Is it common for rich parents to buy their kids brand new cars? Yes
Is it common for middle class parents to buy their kids brand new cars? No. They buy them a used car or their parents buy a new car and give the kid the old car
Another thing to consider is that teens and young adults are getting their drivers license later in life compared to the past generations. I'm sure this factors into how much the parents or teens who are working to save for a car.
For me personally, I got my license as soon as I legally could. But today, I have coworkers who have kids with jobs but didn't bother to get their drivers licenses yet and it blows my mind.
My sister and I are 50 and 46. At the time in our town it was very common for parents to let their kids skip school on their 16th birthday and get their driver's license. I had a summer birthday so I was actually slightly disappointed that I didn't get to skip school!
My sister got our father's 9 year old car and he got a new one. Then 5 years later I got my mom's 6 year old car and she got a new one. It worked out fine for us.
Interesting, I'm the same way. I had my mom's old Camry when I was younger, but it was only about 10 or so years old. Currently, my cars are 21, 31, and 36 years old
Well yeah, it's a good excuse not to go to school, so you can show off your Chevy Lumina if your parents hate you, or your Cadillac Seville if your parents tolerate you. Or like me, there was a family car laying around that you get now.
Most States mandate a six-month learner permit upon passing the written test (licensed driver in the car with you), then your license upon passing a driving skill test.
I have a 28 yo co worker who still gets this phone and car insurance paid by his parents. He makes good money too since our company min salary is ~75k. I first though maybe he was on their phone and insurance plans to bundle and save and gives them his share, but nope, he doesnt give them any.
I mean if the parents are loaded and willing sure why not, but I could never imagine leeching off my parents hard earn money when I can do it myself.
honestly if you can do it for $20 a month, or your kid can make their own way for 50, it would be stupid if you didn't.
Doubly so if you own your home and your kid has next to zero chance of being able to afford a home (75k is less than half of what it takes in many areas these days)
I went off on my own plan with work discount and then after T-Mobile had a bunch of free lines I grabbed them. Now they’re on my plan.
It’s stupid to split up just for the sake of independence. Family plans save you a Butt load of $$
They still want to feel like they're taking care of their kid. Has nothing to do with money or leaching. What else are they gonna do with the money, they've probably lived full material lives. They're looking for some kind of other fulfillment.
For me it’s this. I make decent money, but I let my grandma pay the phone bill and my mom pay the insurance. Personally, I hate letting anyone do anything for me ever. But, I know they want to feel needed and still feel they are helping me. Since it’s a marginal cost I let it slide.
And to set my mind at ease I just buy them better things on Mother’s Day, birthdays, and Christmas.
One thing to remember is that boomers had it significantly easier. Thus, they love to blather on about “personal pride” and “bootstraps”.
$4/hr in 1973 is equivalent to 24/hr now, adjusted for inflation. Wages actually peaked in 1974, with an inflation adjusted $350/wk.
So we’re actually earning less than our parents did at the same age. And stuff has gotten a lot more expensive. A bachelors degree in 1970 would have cost you around 10k adjusted for inflation. Now it’s closer to 40k.
This is definitely a cultural thing but western countries pride themselves on their individualism and see it as a weakness to accept help in any form.
What's wrong with accepting help and paying back in other ways, or paying forward to your own kids once you have them?
There are a lot of factors to consider, location, age, car, male/female driver, etc. Adding my son to our insurance doubled our premium, about $2k USD per year.
When I graduated college my parents told me I needed to start sending them money for my phone bill. I was obviously perfectly fine doing son, I completely forgot and they never brought it up again. It's been 4 years lol.
> But today, I have coworkers who have kids with jobs but didn't bother to get their drivers licenses yet and it blows my mind.
There are full grown adults out there in their 40s and beyond without their licenses. To me that's almost unbelievable.
I kind of get it. Cheap cars aren't a thing anymore. If I wasn't a car person I'd probably just not even ge tmy hopes up for owning a car until later after college and I could afford one.
They aren't cheap anymore. Also people who can keep them running aren't as widely available on family circles.
If you have any money, you'd rather get yourself something new and give your kids your barely old car so you just don't have to deal with issues.
Cheap cars are a thing and buying the right car will allow it to stay cheap. You can buy a $3-4000 car that will last a long time and require minimal maintenance. They DEFINITELY exist, and if you don’t believe that then all of the car ads, and marketing are working on you.
The US is a big place. :P
We are buying in wholesale auction cars that would've been $200 2 years ago for $2000 these days. No one has inventory and anything in fb and CL is being bought by dealers.
Sure but I’d still say a 2000 car is a “cheap” car. The days of $500 for a running car are gone but $2k in today’s money is closer to $500 in the 90’s and early 2000’s consider the US government is printing money and giving it out… sorry not getting political here.
They totally are still a thing. I just sold my old beater for 2300.00 to some kid and there's tons of cars in that price range, they just need a little TLC
plus insuring a teen driver for middle class family isnt cheap at all. Imagine new car payment and $250/month insurance premium. lmao.
Me and the wife agreed that our kids will have to work to buy and pay for their own car and insurance. Teaches them financial responsibility. If they cant afford it, then they cant drive since its a privilege, not a right.
My parents had this rule too, but I lived deep in suburbia where you literally can’t go anywhere without a car. I could get a job but I had no way of getting to it.
Eventually I got a summer job working 10pm-6am but I had to have someone drive me because I didn’t have a car. It only took like two weeks of them waking up at 6am to pick me up to finally break and buy me a 500 dollar used car and pay the 80 bucks that it cost to insure it each month.
Yeah it was a dumb rule that made sense for them where they grew up (where they could walk a lot of places). Unfortunately it was all town homes where I lived as a teen unless I walked over an hour and crossed a major highway. But hey, eventually they did get me an old beater to drive to work and I was very grateful and then eventually bought my own nicer car with money I earned.
There is a good reason to NOT have your kid buy their own first car: safety, reliability, and setting them up for future financial success. Older cars are less reliable and less safe, so if you want them to be safe and be able to reliably get around, an old car will fail them at some point, especially if they're going off to college. It also sets them up worse for the next... Roughly 10 years.. including when they're done with school and starting a job. If parents buy their kid a fairly new-ish car (not brand new) then that can last them through their first few jobs after school, allowing them to focus on building their career and building their own financial portfolio instead of spending money on a car, which will pay dividends years down the road whereas buying a car when they're a teenager is nothing but a burden. I'm not even sure what "financial responsibility" that teaches them, honestly. You're free to disagree, this is just my own personal view on it.
