Posted on 02/27/2009 7:55:22 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
Driving is the ultimate mixed blessing.
Cars permit us to zip around most American cities in a way no public transit system ever could. We rely on them to go to work. To do our shopping. To see friends.
But owning a car is also expensive. For most of us, a decent chunk of the money we earn goes to pay for our wheels. Once we start driving, we begin to lock ourselves into a more expensive lifestyle that requires us to earn more money.
These same forces are at play when our kids start driving. It's a big step toward making them into full-fledged adults early -- for better and for worse.
Two of my three children have hit the driving age with very different outcomes. Now, my youngest child is 17, and he's eager to grab the wheel.
Even so, it won't be cheap for us. I talked to James Bell, editor of IntelliChoice.com, a Web site that specializes in the cost of car ownership. If you buy your teenager a car, something I've never done, Mr. Bell puts the cost of car ownership at roughly $500 a month, plus insurance. And that's for a used car.
Even if your kid drives only your car, Mr. Bell calculates it will cost about $200 a month in extra maintenance (kids are often hard on cars) and fuel. Insurance, again, is on top of that.
The expense of Brendon's driving will be paid by us in the beginning. But eventually, it will be all on him. So if he wants the benefits of driving, he's going to have to bear the costs.
Call it a mixed blessing.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
My daughter is 17. She hints once in awhile at wanting to learn to drive. But she's not ready. Or maybe its me who's not ready to teach her.
This is why we have dogs, not kids.
I think my dog is smart enough to drive, just cannot reach the pedals.
Thats why we have four....(chuckle)
I advocate lowering the drinking age to 15, and raising the driving age to 25. Let kids learn to drink before they learn to drive.
....Bob
My son didn’t have any desire to drive till he was 19. Which was fine by me.
Our son has 4 children and only one is gone from home. I'm glad ours are grown.
vaudine
Wow. This “takes me back”.
From the time my father taught me to drive his old 1969 “3 on the tree” Chevy Pickup when I was 11 years old, I wanted NOTHING more than I wanted a license and my own vehicle.
I got a job at age 13, bought my first Jeep (a very ROUGH 1952 CJ-3A) when I was 14, and then sold it less than a year later (at a profit i might add) to get a “better” one, a 1957 CJ-5. My Dad and I did a frame-off, “on-the-cheap”, restoration of that old thing and had it ready when I got my license at age 16. I even got a “roll bar” for Christmas that year.
I ALWAYS paid my own insurance, and MOST of the repair costs (although Dad put A LOT of hours into that Jeep, as did I) so I have very little sympathy for teeanagers who think Mom and/or Dad should GIVE them their first car.
A roll bar for Christmas???
lol
YOU should start a thread.” What DID you get for Christmas? What was your favorite gift?”
She would sit in my lap and put her front paws on the steering wheel and look out the windshield.
I even let her have the wheel a few times, going slow on a gravel road. Surprisingly she did quite well in staying on the road because of the way she spaced her paws at the bottom of the wheel.
I taught two kids how to drive - my Son and my Duaghter.
My Daughter scared me the most.
I bought my own car when I was 15. Payed for it myself, bought my own insurance, payed for all the customizing, bought my own tires, etc, etc. My father also put in a lot of hours and other than Christmas gifts he didn’t put in a dime. I’m glad he did that. It made me appreciate it more and taught me how to take care of it. I also payed my own tickets, which, luckly, weren’t many.
I wish they were asking for Keyes!
I wish I could say the same... I mean about the "weren't many" part!
;^)
Yes. And the following birthday I got a new “soft” top for it!
Bet you wish you still had that ol’ Jeep, huh?
Well.............In the old days, tickets could be fixed if you knew the right people. We had three motorcycle cops living on our street in Los Angeles. Of course they were a different breed than today and kids were a lot different in the 50’s. I probably should have had more than I payed for. But cops took care of the kids back then. Even sponsored drag races. If you got in trouble, they would take you home....not to jail. Different world.
Insurance will kill you. I have a 17 year old female driver, with full license (been driving since she was 15). I have 3 cars. The 2 for the parents are fully insured, while the 14 year old Honda she drives only carries liability. Her insurance is more than the insurance on the other 2 cars combined! Glad she’s my last one...
Now that you mention it, and not at all related to this thread, to this day, my ALL TIME favorite Christmas gift is the Glenfield Model 25, bolt action .22 rifle, w/removable 7 round magazine, which I received the Christmas I was 12 years old.
It was my first “real” gun. I wish I could say I still have it (but I CAN’T say that, or the gov’t might come looking for it in a few months when HR 45, and/or something worse, gets signed into law).
Every day of my life!
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