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Does a teenager really need a car?

I've had a car since the day I had one stable job for 6 months. I was only a host at a restaurant, but still held the job for 6 months before my parents would allow me to get a car. I was almost 17 when I got my first car. In addition, I had to pay for everything on my own. The car, maintenance, insurance and gas. You name it, I paid for it.

Because I lived in a small community, there was no public transportation nearby, but at the same time the community was spread out and my job was 6+ miles away so walking or riding my bike was out of the question. Especially when I didn't get off till 11PM.

Get a job to add to your responsibility level. Unfortunately, I am not the norm. There are very few responsible teenagers, and if you are one prove it by getting a stable job, continuing to be a safe driver and doing well in school. Takes time, but it pays off.

BTW - Your insurance cost for being a 16 year old driver on your own car will be substantial. I paid 4,000 a year for my first 2 years, my younger sister is currently paying 3,100 a year. Stupid teenagers really screw over those that are good drivers.
 
jknight8907 said:
That in rural areas, and likely the area where your rural TX home is, the necessity of having a car is so great that while in strict definition it is a privilege or convenience item, doing without would be so difficult that it's not really an option.
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dukebound85 said:
Except our society is built around car transportation.

Sure one could walk everywhere but when there aren't bakers on every block and whatnot that are built with walking populace in mind, it isn't feasible to live in vast spread out areas and no car.

Even my post doc colleagues from Europe say they now realize how a car is a necessity here in the us than back home in Europe.
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necessity is air, food and water. i've got a friend that bikes 30+ miles to work on most days. i have a car, many in fact, however, if i was poor (and i've been there before), i'd be hoofing it any way i could to make it. if the op can buy his own car and maintain it, then go ahead, but to expect your folks to foot all or even part of the bill claiming it's a necessity is ridiculous.
 
I didn't even have a driver's license until I was 18 and out of high school. I saved enough money, bought an old beater of a used car, got my license, and insured it all in one day. I had taken the day off work and I was going to make it count.

It certainly would have been nice to be able to drive before that, but it wasn't the least bit necessary. It would also have cost my parents a fortune to insure me if I had a license.
 
Both of my kids were given used cars (in one case, an old car that I was replacing) around age 17. We were very careful about where and when we let them drive and insisted on them contacting us whenever they started out and reached their destination. They could have gotten along without cars, though travel to and from high school would have been difficult because of the distance and logistics.

As a parent, there's always a conflict between wanting to be in the car with them on every journey vs. letting them gain experience driving on their own.

I had a car at my occasional disposal when I was 16, but didn't get my first new car until I was in my early 20s.
 
Anyone of any age can 'need' a car. A 5 year old could need a car as much as a 50 year old (obviously they can't get one) and all countries have a relatively arbitrary age when you are allowed to start driving.

I live in the UK and I got the use of a car at 17 (I'm 19 now) when I passed my driving test due to being very lucky that my parents bought one for my sisters and me to share (they're 7 and 5 years older than me).

So really what I'm trying to say is, if you feel a car would make your life easier, and you can justify and afford however much you would spend on one (plus insurance, petrol, maintenance etc.) then go for it!

I have to say though that I'm surprised if a 16 year old could afford their own car (good on you if you can though!), although I suppose it is probably a lot more expensive here in the UK. I don't know a single person younger than 20 who has a car whose parents didn't pay for it, or at least the insurance.
 
macquariumguy said:
16 is a great age for a first car, but you should be buying it with your own money.
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How many 16-year-olds have enough money of their own to buy a reasonably-safe car? They may be able to afford an old beater from the corner lot, but it may not have some of the safety-related amenities of newer models, such as more air bags or ESC. So, while I think that it's OK to expect them to contribute, it's too much to expect them to foot the entire bill.

When I was a lot younger, I used to ride in a friend's car that had been purchased for no more than a couple hundred dollars. It had holes in the floorboards and shook above 35 MPH, and I'm amazed that we survived it.
 