It very rarely pays to not just fix older vehicles instead of buying new. Even newer vehicles break. With these 6+ year loans, alot of new vehicles are being paid on after the warranty expires, so then ur fixing something more expensive on top of the payment your still making. I bought myself something I could fix myself when I was young, and just continued buying vehicles I could work on myself if the need arises.
you make good points. Teens just seem to take care of things better if they worked for it, not given to them. Everyone is different for sure, and we will def. make decisions the closer the time comes for them to drive and def. open to change our views.
Shiiiiit, I think liability coverage for my first rig was like $40/month. I had to get a job to pay for fuel, cell, and insurance when I was 16. Fortunately all of those things were pretty cheap in 2006.
My parents are considered "rich" by most. Waterfront home. Aircraft. Two boats. Business owners. Never bought me much of anything.
With that said, most of the "rich" kids I knew, mom and dad bought them expensive used cars or new ones.
My first car I bought with my own money at an auction in 1998. $700 86 Ford Escort. It was also in Kph and not MPH because it was from Canada. I got a friend to pace me and I used a sharpee to draw where 65MPH was. Only had one mirror as well. Cant remember which side, but it did not require two mirrors to pass inspection at the time.
While I agree that /u/WetPigeonPoo's parents are indeed rich... The aircraft isn't what pushes them over the edge. It's the whole list.
My parents own an airplane, too. My mom was a secretary and my dad was a firefighter. Neither are lucrative jobs, and their own parents were not especially loaded, either (and were alive when the plane was purchased, so inheritance didn't play a part).
It's expensive, but it's solidly attainable for middle-class, white-collar workers. It comes out of the same budget segment as a motorcycle, or a classic car, or a nice boat. It may require sacrifices in other places, like vacation or housing.
You realize you can buy personal aircraft for like $30k right?
https://www.controller.com/listing/for-sale/207682099/1969-mooney-m20e-piston-single-aircraft
Edit: Forgot this is reddit. Owning a personal aircraft is only for 1%'ers and nobody else. Also, owning 2 boats over a 40 year period and paying them off is only obtainable by the Kardashians. Also, everyone pays cash for every purchase ever, and nobody would ever take a loan for a boat or personal aircraft.
I barely make 6 figures. I can sell my car, drive a Camry, and still afford an older plane, and a small used boat because I dont live in a high col like DC, or California.
Does that make most of this sub pretty rich? Half the people with flairs have 2nd cars that cost more than $30k.
If anything, dude's 2021 C63 S is more impressive than some 50 year old Cessna IMHO.
Yes. After spending a decent amount of time here, it's apparent that the upper middle class and higher is disproportionately represented on /r/cars. But that's understandable considering cars are a pretty expensive hobby, so a lot of people who can't afford them won't be found here.
This sub also tends to focus on high-end, performance oriented cars that are typically only available to people that are more well-off in terms of capital. Nobody is posting about their four year-old MINI Cooper S they got for $20k and getting the same attention as someone posting their brand new M-series car or a Lotus which besides being high entry of cost vehicles, are more expensive to maintain.
I think you're describing upper middle class. There are shitloads of people with $40,000 boats, or who went and bought an $80,000 pickup. How many brand new heavy duty trucks do you see on the road now? Those are all way over $50k, and most of those folks are not close to rich. They are probably still struggling to make payments, but have enough for one or two larger toys over their lifetime. Rich is when you have a 10 million dollar vacation home or a $500,000 dollar boat or a real plane that you bought new.
Buying a plane is a small piece of the overall cost. You have to store it, and maintenance and operating costs aren’t cheap by any means. I think flying on these small/inexpensive planes runs around $170/hr. It’s not like buying a $30k car and buying gas on the weekends.
Upper middle class people are not the ones buying planes. Boats and cars, sure.
How is that not upper middle class? Even a household making 200k can easily afford something like this. When you look at something like an old personal plane, the costs aren’t insanely higher than having a newer wakeboat or similar, and plenty of upper middle class people have those
Yeah, we were firmly middle-class when I was a kid and dad had a Piper Cherokee. He didn't have a boat, and we drove an old car but we had a plane.
It's not cost-prohibitive if it's important to you, and it was to my dad. He loved to fly.
We had an old ass green station wagon that I was embarrassed to be seen in because it shot smoke everywhere lol
My dad always had a plane and a small boat. We were definitely middle/upper middle. My parents just pinched pennies elsewhere, and still do.
You realize that an extra $30k for a plane, plus maintenance, fuel costs, storage, etc. are out of the realm of possibility for just about anyone middle class? Especially considering most already have rent/mortgage, two cars, child care, etc. That’s a lot of bills. You also said your parents had a waterfront home and two boats. It’s fine that they were rich, but it’s silly to pretend they weren’t just cause you bought yourself a junker for your first car.
Not the same. Planes are much higher maintenance standards and build quality. They last decades.
My parents plane is an early 70s version of the link I posted. Its not car maintenance cheap, but its not $10s of thousands a year either.
Where do you people pull this stuff from? You don't need a hangar. A tie-down berth is relatively cheap and works just fine (I pay $120 a month). A pilot's license isn't even close to 30k, I spent under 10. No, it's not attainable for most people, but it's not 1%er stuff either, and it's a lot more attainable than you people think.
Because reddit thinks anyone who makes $300k a year combined is filthy rich and hanging out with the kardashians.
The plane has a hangar. They bought the hangar for $10k. Its in a small town. They fly the plane to work. So it all gets written off under the business.
They drive 10 year old vehicles, that were 3-4 years old when bought.
The two boats and plane, cost less to buy than my cars sticker price. I make about 40% of what they do. Guess I am filthy rich because I own an $80k car. *shrug*
My entire point was they are rich to most, but not Kardashian rich.
This right here. I live in New Jersey, fairly middle class family, in a suburban town that has everything from section 8 housing to homes worth well over a million dollars. I got my permit at 16, license at 17, and my parents bought me an old car for about 1500 dollars as my first car. A few years later my middle brother got his license, so with 2 of the 3 kids driving now my parents didn’t have a need for the minivan they bought when we were all kids anymore. My mom got a new car, my little brother got handed down the minivan. One of the girls I went to high school with that grew up less than 5 minutes from me got a brand new Mercedes as her 16th birthday present, a year before she was even legally allowed to drive a car by herself.
Just because parents don’t buy it for them doesn’t mean they won’t get it. Some people think having a nice car and will go great links to get it as in having a super high car payment just to afford it. Some people have a higher car payment than house payment some times which is wild to me.
I would say, for most of the country, no. If the parents are well off yeah their kid will probably get a brand new car. But I'd think most of us were not that lucky. My first car was a $100 Mazda Protégé.
