deemed the designated driver all the time will prob get on her nerves by the end of the first term to be honest.
This^^

She's on a gap year so will be older than 18. She has savings and can service her vehicle costs.

I think this is her choice to make and whether you can afford a car or not is your business not hers.

If she goes to Kent, I think she will need it. I had mine and it made all the difference. Also the train is expensive and she won’t have the instant freedom of popping Home.

If she owns the car, you can’t really stop her either surely?!

It’s her choice. To PP saying she doesn’t need a car at university, doesn’t that depend on where she’s going, what course she’s doing and whether she wants to run a car? She’s not a child and has savings to pay for it so it’s up to her.

If it's her car - and she's paying all of the associated costs for it - then it's her decision, not yours.

That said, I wouldn't bother taking a car to Manchester as the Metrolink is really good and driving and parking round the city is a nightmare and extremely expensive.

I would say wait at first.

Both my DC could drive when they went to uni, DS had absolutely nowhere to park and no need for one for his entire three years.

DD had nowhere to park in halls but when she moved into a rented house she parked and it was very useful. However she was on a healthcare course and had placements up to 60 miles away. Had she been on a different course it would have been a real luxury and definitely not a necessity.

Most of her friends and votes mates don't have cars so as a result she definitely ends up always doing the Aldi runs, the midnight maccy trios, the gym journey when it's freezing etc.

Finally, student areas and parking are shit, she had her car scraped twice in two years and a flat tyre from all the crap left in the road.

I would highly doubt Manchester is an ideal p,ace yor a student car, DD is at Leeds so similar set up. Don't know Kent.

If you had your own car, would you still want her to leave here at home?

There are no parking places for students (except disabled ones) on the campus of the university my daughter is at. My daughter most walked everywhere, and travelled by train on long journeys. Nevertheless, my husband insisted on her having a car in her second year, when she lived off-campus in a residential parking area, where it was difficult to find spots, even with the correct permit. She used the car three times in the whole year, never for anything local. (We live abroad, so she did not use it to come home at week-ends and parking was far too expensive for her to drive it to the airport and then leave it there whilst she came home.)
As others have said, I would suggest she goes to university and sees the lie of the land there, and decides after a couple of months if she thinks it is necessary.

Is it actually "her car" or a car mum and dad bought for her to use? I think there's a big difference. I had the latter and I wasnt allowed to take it to uni. I was free to use it as much as i liked in the hols and my parents used it as a spare in termtime. I didn't pay any running costs though, except petrol. When i left home i didn't get to take it either as by then my younger sister was driving and it passed to her. I did moan but ... really that was fair enough.

If she has bought the car herself, it's legally hers and she bears the running costs you can't even consider it your position to "let" her especially as one motive seems to be to help yourself.

There are downsides and plus sides to having a car at uni - mostly mentioned by pp above. If she goes to Kent I think it would be a good idea to take it. I'm from that area and you really do feel like you're in the arse end of nowhere. It takes so long to get anywhere else and the public transport is awkward. Manchester a lot less suitable but she needs to decide herself.

How useful/a bind it is will depend on lots of factors. I would have thought it would be an expensive hassle in Manchester due to lack of parking, expense, traffic etc, but don't know anything about the situation in Kent.

She should check out the insurance costs before committing though, as I would expect that car insurance for a student in Manchester to be expensive.

She won't need it in Manchester. But equally, depending on where she lives (halls will be slightly more difficult) she won't need to rent a space. If she lives in one of the student areas, she can just park in the road.

Depends on whether you are funding her university expenses in any way or have funded the car. If you can't afford a car and are paying towards her education, living expenses, etc, then I think you can have a say...

Her car, her choice. I wouldn’t bother in a city uni but somewhere rural it would be amazing - I studied somewhere with fairly gruelling public transport links; by the third year we used to hire a car for weekends.

If she goes to Kent, either campus, she'll benefit. Public transport there is hugely expensive and completely rubbish (my home town!).

If she is allowed it she should take it if she wants - if she is in halls it may be in her contract that she is not allowed a car - best to check. I know that at Bath you are not allowed a car if you are in halls or living in the city centre post codes - you sign to that when you start so she does need to check for her particular circumstances. BUT it is her car and her decision

YABVU and bloody cheeky! Get a cheaper a car if you can't afford your own instead of trying dictate what DD does with hers!

It’s her car and she saved for it, so let her. Not that you can stop her, she’s a grown woman so it’s actually nothing to do with you.

If you want a car so badly, maybe you should save too!

Agree she should look up what her insurance will be for the possibilities. If she is looking at a course with external placements then yes that is a good reason for a car - but still may be complicated. I would probably encourage her to try the first term without a car and work out her best options after that.

Can you please explain how your child has a car and you don’t.

Unless she bought the car herself, the situation sounds very odd.

I also don't get how the 19 year old can afford and has a car, but her mum can't! That just seems all kinds of wrong to me. If she saved up and bought it herself, it was presumably whilst living cheaply or rent free at home, at her parents' expense.

Sorry OP but you have the cheek of 1,000 arses. Contributing to the insurance? And the rest! Wear and tear, tax, rental fee and what if it gets damaged while in your care?

Are you not helping her financially? If not then theres nothing you can do. If shes got savings to burn on a car then i wouldnt be helping her with costs.

You sound like a CF.

If she goes to Kent, she’s unlikely to get a space on campus. They also get a REALLY cheap bus pass covering the Canterbury area