No, a 16-year old doesn't need a car. Since it appears your mother is a single parent and works full time, am sure she has enough expenses to deal with without the burden of the cost of a second vehicle and the enormous jump in insurance premiums - not to mention the cost of operating the car (oil, gas, maintenance, tires, etc.)

Statistics are not on the side of teen drivers. One out of five of every 16-year old drivers will be in a vehicle crash. So no, I don't think a 16-year-old should have their own car.

Heck, in my state we have graduated license requirements for teen drivers. You wouldn't be allowed to operate a vehicle after 10 p.m., unless accompanied by a parent or licensed driver over 21 years old designated to be in the vehicle by a parent (or guardian). Nor would you be allowed to have more than one passenger under 21 in any vehicle you were operating, unless the passengers are immediate family members.

I guess you could save your money and buy your own car, and pay for your own car insurance and operating costs. A better investment would be to use that money for your higher education.

For what it's worth, I live in a rural area and my daughter didn't get her own (used) car until her sophomore year in college. We did just fine with one vehicle.
 
yg17 said:
That's why I wouldn't buy my 16 year old child a car (if I had kids). Although you might like to think you are, no 16 year old is a safe driver. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's true. You've been driving for less than a year, you still have lots to learn behind the wheel, and yes, odds are good that you'll get into an accident at some point in your young driving career - that's why insurance rates for teens are sky high. Why buy something that's got a pretty good chance of being smashed and totaled?y
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Well of course I'll have an accident. Everybody does, I do the best I can.

However, I've been driving longer than a year. I've done karts (which of course is not the same as driving out on the road but is still a good way to learn how to handle) for a long time, and I've been on the road since I was 15 (via permit, which is how I drove before I got my license).
 
I think it really depends on the individual and where they live. I don't think it is fair to say that a kid doesn't deserve a car unless they can afford it when they are stuck in a more rural area where you have to travel several miles to get to any type of work.

Safety wise, I really don't think 16 year olds should be driving on their own at all to be perfectly honest. 18 years old, yes...16 years old, no. I just don't think that MOST kids that age are really responsible enough to handle a vehicle and I don't think they understand just how much power they're wielding when they're out on the road. I get this image of a 105 lb. 16 yr. old girl behind the wheel cranking her music and looking down to check her phone every 30 seconds...not a comforting visual. But of course, that isn't EVERY 16 year old, and regardless of age, phones are now a dangerous distraction to everyone.

In short, I think every situation is unique when it comes to this and it needs to be treated as such. But if you've gotten your license, you've driven with your permit, you've shown that you're a safe and responsible driver, and you're paying for your own vehicle or you've at least shown that you're willing to work on getting your own vehicle, I think you should be allowed to get a vehicle.
 
chrf097 said:
Well of course I'll have an accident. Everybody does, I do the best I can.

However, I've been driving longer than a year. I've done karts (which of course is not the same as driving out on the road but is still a good way to learn how to handle) for a long time, and I've been on the road since I was 15 (via permit, which is how I drove before I got my license).
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Like I said, get a job and prove your responsibility. Driving for a little over a year with permit and getting your license is nothing. I started driving when I was 9. My family had an SUV and they would take me on empty lots that my distant family owned when I would travel to Colorado. No matter how much practice you get before you have your license, it doesn't really make a difference. Once you get on the road and worrying about other stupid and horrible drivers is when you see if you really are a good and responsible driver.

As I was always taught, you may be the best driver in the road, but if you are not watching the road and all your surroundings, you might as well be driving distracted.
 
I got my first car on my 16th birthday. I had some of the money for it, and family kicked in the rest, and I was on my dad's insurance plan. The reality was that I needed a way to get to and from school (no busses, no public transportation where we lived), and to and from the job that I got afterwards. My schedule was different from my parents' schedules, so they couldn't reliably take me to and from either. It made more sense for me to have a car. We had moved that year...I had previously carpooled with another student.

I had driven plenty of times since I was ten years old when we visited the family farm, so I wasn't new to the wheel (I know it's different from driving in traffic).
 
