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My Thoughts As My Oldest Son Gets His Driver’s License…
By JLP | January 12, 2012
My oldest son has been 16-years old for several months but we just got his driver’s license today. Wow! Wow in the fact that I have a kid old enough to drive legally and wow in the fact that I’m old enough to have a kid who can drive legally. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I got my license. Time flies, my friends.
Our plan is for him to inherit our nearly 10-year old Buick Rendezvous (I know…every kid’s dream car…). It’s the perfect vehicle for him to drive in that it’s old, still in good shape, but worth almost nothing if we were to try to sell it. So, as soon as I find something else for my wife to drive, my son will get the Rendezvous.
He’s not very excited about it but I told him that he could drive it for free while he saves up money for something else. His mother and I will help him buy something else in a year or so (provided he has saved up some money). Then, we will take the Rendezvous and pass it on to his brother who will be 16 in a little over a year.
Our kids will be responsible for paying a portion of the insurance. I’m thinking $50 per month once they get a job. They will also be responsible for their gas (or at least a portion of it).
Speaking of driving…
You would not believe the cars/trucks some of the kids drive these days. Some of them are even nicer than our Enclave! I just don’t see the wisdom in giving a kid something nice to drive when they are so young. If anything, it’s setting the bar very high and will give them the impression that they can never drive anything less than what they drove in high school.
My First Car Looked Very Similar to This 1979 Buick Skyhawk
Picture source: here
It’s my opinion, but it’s actually kind of fun to look back and remember the 1979 Buick Skyhawk I drove during high school and part of college. It was ugly and had a sagging body, which made the door shut with a loud THUD! The manual transmission messed up once and wouldn’t allow me to put the car in reverse. So, if I had to back up, I had to put it in neutral and PUSH it. Hahaha. Fun times. This was during my college days so I had to be sure to find a parking space that would allow me to pull forward. Otherwise, I had to be on the lookout as I was leaving school to make sure no pretty girls were around to witness me pushing my car out of its parking spot. Fun times indeed.
My second car was an 1988 Buick Skyhawk that I bought in 1992, right before I moved to Texas. It was a nice little car until the A/C went out and I didn’t have the $1,000 to get it fixed so I rode around everywhere with the windows down, which tore up my headliner. Once that happened, I looked like a hillbilly driving around. But…you know what? I bought both of those cars pretty much on my own. My dad helped me with the first one by paying some on it and then financing the rest for me. I remember paying him something like $30 per week until it was paid off. I had a sheet of paper hanging on my bedroom wall and I would cross off a payment each time I handed my dad $30.
The second car I financed through the credit union. I think my monthly payment was $122.
Funny the things you think about when your son gets his license.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 10 Comments »
January 12th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Where did you find the picture of a Skyhawk? I figured that they had all long since shed the mortal coil, so to speak.
January 12th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Google (image search) is your friend, Sam.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Buick Skyhawk = chick magnet
January 13th, 2012 at 7:30 am
Rendezvous is a big car (truck) for a new driver…
It is still better than letting him drive an Expedition as a first car (I know someone who did that).
January 13th, 2012 at 10:52 am
Congrats! Now for the fun part of insurance. We had been w/Allstate for decades until our oldest passed his license in Oct. Then off to Country Companies–way cheaper! Beware–even your umbrella policy will increase w/your teenage driver!
BTW, our son shares our 2010 Subaru Forester when it’s not parked at the airport for Daddy. Good utilitarian, reliable and 4-wheel drive vehicle for our wonderful IL winters!
January 13th, 2012 at 11:23 am
Stacey) I think, in TX, Progressive is the cheapest insurer for households with teen drivers. Hopefully JLP will write an article on this subject (will be in the same boat as yall in six months).
January 13th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Awesome ride! My first was a 1984, yellow, Ford Escort hatchback.
Our oldest is 12 – and she’s already planning for her first card. Once in a while, I’ll let her drive my old truck through the field near our house.
-NCN
January 16th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
I got my first car in 1985 and it was a chocolate brown 1973 Plymouth Duster that I bought for $100 from my uncle. I LOVED that car and still to this day wish my car had the steering that thing had (you could breathe on the wheel and your car would turn left). When that car died a couple years later and proved irreparable, I got a very used Chevy Chevette that I owned until the mid-1990s. My latest car I got in 2005 and plan to sell to my daughter when she gets her license in 5-6 years. Her monthly “payment” will actually be the difference in insurance premiums that we end up having.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
I bought my first car myself too and I grew up in an area where that was a RARITY. I freaking loved it – I bought a 1993 (in 96) Nissan 240sx I still threaten The Wife that I will show up one day with one.
January 17th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
My daughter is there too. I’ve gone a different route. I bought her a ’04 Ford Taurus. It’s my car and she gets to drive it so long as grades are good, she stays out of trouble, etc. But when things go south, I get to take the keys without any argument about whose car it is. I paid for the car, I’ll pay the insurance and registration as well as repairs. She pays for gas and contributes toward oil changes. She’ll also be responsible for keeping it clean. I told her she can work towards ownership of the car (to take to college) by earning scholarships and saving money towards college. Wonder what you think of this plan?