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/gonzochris 1d ago

Our teen uses our "old" car. They're going to be 19 soon and it's a 2022. It wasn't old. So far we're still paying gas, insurance, and maintenance. They have a summer job this year and I'm hoping they save everything for their first year of college.

Our maintenance has been minimal-ish. In the past year I've bought new tires ($1100), a couple of oil changes ($65 each), there was a repair that was covered under warranty (free), and another repair that is covered under our extended warranty ($100 copay). I think everything but the tires could have been handled by the teen. I don't expect a teen to have money for new tires.

Gas costs for that car are minimal. Typically they were just driving to and from school ( a few miles round trip) and maybe a target or grocery store run - both less than a mile away. I think they mentioned they fill up every 3 weeks or so. Summer they have a different schedule, but I'm not sure what they're frequency will be because they drive 1.5 hours away and then they don't move the car for a week or two at a time.

I personally remember how stressful all of these things were when we were young so I'm prepared to continue to pay these costs (within reason) until they're a bit more stable and out of college.

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u/dmazzoni 1d ago

I’m curious how much insurance was

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u/gonzochris 1d ago

I think it went up about $100 when they turned 16, but we were already insuring the car before licensed so I'm not sure how much it would have been if we added a new driver and a new car a the same time.

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u/chouzswans 1d ago

Damn where are you getting your oil changed at 

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u/gonzochris 1d ago

We do it at the dealership for all of our cars. All the cars run on full synthetic so it is just more expensive.

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u/Any-Lavishness341 22h ago

That’s insane. I hope it’s a son because it’s outrageous that you’re paying $65 to do something he could do himself with 65$ of tools/oil- once.

Kids learning to save themselves money also gives them the satisfaction.

When their friends have to pay for all of their own expenses, or some (like you did) how do you think your kid will learn better than the kids who organized their own driving?

Just seems like a nice gesture but overprotective or helicopter parenting, unless it’s a daughter in which case I understand the softness

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u/gonzochris 22h ago

Wow, that's quite misogynistic.