Bought My Daughter A Car

[andrew]

We bought my 16 year-old daugher a car on Sunday and are picking it up tonight.   I established some goals for her grades and she met them, along with saving some money from her part-time job.  I'm paying for most of it, but it's good that she has some skin in the game.  She's getting a 2005 Toyota Corolla with 59K miles.

It's pretty scary seeing her drive away from the house with our cars.  Now, she'll have even more mobility with her own vehicle.  In Connecticut, new drivers have an 11:00 curfew for the 1st year, along with a requirement that no passengers other then direct family members be present while they're driving, for the first year.  I like these new laws....

Anyway, we're pretty nervous about her having her own car, but don't want to be too protective. There will be lots of rules surrounding it's use.  Like, if the grades slip, the car is parked ...

Tell us about your experiences / options, guys, regarding 16 year-olds getting their own car.  I'm still on the fence as to whether we made the right decision ....

Andrew

[buddha]

Nobody in here knows your daughter, at least not as well as you do. On some level you know if you made the right choice or not. If you know her to be a responsible and reliable person who follows the rules then I think you can relax. I think the laws you referred to are going to be a big help but if she does break the rules, your's or the state's, you really have to take a no-negotiation stand. The car has got to be parked and the keys locked up and it's back to the bus.
But I have absolutely no experience with this, personally. I was divorced and the ex and kids moved to Florida before the kids reached driving age. My ex was very permissive but the other side of the story is that I never heard any horror stories about fiery wrecks or DUIs once the kids started driving.
Maybe look into some type of advanced driving skills class for her. I had to do these when I was a cop. They are real eye openers as to the different types of traffic problems people can encounter. Half the battle is when something unexpected occurs and the driver can say "I've seen this before" and they know how to handle themselves where others might not. You could even take the class with her. I, personally, don't think that a driver can have too many skills or too much training.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

Sounds like a reasonable plan to me Andrew.  I think the laws are pretty sound, h/o what happens if she violates the law--do they haul them into the slammer, don't think I'd like that.
We didn't buy a car for the oldest until she graduated from college, she went to a high school nearby with no parking available and her school UVA had limited parking available too.  So it wasn't an essential.  We bought the younger one a car when she decided to go to a high school across the City on the campus of the local university, UNO.  She went to UT-Austin, a much larger place where a car was part of the equation.  She was pretty responsible, then.  Problems didn't come until she was in law school in Baton Rouge, but she was over 21 then so she had to handle those issues on her own--and she has. 
Never easy turning our little princesses out into the world--you'll survive, she'll do fine.

[Mikekoz13]

I remember when my son was first driving and while I was in the car with him to get his driving hours before getting his license..... he turned down the wrong side of a divided access road into a Mall. I thought "Holy sh*t... this kid should never have a license."


We also bought him a car with similar restrictions. I took him to get his license the day before Thanksgiving that year. Here in Pa. they take the kids out into town in Gettysburg for their driving test...... and as I said, it was the day before Thanksgiving. Traffic was a nightmare. The cop and my son drove off in the car and I thoought,"No way he passes this".

He came back, parallel parked with no problem, and got out with a big smile on his face. He drove me home and said, "See you leter Dad". I remember standing at the end of my driveway as his car disappeared around the turn, thinking to myself, "Saint Christopher please watch over my boy".

That was almost 9 years ago............

You've made good decisions Andrew.....she'll be fine.

[andrew]

Thanks guys ....

We're leaving to pick up the car in 1/2 hour.  My daughter is very excited, as you can imagine.  Tomorrow she drives to school in her new car.  I remember when I got my first car, around her age.  It was such a feeling of independance.   She's going to have much less freedom than I had, but don't tell her that. 

Andrew

[tomgallagher]

Hey Andrew, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

[TheSlyKang]

Got my 18 yr old daughter a 2000 Mustang (V-6) for Christmas a few months before her 16th birthday. That way she got used to the feel of driving the car while we were still riding with her. That was 3 yrs ago and she seems to have been very responsible with her driving. But now I know what my parents went through when I turned 16.

[SlyHigh]

I got my first car, a 1986 Honda Accord, when I was 14.  Let me explain before we get all in a fuss about getting a car at 14.  It was my cousin's car, and my uncle sold it to us really, really cheap.  So my dad jumped on the deal, even though we had over a year before I could drive by myself.  So the car basically sat parked most of the time.  Sometimes my mom would drive it, and when I would drive with her (I had my learner's permit) I would prefer to take it.

When I turned 16 my birthday present was a cell phone.  One of those huge bag phones with 70 minutes a month of free calls (as long I was in the city limits).

I didn't really have any rules because I was a good student with no social life.  My parents never gave me a curfew because I never went out.  I was a good driver, too.

It was nice having a car because I went to school in another town and had a job, did a lot of church activities, and was in the band in school.

I like to tell people that my 4 month old will be getting my current car when she turns 16.  It'll be 17 years old.  I can hear it now "ewww, Dad, that car is old and ugly!"