Where in the Bill of Rights does it say you're entitled to a car?

The BBQ Pit
101

Sigh

If the kid managed to save up enough money to buy a car, I doubt he’s that irresponsible. Besides, it’s not like once the kid is driving you’ve got no control anymore. You could always revoke driving priveledges.

I’m not saying every kid needs a car or needs to drive, I just don’t see the point in not allowing them to. It’s a normal part of being a teenager. Yeah, some teenagers don’t drive. But most do. Or don’t because of their own choosing. Not because their parent’s wouldn’t let them. It just seems rather excessive.

Besides, if you don’t let your kid drive (this has nothing to do with owning a car anymore), do you let them drive with their friends? Or are they permenantly bus bound? I’m curious, because if they’re allowed to be in their friends’ cars, with their friends’ driving, the whole safety issue becomes a bit hypocritical.

And Snoopy, your stance seems reasonable. Thanks for clarifying.

102

Besides, if you don’t let your kid drive (this has nothing to do with owning a car anymore), do you let them drive with their friends?

As my kid is still young, I really don’t know. If she turns out to be responsible, I’d much rather her drive than her friends. Thing is, though, if she drives friends around and gets in a wreck, guess who’s gonna get sued?

I suspect when the time comes I’ll be playing chaffeur a lot.

Looking back on my close friends in high school they were at extremes: they were either really good drivers or absolutely horrible. One friend wrecked her first car 4 times and another pulled right out in front of a semi.

103

Instead of another car for a kid who doesn’t really appreciate the responsibility of owning one, about the manuals to repair it himself? Thrown rod isn’t easy, but it can be done. You have no reason to let him guilt you out over this. He had his chance to have a car, he blew it by not maintaining it. If it was in questionable condition to begin with that’s even MORE reason to keep up with it. Kid’s just thinking about the wrong dipstick more than likely. And if you can’t afford it, you just can’t afford it, end of story.

At 16, I got a 15 year old junker that had been parked for over 10 years, got it running, and off I went. Mom did pay the insurance, but I hadda get an afterschool job to do the rest. I learned a lot about car repair too. That thing took about a quart of oil a DAY! I’d buy cheap lawnmower oil by the case and keep it in the back. You can bet I managed to do that and still have a social life. I drove that car for 2 years too.

Good luck sticking to your guns!

104

oops, make that “how about giving him the manuals to repair it himself”

105

Let me see if I get this- I should let him buy the car because it’s his own money, but I don’t have to let him drive it if I think he’s too irresponsible to drive ? It seems meaner to me to let him buy the car, but not drive than it is not to let him buy it to begin with.

And how do I control it? By keeping the only set of keys? It’s been a long time since I was a teenager, but if my parents allowed me to buy a car and have my own keys and told me not to drive, that car would have been parked ten minutes before they got home. And if they took the keys away from me once, the next time I got them, my first stop would be to get copies made. I was a fairly obedient kid, but there was really only one way my parents could have kept me from driving- and that would have been to refuse to sign the license paperwork. I wouldn’t have driven without a license, but once I had it, they really couldn’t have stopped me from driving if I wanted to.

Let me just mention that my kids are not yet old enough to drive, and that they will not be able to legally drive in NYC without a parent in the car and dual controls until they are 18.

I don’t see why it’s hypocritical. First of all, the safety issue does not apply only to my own kid’s safety- if he’s not a safe driver, he doesn’t only put himself in danger, but also everyone else on the road with him. Secondly, if I think my kid is too irresponsible to drive, it doesn’t follow that I believe his friends are also too irresponsible to drive. I didn’t say no sixteen years olds are responsible and mature enough to drive- just that some aren’t. I certainly would tell my kids there are certain friends they cannot ride with- just like I’ve told them they can’t ride with one of their friend’s parents. She’s a horribly unsafe driver and I don’t want them in a car she’s driving under any circumstances. It all depends on the individual. My daughter is 14, and if she could legally obtain a license, I would let her. It’s unlikely that I would feel the same about her 13 year old brother a year from now. I am in a much better position to make that determination than a person giving a fifteen minute road test. And third, if I allow my sixteen year old to drive, even though I don’t believe he’s mature enough and he then causes an accident, I will be partially responsible for that accident (morally, don’t know about legally).I didn’t do what I could to prevent it. I don’t have any control over whether the friend drives, only maybe a little bit over whether my child is a passenger.

106

Well you know, I admit I’m a bit of an extreme example, but I’m here to tell you that you can live a normal life without a car.

I didn’t get my license until I was nearly 40…didn’t buy my first car until I was 40. In fact I bought my first house years before I bought my first car.

When I was a teenager there wasn’t much money to go around, my parents certainly couldn’t have afforded to buy me a car. Although I worked while I was at high school I used the money to buy my own clothes and such, which helped my family out. We lived in a country area with irregular buses, so I organised myself around the bus timetable and accepted the mile or so walk from the bus stop to home. Wasn’t always convenient, but not a big deal.

I left home when I was 21 and spent the next twenty-odd years using public transport, walking, using taxis and getting the occasional lift. I can’t remember that not having a car ever stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. I was poor a lot, and car was just one more luxury I could do without and I managed quite effectively.

The only reason I finally gave in to the whole car thing was that I moved to a remote rural area where a car is a bit of a necessity.

Cars and the freedom of movement they give you are nice, but I don’t buy Sofa King’s argument that lack of a car blighted his youth. Maybe things are different here in Australia, but you can live a perfectly acceptable and enjoyable life without a car, and I know a number of people who do.

I’ll still often choose to walk and/or use public transport, just to save the hassle of parking or worrying about my car. But having lived a long time without the convenience of a car, and knowing how much the payments are costing me, I certainly appreciate it, and try to keep it in good order.

Although in Australia you can’t get your driver’s license until you are 18, it is 18-25 year old males who are disproportionately represented in road fatality statistics…not having a car young might not so much blight a youth as save it.

107

Here is a cite for the $100 a week figure. I first heard it from an insider advertisment (targeted at banks, I think) pushing a sort of training credit card from visa.

Amazing, huh?