How much did it cost you to get your 17 year old on the road, and how did you afford it?

[Howsaboutthat]

My eldest turns 17 this year, and is very keen to get out on the road. I've told her she'd better start saving now as I don't have the £4,000 required to get her on the road.

Breakdown of costs:
£2,000 Insurance for Vauxhall corsa, Nissan Micra type car (who insures their 17 year old nowadays?!)
£400 Driving lessons (20 x £20 1 hour lessons)
£100 for driving test and theory test
£250 Road Tax (dependent on car)
£50 MOT
£400 Provision for tyres/work if cheap car
£800 for an old banger (that I'm not too happy about my child being in but costs must)

AIBU to wonder how people do this? Should I have been saving for this day since she was born?

Pretty standard for friends and I, was a block of lessons for birthday! (Nobody needs 40 if they get practice with family!!) And then added to family car insurance. Mine was a focus - 2000 as a named driver. Most shared with parents - tough to wanting their own car.

When we graduated and got jobs = own car! And as insured/driving for a few year my insurance was 400 on another focus at 22!

He can start doing that when he's a few years older and the insurance is more reasonable. I will get the policies out and speak to the broker because I thought he was building up some ncd. I know DH did some calculations about the cheapest way to keep him legally insured between now and about 25 at which point he would have built up some ncd but I'm not sure of the ins and outs. DH is usually quite on the ball about this sort of thing.

Some insurance companies do allow named drivers to accrue NCB. Churchill is one of them, and I'm sure many others do too. It's just a case of checking.

DS has me as a named driver on his fully comp policy because it was cheaper that way.

I would recommend that any parent do all they can to help their teenage child get their driver's license. Even if they can't have a car, it's good for them to have a license.

I am shocked by the number of people (women, mostly) over here who cannot drive. I have seen numerous threads here on MN wherein a woman is in a difficult situation because she cannot drive.

In the UK, I think about 18 million men drive, but only 15 million women. In the US, a much higher proportion of the population drives and women drivers slightly outnumber the men.

It's easier to get the license in America. Although each state has their own test, it's just a given that any sane, sober adult of at least normal intelligence should be able to drive. You can start at 16 (15 in some states for learner's permits) and it's very common for high schools to over driver's ed as a class. The tests are generally much easier (none of that using a mirror to track your eyes). Not being able to drive is something that really would put someone at a disadvantage, although you can certainly get by without driving in many major cities.

I think it should be easier to drive in this country, but at the very least, I think parents should see a drivers license as an essential part of education and should do everything possible to make it happen.

Please reconsider getting her through a test so quickly (20 hours). In my experience of young drivers they need to experience all weather types before they pass. My DD learned to drive in the summer and had NO idea when it came to winter driving, I wish she'd taken longer to pass her test to be honest. Lots of youngsters think they are invincible when they first pass their tests and I think the more experience they can get with someone else by their side the better. I wish someone had advised us against allowing DD to fly through her lessons I think it would've stood her in good stead to wait a bit and had more practise hours.

My eldest bought herself a £650 car after learning for a couple of months insured it herself with me on it in region of £75 a month she was working from 14 years old and knew she'd have to do it herself youngest now 17 not working not driving simple. We paid for a block of 10 lessons she paid the rest.

She also drove to college 18 miles away each day that gave her driving experience and took her time learning in all weathers.

Its not always possible to get practice outside of lessons. To add me to my partners insurance is prohibtively expensive, so I can only get my 2 hours lessons a week to practice driving. It does make it much harder and takes much longer :(

Most people do a block of lesson for a birthday present. However many they can afford. And then topped up at Christmas. Don't most just go on the family car insurance rather than have their own car. I don't know any 17 year olds with their own car. Or sometimes grandparents pass on their old car if they are lucky.

Some training companies which offer apprenticeships are offering driving theory and a number of lessons as an incentive to sign up with them. might be worth looking into this for thw summer hols althou not sure how long you have to be with them etc to get the lessons, might be worth a phone call.

