Car for 17th birthday. Is this the norm?

[folly115]

It seems to be the norm around here to have a car for your 17th birthday. A couple of my friends have done this for their DC's and all except one of my DD's friends have a car ready and waiting for when they pass their test. It isn't just the car it is the insurance and costs that go with it.

A few of her friends seem to get the car bought by their dad (mum and dad are divorced) a couple by their grandparents as their parents can't afford it and they don't want them to be the only one without a car and a few the parents buy.

We can't afford this. She is going to have to save and maybe we can help her out. AIBU to put our foot down and say this isn't happening??

Only two of DC1's friends got cars as a present at 17. One of DC2's friends had a car for his 18th.
Mine have some money we'd saved since they were babies they could use for car and insurance but neither of them have bought a car yet. DC1 has failed several driving tests, DC2 is still learning.

Nope. Both me and my brother bought our own cars, saved up for ages. Only one person I know had a car bought for them and 10 years later it is still sat on her parents driveway as it hasn’t been touched, she couldn’t pass her theory, tried like 6 times.

DD has generous grandparents to paid into a funds account since birth and the money was always intended for driving lessons and towards a car.

My parents did the same with my three nieces.

I think we would pay towards the lessons but not a car otherwise. DD is not able to do a Saturday job so saving pocket money wouldn't go very far and doesn't get monetary gifts for Christmas and birthdays.

Not for their 17th, but we do buy our children a car when they’ve passed their test. We pay for driving lessons too. No idea if it’s the norm but it’s what we have chosen to do.

It's an interesting issue. I was 23 when I got my first car and it was my mum's old one and only because I was moving a distance away. When I was 17 I lived in a bustling town with good public transport and I could easily get to uni etc. We now live semi rurally in a place with pretty poor public transport. DS is only 5 but I can envision this debate when he turns 17/18 depending on what he goes on to do after finishing school.

A car is the one thing that all kids will work for, if you live out of town it gives them independance and saves you a lot of hassle, it’s a key to independance because their first job is going to be the crap hours that nobody else wants, most parents help out if they can afford it.

Not in my family, no. I had to save up the very small amount I get from PIP payments per month for my truck which was ridiculously cheap and still driving it around several years later. No help from family and they watched me struggle with affording driving lessons and insurance because I live in the absolute middle of nowhere and driving is a necessity.

Not the norm around here

We did lessons for 17th and car for 18th but a lot of DDs friends had cars at 17.

Certainly not the norm round here.
Saying that I was bought an absolute banger for my 17th, my dad had bought it for £40 for parts, but it was too good to pull apart. This was 20 years ago though and was an E plate Fiat Panda.

You live in a rich area OP or mix with rich people. It has never been the norm but yeah when I was a child the rich kids got cars for their 17th.

Just depends who you know. I don’t believe everyone in your area is doing it, I think you just mix with the rich people.

I live in a rural area, which is not affluent, but many parents have helped their children with first cars.
We bought both of ours old, but well maintained, first cars, costing less than £1k, but only after they had secured jobs that would cover running costs.
I had saved money they were given for birthdays and Christmas when they were younger and this was enough to cover the first year’s insurance.
We gave them additional practise lessons in their own cars which meant they didn’t need so many lessons and passed their tests more quickly.
They couldn’t get to college by public transport without waiting around for hours so that helped them and us, as we were no longer tied to regular lifts.
They were both able to obtain higher paid part time work as they were able to drive themselves jobs with anti social hours.
We felt this was a worthwhile expense, and something we could afford - unlike helping them into the property ladder.

DS had driving lessons at 17, passed his test and hasn't driven since. He's not bothered at all. We eventually insured him on dh's car but even then he's not driven it. He's at uni so doesn't have the need for one and just relies on friends of dad's taxi. His friends who stayed at home and work have bought and insured their own cars.

Ffs. It's not the norm here.

Here is the norm for 16. But lots of parents will match whatever the kids saves towards a car rather than buying one outright.

We've bought DSS a car for his 18th birthday.

DH is taking him out practicising in it so it will cut the cost of driving lessons dramatically. The lessons are £60 per double lesson.

Not the best time to buy a car as the cost has really increased. The group 1 insurance cars seem to be really holding their value and even 8/9 year old cars are £££.

In the end we upped our budget and bought him a newer car with 11k miles but hopefully won't cost too much to maintain.

It definitely seems to be a thing round here that kids get bought a car.

Ohh yes, prices have gone right up that's definitely something to think about. The truck I purchased in 2016 cost me £800. It has a value of over 10k now. Absolutely crazy

Don't be ridiculous.

Not round here. But we are in London and as public transport is so easy not many bother learning to drive for a few years. Neither of my DC (21 and 19) have bothered. DDs friends from the countryside at uni have though I think most saved for it themselves.

Not the norm here. Ds1 (27) doesn’t drive. Ds2 (25) has just started driving lessons which he’s paying for himself and ds3 (almost 16) would like lessons for his 17th birthday. It makes sense for them to drive though as I have a small car that I mostly use to drop them places or pick them up. Ds2 will have almost sole use of it once he can drive as long as he contributes to the insurance.

No car here driving lessons, only and we live rurally. He has acess to my car and pays for his own insurance with marmalade as 19 yr old student. Friends who have cars bought their own and are generally working or on apprenticeships

It's the norm around here. Out of my sons friend group I'm the only single parent so that will be fun saving for that, but I will.

Nope. Aged 17 I wasn’t interested in driving, lived in a city with very good public transport so there was no need. Likewise I only had 2 friends who drove at that age. So no driving lessons, no car. I learned to drive in my 30s & my dad gifted me a car for my 40th, when I actually wanted one but couldn’t afford it due to covid pay cuts.

Do you. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it.

I don’t think this is the case at all.

I think it has more to do with area. We are not rich, my friends are not rich. Much lower than average mumsnet household incomes. But we have all helped our kids out with cars. We live in a semi rural area. Public transport is terrible. So we help our DC out with a cheap first car as it makes such a difference around here. We would prioritise it over other things.

I live next door to a minor private school and know quite a few of the parents and pupils. I would say many of them are bought cars or given the keys to a handed down car from a grandparent or something like that. Being relatively rural accounts for the eagerness to get on the road.

I can’t really see the point of having your own car at 17 if you’re going off to university. I can see the attraction of it while learning to drive though, as round here the only way to grab a test slot seems to be to be able to have total flexibility to book any test slot that comes up using your own car. I guess if people can afford it at the moment, taking into account the inflated prices of second hand cars these days, the hike in fuel costs, the eye watering insurance etc, then fine. It’s not something I could manage.

I was really shocked the other day when I saw one lad turning 17 on a friend’s FB. He was sitting at the wheel of his £38k new Audi with a ribbon around it. To me that is bonkers but I guess that’s envy on my part as at 55 years of age I’ve yet to own a car worth a fraction of that! That’s not the norm of course, and outside that kind of circle I don’t think car ownership at 17 is that usual.