4wheelkillr

absolutely agreed....
A kid may have great grades and be responsible but you dont know what that kid will be like with the freedom and responsibility that comes with driving a vehicle alone on the roads where their decisions and maturaty affects other people....

NO 16-17 y/o KID SHOULD HAVE A MUSTANG GT!!....there are some exceptions...say for example someone like Earnhardt Jr.s kid (if he has a kid)...has been racing and knows how to handle HP since he was 6...putting him in a GT at 16 is different than putting 99.9% of every other 16 year old in that car...

I think it's great that parents can afford to get their kids nice new cars....but buying a new driver a mustang GT is remarkably unresponsible....my wife and I are having kids in a few years so really havent had to do this yet...just discussed it a lot....

in '96 when i was a soph in HS..i picked up a 94 s-10 2.2L p/u truck....i put down $2k on it...parents put down another $1k for me...the deal was I had to pay for the insurance and maintenance and payments-I made all the payments to the parents and they paid the insurance and loan since it was in their name....i never missed a payment and kept up with insurance...i treated that truck like gold...sold it about 6 months ago after getting my GT....when I was a soph in college after I made the last payment...my mom gave me a bank statement into which she had deposited all of the payments for the loan and insurance that I had given to her...she said that in order to teach me about responsibility and maturity I had to believe that i was the one in charge of that vehicle's longevity....and it worked...i've been driving for 11 years now and I've never had an accident or a ticket (knock on wood)....luckily for me (and unbeknownst to me until years later) my parents did in fact buy me a brand new used car and paid for it all...while in fact teaching some real life lessons that still carry on today....

so that's my story....
bottom line....my kid will not be given handouts that have not been earned....and certainly will not be given a new GT or sportscar for a first or second or even 3rd car (assuming I pay for all of those)

BAMFstang

That's really awesome how your parents handled that.

Nice hearing stories like that.[sm=goodidea.gif]

frzn pony

Hell...I found a 2001 Dodge Intrepid.My step daughter whined up a strom because she was thinking that she was a princess and it was her right the we get her a car....WRONG!!!! my parents didnt buy myself or her mom a car.as long as you live in my house you drive whats in the driveway,when I tell you can drive it!

Anyways....seeing as see did not ever get a ticket or even scatch any of MY cars....I pick-up this Intrepid with a bad motor.(I work at a Dodge dealer) I informed her if she wanted her own car she was going to have to pay for it and if I ever found anything wrong with the car that was due to OWNER NEGLECT.....It was her fault....and turning up the radio wont fix it.So I put a NEW engine in this car....made HER go to the bank and get a loan for it,tobuild her credit rating,and her mom co-signed the loan.If we got ONE notice that she had missed a payment,I would reposses the car my self and sell it.That was 2003.The totlal loan was $3600.00.she has almost got it payed off,the car drives just as nice as when I turned it over to her.She has told me every time almost to the mile when the mait. need to be done and the car has never broken down.

I teachs responsibilty.nothing in life is free and those who get for free most time dont take care of it.she now has a good car,learned that there is more to owning a car than just owning it.She has built a credit rating thats not bad.She has learned how to budget her money and not blow it on CD's,beer,drugs,ect....

canefanfolife

My first car was given to me buy my grandparents!lol wow it sounds like a great car already!! 1985 buick regal!! i drove that and my parents ALLOWED me to drive my dads 1956 f100 at the same time so i drove extremly slow and reliable vehicles! now that i turned 18 and my parents don't have to pay for much bc im getting offers from colleges for baseball they allowed me to put all my money towards a new 06 gt! i put up 12k and am workin on the other 5 i have to pay them. so its good to have a nice reliable car first- if my parents gave me my car now first i would be in a hospital right now or dead bc i wouldve been a complete idiot and done something stupid!!

GettingMyMustang

My first car was a 92 Ford Tempo, I bought it for 800 and did all of the body work and such that needed to be done on it, and ended up selling it for just as much as I bought it for 3 years later, at which point I bought a 93 tempo (only because it had less than 20,000 miles at the time). I sold that last year because I am currently living in Finland, and when I come home in two months I am buying myself a Mustang. My parents never paid my insurance, or gas, or anything like that, and I am grateful for that. Next year I am starting work on a dual Masters'/PhD program, and will be working extra to pay for my car.

That having been said, you wont see me racing down the highway. I have too much respect and work to hard for that!

Herknav

I could put my "I didn't get a car until" story in here, but what is the point? I won't tell someone how to raise their child. I would hope that every parent uses a modicum of wisdom when buying (or not buying, or any position in between), their child something as "big" as a vehicle.

Is "the first car" the best way to teach responsibility? I don't know. It is an expensive proposition if the first few lessons are not taken to heart.

I hope you're not going for an English degree...