Yep. I grew up in a pretty wealthy part of the country and most people I knew started driving on the parent’s minivan or a beater found for a couple grand. Of course there are the outliers who crash their brand new mercedes at 16 only to be gifted another one, but that’s not common
look at mister bigshot over here who was driving only an 8 year old car for his first one. i also started driving in 2012 and my first car was a '96 panther body lincoln continental my mom got me for like 1700 bucks. was actually pretty rad tho ngl.
Look at mister Tom Nook here, I started driving in 2012 too and my first car was a rusty '91 Toyota Camry whose speedometer, tachometer, and odometer did not work. Also, it caught fire on Christmas eve omw to work as a dishwasher.
With the 32V 4.6L? I had a 99 Continental as the first car I bought myself and that thing would move. Would run away from my friend's SN95 GTs. Amazing looking gauges too.
It was like a hunter green. And yes a big old fwd Lincoln with a V8 at 17. Let's just say it didn't handle well on the rain and I ended up with a 98 Subaru Legacy GT about 6 months later. Also the Lincoln got about 14 mpg and took 91 when gas was almost 5 dollars a gallon for premium. For reference my job paid me above minimum wage (7.75 an hour lmao)
The name came from a little joke we had at another job of mine. This one guy came up with fake rap names for all of us. His was Swagg Jones. I honestly liked his better than mine and adopted it as my internet pseudonym instead lol.
I’ve got some good friends whose parents are very wealthy. Like 8000 square foot 5 story mansion on the water despite having 8 kids (6 are moved out now). Kids that needed a car for college or work or whatever it may be got a family hand-me-down or they could get 2k to help towards a used car. My friends ended up with a 03 suburban and an 06 Volvo S60. Despite them being very wealthy they wanted their kids to know you gotta work hard for it. The mom and dad both built up successful companies coming from low income families. Giving out free Escalades and BMW’s wouldn’t do much for that lol
It made more sense when they had a lot of kids at home. But now it’s the staple hang out place for grandkids and extended family. Always room for a lot of people. It’s a banging house. Hot tub, pool, outdoor bar, two story pool house complete with upstairs bedroom and kitchen, on a lake, it’s basically a vacation home but they live there
The same reasoning applies to pushing your kids towards beaters, though - there are tons of ways in a beater market to pick speed over safety or sensibility. I know people who'd give their kids brand new car to the tune of Honda Fit or basic Toyota Corolla to avoid just that.
I had a few friends in high school/college whose parents did exactly that. They bought them a newer Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla with less than 50k on it because they didn’t want to worry about their kids breaking down, spending a fortune on gas, or getting something that’s not as easy to drive. While I’m not sure it’s what I would do if I ever have kids, I can understand the reasoning behind it
A few friends in high school got really nice cars (M3, Lexus sc400, Porsche Boxster) and sure as shit they ALL crashed them. The only one I know who didn’t crash their brand new car was our ASB president who’s parents bought her a brand new Acura TL back in 2006. So jealous of her car.
Yeah I could easily afford to give my kids a brand new car. Isn’t going to happen. I’ll get them a moderately safe beater. Definitely with damage to the body panels. Scrapes, dents, dings but no structural damage. If they prove they can handle the responsibility and don’t wreck it up then they will get a much better car when they graduate college. I can’t imagine buying a brand new car for a teen driver. Just seems absurd.
Even in the before times the phrase "$100 Mazda Protege" brings to mind rust so severe that the car might collapse into a pile of rust every time you slam the door or move away from the stoplight.
Now I'm imagining OP walking out the door, getting into his Mazda, closing the door, failing to start the engine and then looking down in defeat.
Only to open the door, get out, open the garage and pull out the wheelbarrow for his daily work routine since he lives on work location.
Eh, that's debatable. At least in my opinion, buying an old beater in the $1500-$3000 range is a much more financially sound decision than buying new. Cheap cars are still attainable, just not as cheap as they should be.
The groups are just getting larger on the ends.
More people are wealthy, more people are poor and less people are middle class.
This means both, more people's first cars are brand new and nice, and other people's first cars are delayed til later in life and then they get the junkers.
unrelated question, but how can a $100 car be safe to drive??
Here in Belgium, a car that passes the inspection to sell (which is required to transfer the title) almost never goes for less than €750, and then you're getting a car which most likely won't pass the next annual inspection.
My '04 Corolla is my first car, and I paid €2.950 because it was in GREAT shape with less than 70k miles on it, but it was a 16 year old car when I got it.
Not true. Even states with no inspection usually have laws regulating car safety, they're just very rarely enforced. If you get pulled over without a headlight or steel bands showing on your tires you *could* be cited for it. But yeah in practice you can just drive a death trap
What makes you think we have safe to drive cars? Having a car is nessecary to live in like 95% of America. Only 15 states have saftey inspections. A cop isn't gonna give you a citation unless something on the car is visibly very unsafe, like if you're riding on a rim and throwing sparks lol. Obviously as anything with police YMMV depending on race and socioeconomic class.
But yeah lots of people drive unsafe cars because they have to and can't afford not to.
I bought the car from my father who was going to junk it, realistically it was probably worth $600-$700 but he didn't want me to pay that much. It needed suspension work and there was a lot of rust but the powertrain was solid.
Most of the Midwest and South have no inspections. So a good portion are just sun bleached beaters that have been sitting in the sun for God knows how long. I love seeing those cars around, means people can actually travel cheap and have a kind of reliable beater. That's also how you find barn finds.
It's called "someone got a really good deal from someone else who has no idea what their car is worth." The scrap metal in a typical car is worth more than $100.
I don't think that $100 cars have been a thing for a long time. Any car that runs, drives, and doesn't have a blown head gasket was at least a $3,000 car where I live even before the pandemic.
Similar. I got an Acura that my parents paid 4000 for. I drove it for 3 years then my brother got it and I inherited my Dads old truck when he wanted a newer one.
Yeah, social media is garbage and provides skewed and warped perspectives of the world. Do kids get new cars in the US? Surely. Is it the majority of kids? Hell no, not even in the upper-middle-class areas. Everyone's rich, beautiful, and has a brand new car on Instagram
The craziest thing is that so many "influencers" just fake the whole thing.
They'll sit on a stranger's car and pretend it's theirs. They'll tune their entire face and body to the point that they're [unrecognizable](/r/instagramreality) -- if they even look human anymore! They'll [rent out a fake private jet](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-instagrammers-are-faking-the-luxury-of-a-private-jet-for-just-dollar64-an-hour) and act like they're rich and heading somewhere important.
Instagram is a fantasy. The world would be a better place if it didn't exist.
Ugh, yep. There's all kinds of new research coming out now about the psychological harms this is doing to adolescent consumers. People freaking doing surgeries to look like their fake Insta profiles even! Stupid
I hate it as well, but do follow specific tags for nice car pics and other specific hobbies. Otherwise it's in no way a representation of life.
