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Buying Car for Your Kids: Things to Consider

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

As soon as your kid turns 16 (earlier in few states), they want to drive in their own car. If you can afford another car, try considering following things before you take a dip and get them a new car.

What can you afford? You are the only person who will have this answer. If you have planned well and have saved enough for your retirement, college, emergency funds, then ye, go ahead an buy a car. However, if this is not true then skip the car. Keeping your priorities straight ultimately will set the best example for your children.

Should you wait? You might want to give your new driver a few months or more to build up driving skills before deciding whether to hand over a car. That means putting your own vehicle at more risk, of course, but you’ll have a better sense of his abilities and how responsible he would be with his own wheels.

Involve your child in the process. Taking your child to a couple of dealerships and letting her talk to the salespeople can provide lessons in comparison shopping, haggling and sales techniques. Discussing loans and finance arrangements can help them learn to evaluate lending costs. Even if all you teach them is that it’s better to pay a loan off quickly, rather than make smaller payments over a longer period, they will be way ahead of most of her peers in money management

Let them share the cost of ownership: There will be many, besides the cost of the car: insurance, gas, maintenance, repairs, perhaps a speeding ticket or two. Figure out in advance which costs your child should cover, and make those expectations clear in advance.

(If you decide to co-sign a loan, write the checks yourself and get reimbursed by your child. One late payment can lead to repossession and wreak havoc on your credit rating.)

Zero Tolerance can Save Life: A zero-tolerance policy for alcohol and drugs should be a given. As bad as teenage drivers are, they’re even worse in altered states. But you should also decide upon and discuss the consequences for other common car-related breaches, such as staying out too late, getting tickets and carrying passengers if it’s a violation of your state’s graduated licensing requirements.

Enroll them in a defensive driving course: Standard high-school driver education classes typically focus on the basics of operating a car, and may fall far short of what a young driver really needs. Toyota offers several courses in various cities. Check their website to find the nearest location. There are many driving schools that offer defensive driving classes geared specifically toward new drivers. This is where teens can learn how ABS works, understand the abilities of their car and most importantly learn how to best avoid the accident.

Think about safety. Those big old junkers may be cheap to insure, but they probably lack some basic safety features that could keep your child alive in the greater-than-average chance he’ll be involved in a crash. Anti-lock-brake systems can help an inexperienced driver avoid an out-of-control skid, and air bags can turn a potentially fatal accident into a survivable one.

Consumer Reports advises against buying larger trucks or full-size SUVs for inexperienced drivers because of the higher rollover risk. Also inappropriate: sports cars and any vehicle that can zoom from zero to 60 mph in less than eight seconds. (See “Some new cars are too hot to handle.”)

To compile the following list of good cars for teens, Consumer Reports reviewed its own test results as well as government crash tests and picked cars that did well on its 2007 reliability survey. Its winners include:

Make and model Make and model