What type of car should my 16 year old have?

Hello, my name is Ron Blue, and this is a question that I have gotten over the years, and have had to answer for myself also. “What type of car should my 16 year old have?” I think it’s pretty important that you predetermine that before the child turns 16. You and your wife, or you and your husband, need to answer the question “What is it that we are going to do with our kids when they turn 16 relative to a car?”

Judy and I, we bought our first child a very used car when she turned 16. But here was the primary point: I think in today’s society that transportation is critical. A mom spends an awful lot of time driving back and forth between carpool and kids’ activities, and all of the things that go on in life. We told each of our children, and we had predetermined this, that the car is for our convenience, not yours. In other words, it was our car – we weren’t giving them a car, we were allowing them to have the use of a car that belonged to us, but it was for our convenience. We never really had any pushback on that one at all. Our children, as they reached the age of 16, had seen the example of the oldest, so there was not really even an expectation, necessarily, of a brand new BMW or whatever it may be.

I think one of the greatest challenges that we have as a parent is what other parents do with their 16 year olds, in terms of giving them a car, and buying the car. I personally have a pretty strong feeling that if you are going to buy a car for a child, it should not be one that they have to live up to. There should be a standard that you have set. You know, you give your 16-year-old son a high-powered car, and he’s got something he has to live up to. That’s a dangerous thing. So I have personal convictions on this, and you may not agree with them. But I would say this: develop your own convictions before that first child turns 16. I think, especially for boys, that earning money to help buy a car over time gives them a goal to work towards, and it is a really, really positive experience in their life to have to pay for part of the car. I think that children also could and should be a part of the process of buying a car, so that they can learn your thinking process – good thinking processes, rational thinking processes – and avoid the pitfall of doing what your neighbor does.

Click here for the June 12, 2009 Blog Entry