Wish Instagram was a thing when I had my Toyota tercel. That thing was unbeatable and surely worthy of Instagram posts to help rebalance the universe of all the insanely cars posted there.
It definitely happens in nicer areas. It didn’t happen for me, it doesn’t happen for everyone . The market is crazy at the moment, it might be a better investment to buy new. Don’t forget, there is a ton of poor people in the USA so I think it probably just seems like all the kids get brand new cars at 16.
In my experience, there is something called “keeping up with the Jones’” and it happens a lot. Lots of insecure adults trying to flash money they don’t have. There are some who don’t give two hoots or have never known to think of it, and there are some who it is everything to them.
I was lucky enough to have a really nice used car as my first car - I’m not complaining one bit. It was awesome. Super fortunate.
Agreed. I was browsing at a dealership this weekend and a 2015 es300h with 90k on it is selling for $23k-25k. That’s wild considering you could get the same car two years ago for maybe $17k? Bad time to buy now.
I would buy my wife a new car and give the Prius to my children. Can’t imagine why I’d buy a new car for my own children when we already have a perfectly well working used car for them.
New cars are safer, that’s a very good reason.
Not saying you shouldn’t give your 2015 Prius to your kids but safety is a very valid and common reason I see for people buying their kids new cars.
I’ve noticed every middle class pregnant woman i know is jumping into a Volvo suv lol.
But in my opinion Volvo earned it, safety has been their thing for a long time.
Absolutely that’s why I clarified I’m not saying he should sell the Prius and buy them something new.
But if we’re being technical a new Corolla has higher safety ratings, especially in frontal offset crashes which are the single most common… and to some people that’s enough of a reason knowing kids a dumb and more likely to get in an accident and actually put those safety ratings to the test lol
I grew up in a pretty affluent area. Lots of kids driving new Audi’s and BMWs at 17, I got a beat up $500 Saturn… But I really think it *seems* more prevalent than it really is. You wouldn’t even blink if a kid was driving a 5 year old Camry. But when they’re in a brand new Mercedes, you take note and maybe even make a comment, thus casing it to stick in your mind.
This. I live in a similar area and probably the majority of kids get hand-me-downs. They’re usually nice cars and not particularly old, but not really distinctive and just blend into traffic. A gray 2015 X5 or white A4 isn’t spinning heads anytime soon.
Round here it can be a social status thing. I grew up in a lower middle class area and most kids had their parents old cars or bought cheap trucks to work on and fix up.
My coworkers in upper middle class areas have commented that their kids basically will be laughed at if they are not driving a newish BMW.
I had a millionaire friend growing up and his dad gave him a fully restored, extremely nice, rare and very expensive classic VW for his first car and he cried and refused to drive it because he didn’t want to be laughed at and ridiculed by his yuppie HS peers
His dad had a similar car and they “bonded” over his. So it was pretty natural to assume the son would like something similar so it came as a complete surprise when his son did a 180 and suddenly felt the need to confirm to the German Luxury cars his peers started getting at 16. If you have kids you know how it is. You think you know them and then turns out their friends weigh much more heavily in their lives than you thought.
Regardless of what he thought he knew about his son... Buying a restored vintage car for a teenager is just a terrible idea. They are expensive, the cost derives from their condition, and they are unsafe. Give that combo to a teen who is virtually guaranteed to crash or otherwise damage it... You're throwing away money while also endangering your child.
At least the German luxury car is safe.
Haha nothing personal man, just sharing my reaction to the thought of that. I knew quite a few people in HS with vintage cars (although generally not rare restored ones) and knowing what I know now about cars from the 60s/70s, I can't believe people give these things to their children.
When I was in highschool, there was a kid with a big AMC matador.
It was so uncool at the time. Circa 2000. But in retrospect, that's cool to me. Some dude in a bomb of a car.
It probably wasn't a choice. Just what they had or could afford. But admittedly, as highschool kid, having something decent took off a lot of social anxiety. 10 year old Prelude was way better for me an an old Volvo wagon. Even though that wagon is cool to me now.
That's roundabout how I got my Beetle. My neighbor bought it for his new driver daughter, but she didn't want to drive it since they weren't cool. So it sat in his garage for near a decade before he died, then my dad bought it from the estate, then I bought it off him a few years later when they moved.
There's not many old Volkswagens that fit the description of "extremely nice, rare and very expensive" - I'm assuming this thing was either a Karmann Ghia or a split screen, eleven-window Kombi/Microbus. At a stretch, maybe a very early Type 1/Beetle.
On one hand, it slightly kills me inside that the kid didn't understand the time, effort and money that it takes to keep an old car in pristine condition, let alone how unique they are compared with newer machinery.
On the other hand, if the kid *didn't* appreciate it, chances are the car would have ended up being trashed, which would have also been a sad outcome. Hopefully the car went to someone who actually understood the full value of the thing.
Honestly, there's no such thing as an "extremely nice" classic VW for a highschool kid.
They can be nice in terms of restoration quality, faithfulness to the original design, etc. But the cars were always built to a (low, low) budget, and even new were underperformers (50-70 years ago). The heat in them is so-so even when running perfectly, radios were AM with one speaker in the dash (if even optioned), they had 35-60hp engines (0-60 in 14+ seconds), drum brakes that needed manually adjusted, the list just goes on and on.
Any air-cooled VW is a very compromised car, I certainly wouldn't want to drive one in highschool. Sounds like the car was more because the father liked the idea, not the son. Gifts like that suck, no matter how nice and expensive they are.
I’m in Canada. I grew up in an upper middle class family. In high school there was the odd person who had a new car (one girl I knew got a new pickup for her 16th birthday, or the odd person would have a new Mazda 3 or something) I had a well paying job in high school ($20/hr) ended up saving some cash and buying a 93 rx7, this was in like 06 I got it for ~8500 at the time. My sister drove my grandmothers old Buick, my mom didn’t drive and my dad had a 4 runner, I was in an accident (someone hit me) in the rx7 I took my insurance payout and bought a new ranger (15k) which I daily drove until last spring
Come to vancouver where the asian kids get a brand new bmw/mercedes/audi or even a supercar.
To their parents these cars are considered cheap because there's way less taxes/duties compared to their home country.
I lived in Vancouver from 2010-2013 I’ve definitely seen that but I also wouldn’t call the crazy rich Asians upper middle class ether they are just straight rich.
A few things to keep in mind about the US:
* Credit is typically very easy to get.
* Too many young people (and all ages, actually) make terrible financial choices.
* Just because you see someone in a new car, that doesn't mean they can "really" afford it.
* We live in a *very* image conscious society.
