JeffC Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 [old farts mode on ] my oldest lad is approaching 17 in 2 months time and is making noises about learning to drive,I was shocked when he told me a few of his pals are getting cars bought, driving lessons and insurance paid for their 17th birthday from their parents !!! and the scary thing Is I know one of the parents cant afford it as I sold the dad his car and its financed right up he didnt have the money for a deposit, so im presuming he has strapped this car and insurance on too I got socks and underpants for my 17th how times have changed When my lad asked me what car he was getting for his 17th after I stopped laughing I was quite blunt and told him not a way in the world Im buying him a car if he wants a car he needs to save up and buy one and same with insurance, for one I don't want him tearing around the roads at my expense (ive watched him race a kart for 4 years!) and surely a car is a luxury youth of today can"t afford , at around £2500 insurance , the price of fuel and running costs, his student bus pass to me looks the sensible option, he can go anywhere in the north east for 70p and there is an awful lot of 70pences in £2500 insurance money alone without petrol at over a fiver a gallon! . It also puzzles me why modern parents wet nurse todays kids surely we should let them sort stuff out themselves that we had to do ,I get it all the time young kid on door with parents coming looking at buying little Jonnies first car for him and the expectations what little Jonny wants I think back to the first banger I bought and jeez think little jonnie would have a fit if thats what he got maybe I was hard done too but If I rewind back to 1986 when I was 16 I went out and bought my first car a 9 year old talbot sunbeam 1,000cc , my parents new nothing about it til my pal dropped it off on the drive ! It never crossed my mind to ask them to buy it, I saved up the money to buy it (£190) I serviced it, fixed the oil leaks sorted the brakes , learned myself to repair and paint the rusty bits (almost all of it! ) and I had it ready for when i passed my test which i paid for myself , I phoned around and sorted out my own insurance (£240 TPFAT) Yet all this sort of thing seems lost on the youth of today mam and dad seem to do it all, but do the kids expect it or do parents just do it for them ? I cant see how it does them any favours do the same wet nursed kids get parents to sort out Mortgages when they move out and buy there first house, where does it end... [/old farts mode off ] Oh and I should maybe come back to this thread after February when he has talked Mrs C into me buying him a car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 So very true of todays youth....They want everything NOW..........They want the best things NOW.......Not prepared to save for them and most of the time they expect the parents to lend them money or even pay for them. Rant over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I bought my own first car at age seventeen - £30 for a 1947 Morris Ten Series M. My parents would have had a fit if I'd asked them to pay anything; anything at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidgh Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I have to admit to buying a car ("Norman", a many-year-old standard one-litre Mini) for our children to cut their teeth on before the elder son turned seventeen. The motive was to wet-nurse, but in a different way from the one I think you mean, Jeff. They were still at school, and planning to go to uni, so I took the view that the only motorized transport they were likely to be able to afford would have two wheels -- and I remembered how many times I almost killed myself on my Honda 250 twenty five years previously. So the deal was either parental support for Norman (and no mention of motor cycles), or no parental support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenandmean Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Bought my own car at 17, 1960 Hillman Minx £20 as a non runner, only parental comment was you pay your own fines. (thanks dad) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Banks Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 My eldest has his own car with his own saved money, we have spent out on learner insurance and lessons though - but I have told him that he seriously needs to consider financing his upcoming insurance and regular running costs if he want's to drive it once he has passed his test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffC Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 I have to admit to buying a car ("Norman", a many-year-old standard one-litre Mini) for our children to cut their teeth on before the elder son turned seventeen. The motive was to wet-nurse, but in a different way from the one I think you mean, Jeff. They were still at school, and planning to go to uni, so I took the view that the only motorized transport they were likely to be able to afford would have two wheels -- and I remembered how many times I almost killed myself on my Honda 250 twenty five years previously. So the deal was either parental support for Norman (and no mention of motor cycles), or no parental support one of the reasons I dont want him driving at 17 as I think back to the things I did and all the near misses and I wonder now how my parents slept at night while I was out all night driving about looking for races title edited as I just googled the meaning of wet nurse wont be doing that to my