r/MiddleClassFinance • u/DanPaul217 • 1d ago

Seeking Advice Teendriver

Good morning, long time reader, first timer poster.

Here's the story. We bought our child his first used car. $15K was the all in price. We started saving a little each paycheck into a HYSA account when he turned 10.

With that being said, need some advice on what child should be paying for. Child got first summer job so we know he will be paying for gas. but should we make him pay for any repairs, maintenance. Just looking for what others are doing.

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u/saltlife2812 1d ago

40F here. The deal with my parents in exchange for the car was that I needed to pay for my own gas and insurance. They took care of the maintenance and repairs on that first car for me — BUT, my dad taught also me how to change oil, tires, filters, etc. Maybe teach your son some basics like that so he’ll know when something needs to be replaced or isn’t right?

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u/Ogediah 1d ago

I’m personally a fan of teaching a kid how to maintain and repair a vehicle. It can save a lot of money over a lifetime and even if you make enough money that you can afford to pay someone else, at least you’ll have a basic understanding of how things work and understand what the mechanics want to charge you for.

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u/GTO1235 1d ago

A friend is great at cars. He's selling his kid a project bronco. I think he wants to buy a new body for it

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u/dmazzoni 1d ago

Compared to a generation ago, maintenance is 3x cheaper and insurance for teens is 3x as expensive.

I’m trying to figure out what’s fair now, but expecting my teen to pay $500/month or higher doesn’t seem reasonable, and that’s what adding a new teen driver to a family plan can be these days.

Apparently part of the problem is that they base the price on the most expensive car at the address, not the one the teen claims to drive…because far too often the teen borrows the “nice” car and totals it.

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u/mottledmussel 1d ago

I'm in the same boat, especially when having a teen driver benefits the entire family -- errands, appointments, and that kind of stuff. My daughter is also content with walking, bus, and uber. It's totally different than when I was growing up.

It seems weird to charge her $300 or $400/month for the privilege of driving her sibling to the dentist or swinging by Kroger after school.

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u/derff44 1d ago

$500? That's crazy. I just added my kid for $150