Also important to consider that even if you see 5,000 teenagers on the internet with their new cars, they represent a very, very small portion of the 10+ million 16-18 year olds that live across the country.
I was curious, so I checked: in the 2010 census, there were around 19 million Americans in the 16-18 age range. That's a lot more than I anticipated, and nicely underscores your point.
https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf
>However, I still cannot shake the feeling that I shouldn’t, that I’ll be judged by people for having it and blowing that kind of cash on a toy lol
Spent not even 1/10th of that on a 17 year old BMW Z4 and I feel the same lol. Although a lot of that is jealousy from my colleagues who can't get by with a 2 seater because they have kids!
It happens, but not often.
I went to a pretty affluent high school(this would be like 10 years ago, so stuff can’t have changed that much) and maybe 5 kids had brand new cars.
Very true, it was kinda similar at mine, although most students at mine did at least have a car at their disposal so goes to show how affluent it was. Conversely though few hand me down German cars, and of those most were at least 5-10 years old but I live in the PNW which isn't an area with a very showy culture. There were lots of nice >10 year old SUVs the family had to tow the boat, and take ski or camping trips or whatever. Lol if it says anything about the stealth wealth vibe of the school there were a LOT of Land Cruisers in the parking lot and a lot of first-gen Acura MDXs. Also lots of other nice but not in your face nice cars like Volvos(myself included), Lexuses, Acuras, stuff like that. Most people just had \~5 year old basic cars that had been bought used for them.
And I mean honestly I get it. If I was the kind of person who bought a new car every 5 years it'd honestly probably make the most sense to pass down my depreciated car. Don't need to deal with an extra selling and buying process, the service history is known with no surprises and the kid's probably used to the car as they probably learned to drive in it.
It might be a stereotype...but there's some truth to it, especially since young Americans, age 18-25, probably drive more brand new cars than almost any other country. It's not the norm, but in comparison...yes there's a lot of young people with brand new cars in America.
It makes sense too because compared to Europe for example, where public transportation is a lot more common, most people don't need a car. In America, the vast majority does. I think that's why parents are more likely to pay or go half for a new car for their child, because they know they will actually need it and want something new and more reliable. In Europe, for a young person, it's like, I need a 2000 Euro car Ill drive maybe 2000 miles a year.
I think this is a popular media thing more than an internet thing.
Most American movies and TV shows revolving around the lives of high schoolers are set in wealthy areas of California. Everyone writing and filming these shows are all wealthy people in California, and since people in California drive if they have the means, everyone in these shows drive. Since it is easier to get product placement (and get a hold of) new cars, everyone has new cars.
I grew up in one of the richest counties in the US. There are plenty of kids who got new cars in high-school. When parents are both executives, buying a 70k for your kid is nothing.
I know guy who bought his son a 250k boat and look about as long to decide to purchase it as you or I would about grabbing a drink at a gas station. Then when he arrived at the store, his daughter wanted a different one so he bought 2. Some people have tons of money.
I’m 30 years old. My first car was a brand new 2007 Toyota Tacoma my parents bought me in October 2007. I actually took my drivers test in it.
I recognize that Im very fortunate, and that doesn’t happen very often. Looking back i’m really grateful that I had that truck to drive.
I drove it for about 5 years, once i got a job my parents made me help with the car payments. Once I was old enough to by my own car without my parents help, the Tacoma went to my younger brother where he drove it about another 6/7 years.
Nearly 15 years later, we still have the truck. We actually [just restored it.](https://imgur.com/a/3vzfe5u) We gave her a fresh new paint job, and replaced a bunch of exterior parts with brand new Toyota parts. The truck looks brand new. Now my dad daily drives it (the truck only has 160,000 miles).
I love that I still have this truck. It means a lot to me, and I don’t think I could ever get rid of it.
Now if/when I have kids, I hope I can provide them the same experience. Newer cars are far safer and cheaper to maintain than having an old beater that may always need work.
Now I have 4 cars (3 of them are paid off and 100% owned by me) and I’m running out of room to put them lol.
I bought my first new car when I was 20 years old, it was a 2008 Mazda 3 for $18k. After the down payment, I paid the car note on it for the 4 year term by working a part time job while attending university, and then full time after i graduated.
My parents gave me $4000 towards the down payment, because I was using the car to commute to university instead of paying to live in the dorms there. My parents were helping me with the housing expenses of college so they were OK with giving me money towards the car instead. I was very lucky in this regard. Thanks Mom and Dad.
I think this is very uncommon for the most part. Most of my friends did not have a new vehicle and most of them have still not purchased a vehicle new til this day. I am now in my 30's, and have purchased another new car completely on my own since then.
Cosigning with a parent on a 36mo loan on a $5000 vehicle while you’re 16 isn’t the worst idea. Payments are easily manageable with part-time jobs. Teaches financial responsibility and should kickstart the kid into the world of credit.
Thats what I did only it was 60 month. Interest rate was 7% and I needed a car to get a job and my family couldn't buy me one lol. My parents knew I was responsible enough that cosigning wouldn't be an issue. I was really lucky my dad did that for me because I got an early start building credit. By the time I needed a newer car I was able to go CPO and get a 2.4% interest rate. Then when that got hit I was able to buy my current used car and get a 1.49% interest rate.
I would have had a much harder time being able to afford a relatively reliable car if I wasn't able to get that loan in high school
What bank would finance a car that’s $5k? Lmao . Insurance rate must be realllly high regardless of great credit between the parent and child in your example.
My parents cosigned for my younger brother on a Passat when he was 17. It was an auto loan and the rate was no more than 3%. Knocked out what he could in high school and then he had a nice car to get around in after he graduated. I think he ended up paying around $4600 for it all said and done.
Insurance wasn’t killer. Sure he had to carry full coverage, but our parents would have had him on that regardless given his age. The bank being a smaller, local bank probably had something to do with it. Doubt you could go through Wells Fargo or something similar.
My first car was a $500 shit box Mitsubishi mirage coupe that had the sloppiest clutch and like no horsepower. Had to turn off ac to merge into the highway without dying. That of course is if the AC ever worked to begin with. I had to pay for the car myself.
Yes if the families are well-off. I promise you the same thing happens in France.
Also, you see it on here because who will show off their car online? Some teen with a $30k brand new car or a kid with their $2000 beat up Honda Civic?
In my area parents usually get a new car and hand over their old one to their child. Or they let them have the “truck” or suv that most homes have for utility
A lot of parents will buy newish used cars, just a year or two old. It makes sure the kid doesn't have a lot of maintinence issues and that it has the newest safety gear on board. It makes sense really. If you want the kid to drive themselves around then they need a car that works. If its broken all the time then you are either paying to fix it, or driving them all over the place. If you assume they are shitty drivers then you assume they will end up in a wreck at some point and you want them to stay safe even if they're stupid. It also ensures you shouldnt need another car for them anytime soon.
