Giving your kid a car...

Do you believe the theory that if you just GIVE your kid a car, they'll have it wrecked up in no time, but if THEY have to work to buy it themselves, they'll know better than to just take it out and crash it because THEY understand how much work went into getting it?

I remember this debate came up after Hulk Hogan's kid crashed his muscle car and left his friend in a permanently vegetative state, he's 17, driving his car over 100 mph on the streets, CLEARLY he has no regard for if he wrecks the car, oh gee, we all wonder why, don't we?

I'm almost 21 and the last mode of transporation I ever had GIVEN to me as a present was a 10 speed bike when I was 10. We basically have one car and nobody tries anything stupid with it. In comparison I have a neighbor whose mother has been buying him cars and vans and trucks since he was 14, and note it's plural, because every single one of them gets worn out within about 6 weeks and has to be replaced with something different.

So, would you as a parent, just GIVE your kid a car for like their 16th birthday or whatever, or would you refuse and make them work for their own?

I'm on the side of the latter. Unless we won the lottery and had been scraping all our lives to afford something nice, I wouldn't just buy my kids a vehicle.

I would get them a car when they're 16, just not a new one. If they wanted something fancier, then they'd have to work for it. I'm sure when I got my license, my parents got tired of me begging to borrow theirs. In today's world it's more convenient for the household for everyone who is a licensed driver to have a car.

Since I won't let my child get a license before he/she is 18, that takes care of having to buy them a car before then. As a graduation present, of course I would. My dad bought me my first car as a graduation gift. Nothing wrong with buying a whip for your kids. That's what parents do. But....they would have to get what I give them. If they want something else and it's more than I plan to spend, then they'll be working and footing the bill for the difference.

I may or may not buy him a car, probably would help him out with it. I would let my dad buy him one and if Dad is alive when my son is 16, I am sure that is what Dad will do.

No matter how he gets the car, he will have to work for insurance payments.

If I had just 1 kid, I might consider getting them a car @ 16....but I had twins and I'm not buying 2....and sharing is out....so that kinda lets me off the hook. Thankfully. If they want a car then they'll work to save up for one and maybe I'll help out.

Nystyle709 wrote:Since I won't let my child get a license before he/she is 18, that takes care of having to buy them a car before then.

That's actually a good idea. My brother got his license at 19 and at the rate I'm going, I'm going to be 21 when I get mine, and neither one of us has had an accident yet.

My mother has a theory that the reason so many young drivers DO get into accidents is because they take driver's ed at school, which is only 6 weeks, and people think after that they know enough to turn loose on the road. I've been practicing driving since I was 17 and I still don't know it all yet, and I can admit that, I'm not in any hurry to get out on the highway and crash.