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When I lived in VA, some guy bought his kid a new Corvette as a first car and sadly he did kill himself in a single car accident on the way to school one morning. Damned shame and it didn't have to happen.
I went to a very affluent high school. We had multiple Corvettes/IROC-Z's, BMW 3 series, Mustang GT's as kids first cars. One kid had a Greenwood Corvette Conv when GM still didn't make a factory C4 convertible yet, his senior year he got a new Ferrari Testarossa! I don't recall any of the heavy metal stuff getting totaled.
Sadly we had a girl die in the class above us, she was in a used Camry and it was split in half by a guardrail.
Cars can kill people, types of cars usually aren't the issue!
He did get some business. It was $1/mi with a $20 minimum. Mileage was measured from a gas station near his home. Did not include labor. That would have been extra. He had another friend available to help if needed. Also in as was errands for senior citizens.
Definitely manual. If he learns manual, he can drive anything else.
Otherwise, lifted Dodge RAM Big Horn edition gives great visibility.
Sorry, could not stand temptation. He's a teenager. He thinks on steroids and steroids say truck. That's it. Every pal and bud and dude he socializes with say - truck. MACHO MANLY.
Get him manual Civic V-TEC engine.
Hard to find a new truck with a manual transmission. I don't know anyone that makes one anymore. I think with Dodge you can get one if you get the Diesel.
You're right. Volvos are definitely good cars, and built solidly. But the "safety difference" today is - in my opinion - far less than it was, say, 40 years ago.
I guess that means a lot of other cars are getting safer, which is Great if true! As a nurse I cared for too many mangled bodies.
I guess that means a lot of other cars are getting safer, which is Great if true! As a nurse I cared for too many mangled bodies.
I believe it is - without question - absolutely true. Newer cars are safer.
Back when Volvo began it's "safe car crusade" I was rocketing around in a 1969 Oldsmobile that had a lap belt (not shoulder strap), no airbags anywhere, no ABS, and no crumple zones. Your only hope for survival was that your car was bigger and heavier than whatever you ran into.
NO pickups. Choose a used Toyota Camry or Corolla. They are low maintenance, reliable, decent gas mileage, in demand for resale, reasonable regarding car insurance rates.
He may hate it, but hey, it's wheels, right?
Oh, and he pays for the insurance, and you make the rules regarding where & when he can drive.
Make sure he remembers the old saying, "driving is a privilege, not a right".
I bought my son an old beater for his 16th birthday, one that didn't need to have collision insurance. I put it in his name, and by doing that the insurance on my cars did not go up, even if my son drove them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by City Guy997S
Great plan but minors can't own cars (title them until age 18).........
Of course that would be a state law. We're in Wyoming. Besides that, you can't expect me to remember every detail; that was in 1986. Can't remember what I had for dinner tonight either. At the time, it worked, just as my insurance agent suggested. If it wasn't titled in his name (I think it was), then maybe just having it listed as his car with the insurance company was all that was needed.
Oh hell, 18 you say? Both of my kids graduated from high school at age 17, and both of them had brand new cars in their names before graduation. That was in '88 and '91 in Wyoming.
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At the time, it worked, just as my insurance agent suggested. If it wasn't titled in his name (I think it was), then maybe just having it listed as his car with the insurance company was all that was needed. 