Roller said:
How many 16-year-olds have enough money of their own to buy a reasonably-safe car?
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I guess it hinges on your definition of reasonably-safe. I'm not hung up on airbags and ESC and the like. Knowing how to drive properly is the best safety feature.

A kid who is motivated to have a car can easily have enough money saved to buy a beater when s/he's 16. I'm okay with parents helping a bit on insurance and incidentals, but the bulk of the outlay should be on the owner of the car.
 
I think that in most cases teens can get where they need to be without having their own car. Sometimes that will mean borrowing the family car. Sometimes they can get rides from friends who have wheels, whether their own or a parental vehicle. But I also think it's best for 16-17 year olds to be driving when there is an experienced driver (older than say, 30 or so) in the car with them.
 
It's not a question of what you need, it's a question of your personal priorities and what you can afford.

I don't need a smartphone, but I pay to have one because it's a luxury I can afford and I find it very useful. Plus I'm a geek, I like technology, and I am happy spending money on it.

In the same way, most people - unless they have a job which requires it, which most don't - do not need a car. But if you enjoy driving and it would make your life easier, and you have the money to buy and maintain the car, then you should get one if it's something important to you personally.

Personally I too love driving and would love a car, but I simply cannot afford one, nor do I think I'd get enough use out of one at this point in my life to justify the cost. But if I won the lottery or got a good job or something I'd probably get one anyway because I'm passionate about them and I'd be able to afford it.

My basic point is, use your own judgement. What you need isn't the question you should be asking, because most of the stuff we have aren't things we strictly need anyway. You should ask how much it means to you and if you can afford the luxury.
 
0dev said:
In the same way, most people - unless they have a job which requires it, which most don't - do not need a car.
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Well, you could use a car to get to work, and most people do, even if they don't have to use their car during the work day as I do. Public transportation is only an option in larger cities, and if you add convenience of the routes from home to work, that cuts it way down to the largest cities.
 
Gregg2 said:
Well, you could use a car to get to work, and most people do, even if they don't have to use their car during the work day as I do. Public transportation is only an option in larger cities, and if you add convenience of the routes from home to work, that cuts it way down to the largest cities.
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Getting to work on a bus or a train is easy and cheap even outside of cities in most cases. Obviously there's more public transport in cities but it's not like there's no such thing as busess and trains in more rural areas. I live outside a city and can easily get around in public transport
 
0dev said:
Getting to work on a bus or a train is easy and cheap even outside of cities in most cases. Obviously there's more public transport in cities but it's not like there's no such thing as busess and trains in more rural areas. I live outside a city and can easily get around in public transport
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As an example, my commute which takes 12 minutes via car, would take 52 minutes on my city's bus system, involve 1.5 miles of walking, and get me to work 15 minutes late, as the earliest bus isn't quite early enough.
 
jknight8907 said:
As an example, my commute which takes 12 minutes via car, would take 52 minutes on my city's bus system, involve 1.5 miles of walking, and get me to work 15 minutes late, as the earliest bus isn't quite early enough.
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Fair enough. And there's no underground trains or anything seeing as you're in a city?
 
jknight8907 said:
Unfortunately not, Memphis has really bad public transport options. It's bus only except for a few miles of downtown where a tiny trolley system runs.
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Fair enough then, but that's why I talked about utility in my post too. For you, you could technically get public transport, it would just be a very inefficient way to travelling in your area, so a car is worth it.
 
I earned the money for my first car at age 17. It was common for teens to have a part time job a generation or 2 ago. This is not the case today; not sure why.
 
chrf097 said:
I mean, I know it's not a financial issue, so I was curious if it was a responsibility issue, a grade issue, or something like that.
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You got that wrong. Most things in live are a combination of issues, and financial considerations always play a big part.

Why would your mom finance your car, gas, insurance, repairs, maintenance, if you don't need it ?

The money is better spent savings for college, for example.

You might be right that it's not an affordability issue, but it's still an issue of money WELL spent or not.

If you absolutely want a car, get a job and pay for it yourself.

-t
 
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