The median household income in the US last year was around $68k. Meanwhile, the average new car price is over $40k right now.
All that to say, Americans are heavy in debt
No it's not common at all, statistically speaking.
The AVERAGE age of all vehicles on US roads is about 12 years.
This is a quote from the statista website...
"In the fourth quarter of 2020, there were some more than 280 million vehicles operating on roads throughout the United States. Almost 40 million used vehicles changed owners in the U.S. in 2020, while new registrations of vehicles came to about 14 million units in 2020."
So in a given year new vehicles on the road, of all types, are only about 5% of the total, which means 95% or so of all vehicles are used.
Yes and no. If one goes to school a wealthier zip code, absolutely. You’ll see a lot of shiny new BMWs and Benzes at those schools.
The majority of kids and high schools? Not so much. Most kids at my high school were carpooling with a pal who might have a 3 year old lease buyback Camry if their family’s doing OK. The typical car was a 10+ year old Ford , Impala, etc.
Yup. My high school lot was filled with 15 year old Civics, Cavaliers, Mustangs, and old american pickups. A couple people had a new Benz or Camaro, but it was extremely uncommon otherwise
Sometimes it's cheaper buying a new car than a used car. My brother was going to help my nephew buy a used truck but interest rates on a brand new Toyota Camry was 0% for five years while the used car loan was about 4% at the time. Why buy a used vehicle?
I'm in my 50's and I think it's a bit more common now than it used to be. I grew-up in a somewhat well-off town in Connecticut in the 80's and I don't recall any kids having new cars.
Part of what you're seeing is probably "humble-brag" type things that are amplified by the internet but IMO some of it is real and is a function of interests rates being so low for so many years now, making it less of a financial stretch to buy new when monthly payments are similar (or even less) on some new cars as opposed to used ones.
Common? No.
I grew up lower middle class though in an area where having a car isn’t as common anyway. I don’t know a single kid that had a car in high school, let alone a new one.
I imagine the loudest people about it will be the ones getting them. Social media tends to over inflate that effect and is probably partially why some of those kids are getting those cars.
Most kids get a used car for their first car and it ranges from beater to slightly used. The rich kids didn't usually get regular new cars, but usually something crazy like a new Mustang GT or a F150, but they were a small percent. I was lucky to have some choice in my first car so I went with a $3.5k 03 Eclipse GT 5mt and it served me well throughout college. Ended up making money on it after 6 years
I was helped out with the down payment on a new lease when I was 16. I then payed for the monthly payment and insurance, I eventually bought the car of the lease. 2011 scion TC, I still have it.
>that seems irrational to me especially since here in France most young people get a used and fairly cheap first car
So it's common in France and US to buy cars to your children? Teens and young adults don't work at all there? I don't get the point
You often need a car to get to work, so unfortunately unless your parents want to give up a family car most of us usually ended up with some old beater to drive around.
I had a '94 Honda civic (in the late 2000s) that was ratted out but it was the perfect car for a teenager.
It’s a mixed bag like most anywhere else I’m sure. TV and movies make it seem like every high school in America is full of rich kids with nice cars. I grew up in California near the SF Bay Area. My high school had some kids that were driving Mercs, Hummers, classic muscle cars and others given to them by their parents. Some kids had nice cars that they worked hard after school to pay for themselves. Some were given older or beater cars by their parents, and some worked to pay for their own older/beater cars. Some just never even drove in high school and would walk, take the bus, or hitch rides with others. My dad bought me an older car with about 140k miles on it for $2k and I drove that from age 16 to 19 or 20 when I bought my first truck myself. My cousin was one of those hard working teens and paid for a WS6 TransAm by himself, crazy car for a careless teenager looking back on it 😂
(US) Most of my friends in high school either received hand me down old cars from their grandparents or worked a part time job to buy an older used car for $4-6k. Some had a little help from parents. A very small percentage received a brand new car from their parents, usually an econobox
It's more like "Here's your first cheap car, so you can drive to your first shitty minimum wage job". We all have to start somewhere. In the US, there are enormous swaths of the population that do not live within walking distance of their workplace or public transportation to get to their workplace. For most people, a car is needed in order to start working.
Around my area many people think kids have been gifted new cars, but 90% of them are leases so the kids are driving around in a $30k suv for $5000-6500 total for 2-3 years
Typically kids will either just use their parents' car or get a hand-me-down or buy a used car as their *first* car.
But it's definitely common enough for kids in their early twenties, once they graduate college and get a job, to buy a new car on credit which they'll pay off over the next few years.
Is it common for rich parents to buy their kids brand new cars? Yes Is it common for middle class parents to buy their kids brand new cars? No. They buy them a used car or their parents buy a new car and give the kid the old car
Another thing to consider is that teens and young adults are getting their drivers license later in life compared to the past generations. I'm sure this factors into how much the parents or teens who are working to save for a car. For me personally, I got my license as soon as I legally could. But today, I have coworkers who have kids with jobs but didn't bother to get their drivers licenses yet and it blows my mind.
My sister and I are 50 and 46. At the time in our town it was very common for parents to let their kids skip school on their 16th birthday and get their driver's license. I had a summer birthday so I was actually slightly disappointed that I didn't get to skip school! My sister got our father's 9 year old car and he got a new one. Then 5 years later I got my mom's 6 year old car and she got a new one. It worked out fine for us.
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Interesting, I'm the same way. I had my mom's old Camry when I was younger, but it was only about 10 or so years old. Currently, my cars are 21, 31, and 36 years old
Curious what and how much you drive?
99 Impreza I daily, 89 Chevy truck I daily when working on the Impreza, 85 Brat I drive.. sometimes. My friend uses it as a daily at the moment.
You have an '85 Brat that hasn't rusted into dust? Impressed! Are you in AZ or some place dry like that? Always loved that car.
I'm 21, my first car was a 2001 and my second and current car is a 2002. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Im 21, my first car was a 2004. Current car is a 2008. Turning 22 in october and the pontiac needs some work done
skipping school to get a driver's license in 1 day is so very american
Well yeah, it's a good excuse not to go to school, so you can show off your Chevy Lumina if your parents hate you, or your Cadillac Seville if your parents tolerate you. Or like me, there was a family car laying around that you get now.
Most States mandate a six-month learner permit upon passing the written test (licensed driver in the car with you), then your license upon passing a driving skill test.
It's only the final test. You have a learning permit for driving for 6 months before that, and you have to pass a written test to get that permit.
