The Morning Mash Up was watching the video of the World of Warcraft kid getting his first car for his 16th birthday. His parents got him a clunker, and he wasn’t too happy about it. Obviously, the video is a joke, but Ryan said that every kid should get a clunker as their first car. It’s like a tradition, and it helps you appreciate when you can buy a nice car.
Rich doesn’t think a junk car is necessary. If he’s ballin’ by the time he has a kid that’s driving age, why not buy him a pre-owned luxury car or a brand new middle of the line car like a Honda? Nicole and Stanley T both side with Ryan on this one. The first car needs to be a kind of crappy one. Everyone absolutely agrees that any car your kid gets needs to be safe. However, Stanley T, Ryan, and Nicole think it’s a waste to buy them a nice car.
As “stat boy” Ryan Sampson points out, statistically, they’re most likely going to get into an accident within the first two years of driving. Stanley T thinks Rich needs to wait until he actually has kids and then see what he thinks. What do you think? Should your kids’ first car always be a junker? What was your first car, or the first car you bought for your kids?
My son is 15 and we have been looking for a car for him.. and we are kind of “in between” …we will gt hima great USED car… like a 2007 mustang…. not brand spanking new, but something that he will love and take care of. I think if you have the money to splurge on the kid, why not…. you can’t take the money with you when you die!!!! Our son works in the family business so its not like he is mooching off us and doing nothing. We also just helped our 19 year old finance a brand new vehicle, and I think by helping them in the transistion from childhood to adult responsibilities, you are instilling good values on them, and they will appreciate the fact that you gave what you could.
When I turned 16 my parents bought me a new truck. I agree that most kids don’t deserve a new car but I know my parent justified buying me a new car becuase at 16 I had a job that paid $12 per hr and I would work 30 hrs a week. They just made me pay the insurance.
I live in a area with some very well too do family and we are not one of them and all the kids around here have New cars @ 16 but my son now 17 is using my old truck for now. He sees the other kids with new cars and asked why he can’t get one and I told him when he has a Job and a down payment to get one he can. Sorry I grow up poor and only got nice things due to working hard, Giving kids everything show them nothing , teach them to work for things and they seem to value it More.
When I got my license at 17 my mom’s lease was up on her Lexus suv, so I ended up getting it for 10 months until they could decide what they wanted to get me IF they wanted to get me anything. I appreciated that car like nothing else. I was so GRATEFUL.
They later decided that if I got a job and paid for everything I wanted but didn’t need, they would buy me a car/suv within a designated range. I got a car and I learned the value of a dollar and a hard day’s work. I think I got the best of both worlds.
My father, who grew up poor, has always told me that he never wants me to work as hard as he did to buy everything for myself but that I needed to have values and understand the meaning of hard work.
I think there’s an equal balance between handing everything to your kid and teaching them lessons while doing it. That’s just my 2 cents.
My first car was a POS 2004 beat to you know where and back black Dodge Neon that had a seizure in the middle of the road if you went over 60 MPH.
My sister is turning 16 soon and my parents want to get her a 2007 Honda Element.
I’m just a bit peeved at this news.
I think parents should buy the SAFEST car they can afford – weather it is a brand new Volvo or a ten year old SAAB (my first car). I understand the need to teach kids that they have to earn nice things if they want nice things, but safety comes first. Don’t put kids in a POS just because you want to teach them a lesson – put them in something safe because you love them first.
I don’t think parent should buy their kids cars at all. I bought my first car when I was 23, until I had nothing, kids still don’t appreciate the car if you buy a clunker, kids nowadays have everything bought for them, they need to step up and stop buying Playstations, cell phones and save their money for the things that matter more, like transportation.
when i was 16 (before i even had a license) i chose to buy my own car instead of my dad getting me a 200$ clunker that he tinkered back to life himself. i was the youngest of four and the three before me always got the parted together by dad specials. I have gone through some really nice cars, (now the HUMMER) and when my daughter (and only child) is old enough to drive, i will buy her a used car, preferably an Audi, even though she keeps telling me she is going to drive a HUMMER too. haha.
My first car was a 1981 Olds Omega and that car saved my life. On Mother’s Day, less than a year after my parents bought me the car($1000), I was involved in a car accident with a tractor trailer. The car was totaled, the tractor trailer had to be towed out of the city because I knocked the steering block off of it, and my best friend almost died. Neither one of us were wearing our seatbelts when I wasn’t paying attention and ran a red light at the same moment that the tractor trailer was barreling through the intersection. His front driver’s side collided with my front passenger side. If it wasn’t for the sturdy metal of the old clunker, we could have both died that day. Buy your kids a clunker. I know I will.
I am 19 and still dont have a car yet. My parents wont buy me a car, they say I have to buy my own because it build character. I would love a car I jsut really can afford one due to the fact that I have school to pay for. It sucks
Absolutely not! I live in an upper-middle class neighborhood with my mother and step-dad, and my dad is a doctor in Boston, so after using my parent’s cars to get places for a little over a year and a half, my dad let me buy a Subaru Legacy.
And I had an experience similar to Kat’s… that car saved my life. Except it wasn’t my fault, if it was I could probably have avoided it, because the car has fantastic handling. My friends and I were driving home from the midnight premiere of a movie about a year after I bought it, and I was going to drop them off at their houses because one had to go to work later and the other really didn’t like sleepovers.
After (I thought) we passed an intersection, a drunk driver ran a red light and hit us. The car had major damage where it hit, but not one of us were even remotely hurt. The force of the hit was intense, I’m convinced that with another car, something much worse would have happened. But I realize not everyone can afford that kind of car for a first-time driver, and I completely agree with Amanda–get the SAFEST car you can afford, no matter if it’s a clunker or if it’s a nice used or just a Honda/Toyota.
When I was 16 I had a Suzuki Samurai, that I paid $800 for. I beat the crap out of it, and I paid for the parts to fix it and did the labor myself. I soon learned the value of a dollar. I’ve been working and paying taxes since I started milking cows for the neighbor when I was 14. Now I work 80 hours a week and know that work pays for nice things. If someone buys their teenager a brand new car the kid will never have a work ethic. Most of these kids then expect everything they want to be handed to them. If the kid wants a new car, they better find a job before they are 16.
when i was 16 i spent my party in the party room of pzza and got a grand total of about 220 bucks…. i didnt get my first car until my high school graduation and it was a 95 eagle talon that we paid like 800 bucks for i love the thing to death and still drive it. i hate seeing all the rich kids in this town rolling in these nice new cars like the mustang GT that i would kill for.. chick was given it for her 16th and has already hit like 4 things with it