Teenage driving - any advice on making it more affordable

[wonderstuff]

DD has her heart set on driving as soon as possible when she hits 17, apparently all her friends parents are buying them a car when they are 17 - this may or may not be true - but I do understand her wanting this freedom and want to support her if I can, but my goodness it looks expensive.

I was 17 in the 90s, and I think things may have changed a bit since then!

Driving lessons, when I was young I took some lessons, and my dad added me to his insurance and took me out lots to practice - is this still something that is usually done or is the insurance ridiculous?

I understand that one now needs to book the test ahead of a set of lessons as test dates are so hard to come by? I read that 44 lessons was average, this seems an awful lot - is this about right?

I've told her she must have a job to pay for running the car. She's got 10 months until her 17th, so I've got a little time to save! She will survive without a car if need be, but she's very upset at the idea it may not just land in her lap on her birthday!

Certainly not al of ds friends were bought cars but may depend on area and friendship grouo. We bought an add on for my sons to learn on my car one had a yeR which was £300 I think and DH took him out alongside lessons
other older ds now learning (20) just done an add on insurance for £120 for 3 months to take to test when hopefully pased but then insurance is sky high

@House4DS insurance has gone up massively and area you live will also play a huge factor. Friend dc been driving 2 years in a small aygo just quoted 2 k cheapest on comparison site without a boack box
my dc was nearly £1000 first year with a black box on a little 107- cheapest we could find, due again and will have to keep black box as prices without are through the roof. Although i prefer him having the black box personally.

My DD used the line that all her friends who wanted to drive would be getting cars for their 17th. I rolled my eyes and then it turned out they did. I have no idea how their parents afford it, not all are the rich set at all. I find it a bit shocking tbh, when did kids become this entitled?

DD didn't get one, she works, but in no way earns enough to fund a car. The one thing we did find is that insurance is stupid on cars that are typical young person cars, but if you go off piste, sometimes the quotes are bizarrely lower. The kids drive my car, it's a quick fairly sporty big car, 2l, fairly high bhp, albeit old. The quotes were less than a Fiesta 1l.

My son had 24 hours of lessons and passed first time in 3 months with no additional practice. But he is very chilled and calm - said he just chatted with his ex-police examiner all through the test who was asking him about university and what his sister's did etc. just got three hesitation minors.

BUT whilst his road sense was ok, he had NO IDEA how to 'drive' a small engined car and use the torque/gears - I had to spend quite a bit of time after he passed teaching him how to overtake (thought you should change up), hill starts (learner car must have had hill assist), going up steep hills, corner properly under control and accelerating out etc.

In the few weeks since he passed he has flattened the battery twice, through not switching the lights off and sitting in the car with radio/heating on and engine off. Hit a wall in Lidl through mis-judging the (little) bonnet - which is going to cost him a few hundred pounds to repair. And coped with floods, ice and heavy rain/wind.

So he's learnt a lot.

He has the Life 360 app so we can track his driving/whereabouts (it's his sister's car and insurance) - got a huge shock at Christmas when he had several speeds over 80 mph and a top speed of 120 mph until we realised it was his sister coming home from university on the train 😂

Cheaper waiting until they are in their early 20s, cheaper insurance by then. I passed when I was 21.

All my own DC have the Young Scot card so they can use public transport (bus) to get around for free. Hopefully will tide them over until they finish uni.

Son drove me around everywhere and had lessons, covid hit, then hit again he had to resit theory. Five months wait for test. He finally bought a car aged 22 £1800.

She will be making up that all her friends get cars aged 17! Our 5 children all passed their test at 17 (as did I in my day). My children were put on our small second car as the extra driver and just had to take pot luck as to when they might have the chance to drive it. All 5 of ours took their driving theory test on or just after their 17th birthday as wanted them through the whole thing before leaving for university.

One of my youngest took a car to university in y ears 2 and 3 and shared with his twin (at same university) at which point I did move the car over to him, mostly stopped driving it and got insurance for him which was more expensive but we deliberately bought a car (second hand) that was not too powerful to keep the insurance cost lower.

@Xenia she isn’t making it up, I do think that her mates parents may not be aware of how expensive it is and promises may be broken later on. One friend has been promised a scooter instead and I think that’s too dangerous myself.

@TurquoiseSeasAndSilverSand interesting about going off piste, the insurance article I read listed 107 as cheapest, but Aygo (which was my first car) as 9th on the list and much more expensive, I thought they were essentially the same car 🤷🏻‍♀️

Dd funded her own lessons and test. I put her on my car as a learner. I don't remember it being expensive. When she passed she was getting ready to leave for uni so no point in her getting a car. We put her on my insurance on a temporary basis in holidays. So couple months in summer and winter plus two weeks at Easter. It was fairly cheap to do (around £50 for a month) we did that for three years and when she did buy a car it was significantly cheaper than typical first time insurance. (I think 700 for year)

Best advice I can give on “making it affordable” is not paying it for them in the first place. Apart from anything else, paying their own way focuses their minds on passing a lot quicker than if mum/ dad are footing the bill.

@Xenia, every single one of my DD’s friends who drive have their own cars, many of them newer than mine. It’s not impossible.