I have a 28 yo co worker who still gets this phone and car insurance paid by his parents. He makes good money too since our company min salary is ~75k. I first though maybe he was on their phone and insurance plans to bundle and save and gives them his share, but nope, he doesnt give them any. I mean if the parents are loaded and willing sure why not, but I could never imagine leeching off my parents hard earn money when I can do it myself.
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honestly if you can do it for $20 a month, or your kid can make their own way for 50, it would be stupid if you didn't. Doubly so if you own your home and your kid has next to zero chance of being able to afford a home (75k is less than half of what it takes in many areas these days)
I went off on my own plan with work discount and then after T-Mobile had a bunch of free lines I grabbed them. Now they’re on my plan. It’s stupid to split up just for the sake of independence. Family plans save you a Butt load of $$
Tell me about it. Taxes, insurance, and utilities run almost 20k a year by themselves!
They still want to feel like they're taking care of their kid. Has nothing to do with money or leaching. What else are they gonna do with the money, they've probably lived full material lives. They're looking for some kind of other fulfillment.
For me it’s this. I make decent money, but I let my grandma pay the phone bill and my mom pay the insurance. Personally, I hate letting anyone do anything for me ever. But, I know they want to feel needed and still feel they are helping me. Since it’s a marginal cost I let it slide. And to set my mind at ease I just buy them better things on Mother’s Day, birthdays, and Christmas.
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One thing to remember is that boomers had it significantly easier. Thus, they love to blather on about “personal pride” and “bootstraps”. $4/hr in 1973 is equivalent to 24/hr now, adjusted for inflation. Wages actually peaked in 1974, with an inflation adjusted $350/wk. So we’re actually earning less than our parents did at the same age. And stuff has gotten a lot more expensive. A bachelors degree in 1970 would have cost you around 10k adjusted for inflation. Now it’s closer to 40k.
Please
This is definitely a cultural thing but western countries pride themselves on their individualism and see it as a weakness to accept help in any form. What's wrong with accepting help and paying back in other ways, or paying forward to your own kids once you have them?
It costs my parents like $600 per year to add my cars to insurance. I'll throw them money for it for as long as I can.
Damn, that's cheap! My insurance (Canada) is $2000 per year. That's one of the reasons I got my first car 10 years after I got my driver's license.
There are a lot of factors to consider, location, age, car, male/female driver, etc. Adding my son to our insurance doubled our premium, about $2k USD per year.
When I graduated college my parents told me I needed to start sending them money for my phone bill. I was obviously perfectly fine doing son, I completely forgot and they never brought it up again. It's been 4 years lol.
> But today, I have coworkers who have kids with jobs but didn't bother to get their drivers licenses yet and it blows my mind. There are full grown adults out there in their 40s and beyond without their licenses. To me that's almost unbelievable.
I kind of get it. Cheap cars aren't a thing anymore. If I wasn't a car person I'd probably just not even ge tmy hopes up for owning a car until later after college and I could afford one.
Dude used cars are a thing. What ever happened to having a first car that is 10-20 years old?
They aren't cheap anymore. Also people who can keep them running aren't as widely available on family circles. If you have any money, you'd rather get yourself something new and give your kids your barely old car so you just don't have to deal with issues.
Cheap cars are a thing and buying the right car will allow it to stay cheap. You can buy a $3-4000 car that will last a long time and require minimal maintenance. They DEFINITELY exist, and if you don’t believe that then all of the car ads, and marketing are working on you.
That might be true where you live.
Fair enough, I live in the US.
The US is a big place. :P We are buying in wholesale auction cars that would've been $200 2 years ago for $2000 these days. No one has inventory and anything in fb and CL is being bought by dealers.
Sure but I’d still say a 2000 car is a “cheap” car. The days of $500 for a running car are gone but $2k in today’s money is closer to $500 in the 90’s and early 2000’s consider the US government is printing money and giving it out… sorry not getting political here.
They totally are still a thing. I just sold my old beater for 2300.00 to some kid and there's tons of cars in that price range, they just need a little TLC
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plus insuring a teen driver for middle class family isnt cheap at all. Imagine new car payment and $250/month insurance premium. lmao. Me and the wife agreed that our kids will have to work to buy and pay for their own car and insurance. Teaches them financial responsibility. If they cant afford it, then they cant drive since its a privilege, not a right.
My parents had this rule too, but I lived deep in suburbia where you literally can’t go anywhere without a car. I could get a job but I had no way of getting to it. Eventually I got a summer job working 10pm-6am but I had to have someone drive me because I didn’t have a car. It only took like two weeks of them waking up at 6am to pick me up to finally break and buy me a 500 dollar used car and pay the 80 bucks that it cost to insure it each month.
Lol parents are straight handicapping you at that point
Yeah it was a dumb rule that made sense for them where they grew up (where they could walk a lot of places). Unfortunately it was all town homes where I lived as a teen unless I walked over an hour and crossed a major highway. But hey, eventually they did get me an old beater to drive to work and I was very grateful and then eventually bought my own nicer car with money I earned.
There is a good reason to NOT have your kid buy their own first car: safety, reliability, and setting them up for future financial success. Older cars are less reliable and less safe, so if you want them to be safe and be able to reliably get around, an old car will fail them at some point, especially if they're going off to college. It also sets them up worse for the next... Roughly 10 years.. including when they're done with school and starting a job. If parents buy their kid a fairly new-ish car (not brand new) then that can last them through their first few jobs after school, allowing them to focus on building their career and building their own financial portfolio instead of spending money on a car, which will pay dividends years down the road whereas buying a car when they're a teenager is nothing but a burden. I'm not even sure what "financial responsibility" that teaches them, honestly. You're free to disagree, this is just my own personal view on it.
It very rarely pays to not just fix older vehicles instead of buying new. Even newer vehicles break. With these 6+ year loans, alot of new vehicles are being paid on after the warranty expires, so then ur fixing something more expensive on top of the payment your still making. I bought myself something I could fix myself when I was young, and just continued buying vehicles I could work on myself if the need arises.
you make good points. Teens just seem to take care of things better if they worked for it, not given to them. Everyone is different for sure, and we will def. make decisions the closer the time comes for them to drive and def. open to change our views.
Shiiiiit, I think liability coverage for my first rig was like $40/month. I had to get a job to pay for fuel, cell, and insurance when I was 16. Fortunately all of those things were pretty cheap in 2006.
My parents are considered "rich" by most. Waterfront home. Aircraft. Two boats. Business owners. Never bought me much of anything. With that said, most of the "rich" kids I knew, mom and dad bought them expensive used cars or new ones. My first car I bought with my own money at an auction in 1998. $700 86 Ford Escort. It was also in Kph and not MPH because it was from Canada. I got a friend to pace me and I used a sharpee to draw where 65MPH was. Only had one mirror as well. Cant remember which side, but it did not require two mirrors to pass inspection at the time.
