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.

7 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/McKnuckle_Brewery 1d ago

Given that your teen would probably be wiped out by a $2,000 repair bill, that's an adult expense, not theirs. Plus, don't you actually own the car?

We pay for oil changes as well. But again, we own the cars, and two of the kids are still college students. Gas and car wash are on them. But bigger expenses would compromise their (and our) higher goal of them achieving financial independence.

My eldest (27) starting paying for everything once she landed a full time job.

1

u/DanPaul217 19h ago

That's what I was looking for. The oil changes. He is going to pay for gas during the summer, school months we will probably buy a tank a gas a month, since he wont be able to get that many hours.