Worth bearing in mind that Ncb accrued by named drivers is often not recognised by other insurers, as they look at the policyholder only, so you may be stuck with your provider to use the Ncb he's accrued.
The best thing to do would be to make him the policyholder, and transfer ownership of the vehicle into his name if at all possible.

Hi I have a 15 year old dd, she will get lessons for her 17th birthday. As I had then I was lucky enough to be given my grandads old car-she was gorgeous :) I have priced up and saved £4500 for my dd to get a car if she wants it though she has no idea about this at all. I realise I am lucky to be able to do this, if she doesn't want to learn then that's fine but the offer is there. She's a a student, never any trouble and I know she will appreciate it very much.

We bought DD a block of 10 lessons (£230) and she bought her own car for £750 out of savings (she's had a part-time job since she was 15). She insured it herself on a provisional licence with a box fitted + breakdown recovery for about £100 a month (paid for from job). I was her passenger on all her driving practice outside lessons, right through the winter, as she learned to drive in rain, snow, ice, fog, dark, low sunlight, and then into the summer, when she finally passed her test. Insurance this year has come down to £55 a month - her policy with me as named driver (not my policy with her as named driver).

We are not well-served by public transport round here, and she drives herself to school (upper sixth at a state school) and work and anywhere else she fancies! I help with the school petrol and servicing, but she pays for her social driving. She has very few friends who don't drive - it's a rite of passage and a necessity when you live in a rural area - and a lot of them own their own cars.

Well, what they seem to be doing locally, and clearly have more money than sense, is buying the 17yo a new car which comes with 3 years free insurance from the dealer.

As I say, more money than sense.

It's totally normal where we are for the parents to pay for a car, ins, tax, MOT, petrol etc, and I only know one of DS's friends who doesn't have his own wheels by now (18).

The other thing to bear in mind is that when they go to Uni you have the problem which I currently have of paying for a year's insurance up front (because the interest rate is a laughable 55% if you don't), then it's sitting on the drive for two thirds of the year.

On balance I've decided to do that even tho' DS goes to Uni in 5 months because that second year's no claims bonus will bring the premium down significantly.

Well, what they seem to be doing locally, and clearly have more money than sense, is buying the 17yo a new car which comes with 3 years free insurance from the dealer

DS was in the position to be able to buy himself a new car when he was 19 but no dealer would give him free insurance until he was at least 21.

I bought myself a brand new car when i passed my test, i couldnt get the free insurance because i hadnt had my licence long enough

Don't bank on one test. My DD took 7 goes to pass hers! We bought her a car which now languishes on the drive as she is at uni in a city and doesn't need it. DD2 will get use out of it when she turns 17 in 18 months!

I am in a minority I think but bought both of my sons a £600ish car for their 17th birthdays. Both 1 litre engines so insurance was around£1500pa. Money for lessons came from other relatives birthday presents and lots of practice with me after they'd had a few professional lessons. DS1 had about 15 proper lessons and DS2 less than 10. Both passed first time. They paid there own tax and petrol from their pt jobs. The way I saw it was I was paying for bus fares to get to college/ sixth form anyway and using my own time/ petrol ferrying them to sports clubs/ social lives so it was worth it.

My parents did not pay for me. I wanted to learn so had to do everything myself. I paid for my own car too.

Offer to help, perhaps, but you'd be foolish to pay for everything as it is so expensive IMHO. Have you also considered who will be filling the car with petrol?

Katy but we don't live in America. Very few teenagers actually need to drive, it can be a massive waste of money in a lot of cases

I plan to pay for my kids to pass their tests but after that they're on their own re car expenses. If they go to college they shouldn't need a car anyway, I passed my test at 18 but didn't buy a car until I was 23 and could afford it and need it, insurance was cheaper by then as well.

Having driving 17 year olds made my life easier. We live in a rural area with no public transport. Just getting them to college was an absolute nightmare before the kids could drive. we helped ours through the test and ran an older car that they could use when they needed to to keep costs down, they chipped in what they could afford towards the costs.