kids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M444TTB Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I paid for about 80% of my first car. I think my parents have me some money toward it because my Dad didn't want me to buy some sort of oil dropping shed that would look crap outside the house! I had paid for all my driving lessons (13 of them!) and he taught me in my Mums mk3 Astra in addition. They paid to insure me on the car as I remember but I then paid for them to be included on my insurance a year or so after I passed my test and bought my first car. EDIT: This has reminded me. My Dad has come MUCH closer to crashing one of my cars than vice versa. Driving my old BMW 328i Sport at Brands hatch he dropped it just after Surtees and proceeded at speed toward the Armco at the top of the grass bank! Luckily there is a patch of grippy Tarmac up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I was able to afford a new Mini in 1964 as I was taking home about £60 per week (family man's wage was about £20). I was the first in the family to own a car (or even drive). It would never have crossed my mind to ask my parents for money. the answer would have been no and a clip round the ear. But I did help my kids get there first cars, not paid in full just sourced the cars from traders I knew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M444TTB Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 What did Mini's cost back then Norman? My Dad bought a new one at 18 (1971) thanks to some inheritance and I think he told me it was £400. I'm sure he was earning little more than that per annum as a bank clerk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I think I was bought driving lessons for my birthday. I was given use of my Dad's 'shopping trolley' when I was 17 and hardly needed a car. Bought my own at 18 though. I'll probably adopt a similar approach for my son. Actually in 10 years time some git will probably have archived content posted online by people and he'll be reading this. In which case, I'll adopt a similar approach if he doesn't give me any grief during his teenage years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgey Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Depends on what your parents can afford I guess, plus now is incomparable to when most of us bought our 1st cars. Back then insurance was something you made a few phone calls for, and plumped for the cheapest TPF&T, which was typically a few hundred quid in today's money (Fully comp was unimaginable until one got to 30 years old). You bought a banger for a few hundred quid, and maintenance was cheap , even at garages. Things could be diagnosed and mended at the roadside, Now we have insane insurance for teen boys (and now girls I believe), there are not so many bangers about, and they are far more complicated to work on. I'm so glad I learnt to drive and grew up (kind of) in the 80's - the insurance now is truly shocking. What seems brutally unfair now is that teens can't even buy an old banger and just pay really cheap TP only. It must be all the no-win-no-fee "ambulance chasers" driving this up. Shunt someone and everyone in the car has whiplash....... (I hit a car in Italy with 4 people in the car - when the claim went in there was a mysterious 5th person in the car - and these were my friends!!!) I won my car off my Mother in a bet. I had 6 lessons and then booked my test. The instructor told me I wasn't ready. My Mum bet she'd give me her car if I passed 1st time. I did :--) - So I had a Triumph Acclaim HLS as my 1st car - at the time I was the only person with electric windows and a sunroof out of all of my friends lol. I was also the first person in my area to have subwoofers! - proper old school cabinet drivers sunk into my steel parcel shelf :-p All my other cars were heaps too, for years, and I paid all my own insurance etc. Biggest insurance cost before I hit the magic 30 years old was a TVR 400SE. I was 28. Cost me £1500 PA which I thought was horrific. Seems that teens now have little choice to ask for help with the current costs - no wonder so many people drive uninsured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistonbroke Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 passed driving test at age 23 yrs £15 got me a naggered Austin A35 van from southport auctions , brother Peter got an A30/7 also a van for £5 he took his driving test in it , no passenger seat just a beer crate for the examiner to sit on. mine had no brakes , spent weeks trying to fix them , found the footwell was so rusted that the brake cylinder was flexing . had great fun driving the thing though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 M444MTB, that's easy to answer. April 1964 a red mini De Luxe registration number ALE 477B was £477. That's after discount. I never had driving lessons but failed my first two tests. About the only time I ever listened to my mother was when I got a haircut (it was half way down my back) and bought a shirt, tie and suit. Passed with flying colours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Vann - Warwickshire AO Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 My 17yr old daughter has passed theory test today, 1st time and she paid for it herself! She bought a Mini 30 earlier this year with money saved for many years but I did pay for insurance, £650 as a learner! I have been acting as driving instructor for many months though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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