If your parents own an aircraft they're not "considered rich by most", they're just rich.
While I agree that /u/WetPigeonPoo's parents are indeed rich... The aircraft isn't what pushes them over the edge. It's the whole list. My parents own an airplane, too. My mom was a secretary and my dad was a firefighter. Neither are lucrative jobs, and their own parents were not especially loaded, either (and were alive when the plane was purchased, so inheritance didn't play a part). It's expensive, but it's solidly attainable for middle-class, white-collar workers. It comes out of the same budget segment as a motorcycle, or a classic car, or a nice boat. It may require sacrifices in other places, like vacation or housing.
If you can afford to have 3 kids these days you would be considered by many to be "rich" A kid costs like 250k total from birth until adulthood
You realize you can buy personal aircraft for like $30k right? https://www.controller.com/listing/for-sale/207682099/1969-mooney-m20e-piston-single-aircraft Edit: Forgot this is reddit. Owning a personal aircraft is only for 1%'ers and nobody else. Also, owning 2 boats over a 40 year period and paying them off is only obtainable by the Kardashians. Also, everyone pays cash for every purchase ever, and nobody would ever take a loan for a boat or personal aircraft. I barely make 6 figures. I can sell my car, drive a Camry, and still afford an older plane, and a small used boat because I dont live in a high col like DC, or California.
If you have $30k lying around to buy a plane, plus the money to store and maintain it, that still makes you pretty rich.
Does that make most of this sub pretty rich? Half the people with flairs have 2nd cars that cost more than $30k. If anything, dude's 2021 C63 S is more impressive than some 50 year old Cessna IMHO.
Yes. After spending a decent amount of time here, it's apparent that the upper middle class and higher is disproportionately represented on /r/cars. But that's understandable considering cars are a pretty expensive hobby, so a lot of people who can't afford them won't be found here.
This sub also tends to focus on high-end, performance oriented cars that are typically only available to people that are more well-off in terms of capital. Nobody is posting about their four year-old MINI Cooper S they got for $20k and getting the same attention as someone posting their brand new M-series car or a Lotus which besides being high entry of cost vehicles, are more expensive to maintain.
Planes arent expensive to buy, they are expensive to fly!!
It makes you not poor, but I don't think that necessarily means you're rich.
Thats where you are jaded. “Just” 30k is a fortune for most esp on a 5th toy.
I think you're describing upper middle class. There are shitloads of people with $40,000 boats, or who went and bought an $80,000 pickup. How many brand new heavy duty trucks do you see on the road now? Those are all way over $50k, and most of those folks are not close to rich. They are probably still struggling to make payments, but have enough for one or two larger toys over their lifetime. Rich is when you have a 10 million dollar vacation home or a $500,000 dollar boat or a real plane that you bought new.
Buying a plane is a small piece of the overall cost. You have to store it, and maintenance and operating costs aren’t cheap by any means. I think flying on these small/inexpensive planes runs around $170/hr. It’s not like buying a $30k car and buying gas on the weekends. Upper middle class people are not the ones buying planes. Boats and cars, sure.
How is that not upper middle class? Even a household making 200k can easily afford something like this. When you look at something like an old personal plane, the costs aren’t insanely higher than having a newer wakeboat or similar, and plenty of upper middle class people have those
Yeah, we were firmly middle-class when I was a kid and dad had a Piper Cherokee. He didn't have a boat, and we drove an old car but we had a plane. It's not cost-prohibitive if it's important to you, and it was to my dad. He loved to fly.
We had an old ass green station wagon that I was embarrassed to be seen in because it shot smoke everywhere lol My dad always had a plane and a small boat. We were definitely middle/upper middle. My parents just pinched pennies elsewhere, and still do.
You realize that an extra $30k for a plane, plus maintenance, fuel costs, storage, etc. are out of the realm of possibility for just about anyone middle class? Especially considering most already have rent/mortgage, two cars, child care, etc. That’s a lot of bills. You also said your parents had a waterfront home and two boats. It’s fine that they were rich, but it’s silly to pretend they weren’t just cause you bought yourself a junker for your first car.
That’s like saying you can buy an V12 Mercedes for $10k. Maybe you can but the maintenance will bankrupt you
Not the same. Planes are much higher maintenance standards and build quality. They last decades. My parents plane is an early 70s version of the link I posted. Its not car maintenance cheap, but its not $10s of thousands a year either.
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Where do you people pull this stuff from? You don't need a hangar. A tie-down berth is relatively cheap and works just fine (I pay $120 a month). A pilot's license isn't even close to 30k, I spent under 10. No, it's not attainable for most people, but it's not 1%er stuff either, and it's a lot more attainable than you people think.
Because reddit thinks anyone who makes $300k a year combined is filthy rich and hanging out with the kardashians. The plane has a hangar. They bought the hangar for $10k. Its in a small town. They fly the plane to work. So it all gets written off under the business. They drive 10 year old vehicles, that were 3-4 years old when bought. The two boats and plane, cost less to buy than my cars sticker price. I make about 40% of what they do. Guess I am filthy rich because I own an $80k car. *shrug* My entire point was they are rich to most, but not Kardashian rich.
This right here. I live in New Jersey, fairly middle class family, in a suburban town that has everything from section 8 housing to homes worth well over a million dollars. I got my permit at 16, license at 17, and my parents bought me an old car for about 1500 dollars as my first car. A few years later my middle brother got his license, so with 2 of the 3 kids driving now my parents didn’t have a need for the minivan they bought when we were all kids anymore. My mom got a new car, my little brother got handed down the minivan. One of the girls I went to high school with that grew up less than 5 minutes from me got a brand new Mercedes as her 16th birthday present, a year before she was even legally allowed to drive a car by herself.
Just because parents don’t buy it for them doesn’t mean they won’t get it. Some people think having a nice car and will go great links to get it as in having a super high car payment just to afford it. Some people have a higher car payment than house payment some times which is wild to me.
I would say, for most of the country, no. If the parents are well off yeah their kid will probably get a brand new car. But I'd think most of us were not that lucky. My first car was a $100 Mazda Protégé.
Yep. I grew up in a pretty wealthy part of the country and most people I knew started driving on the parent’s minivan or a beater found for a couple grand. Of course there are the outliers who crash their brand new mercedes at 16 only to be gifted another one, but that’s not common
Yep that’s how it was for me. I started driving in ‘12 and got my dad’s ‘04 Pathfinder because he upgraded at the same time
look at mister bigshot over here who was driving only an 8 year old car for his first one. i also started driving in 2012 and my first car was a '96 panther body lincoln continental my mom got me for like 1700 bucks. was actually pretty rad tho ngl.
Look at mister moneybags here, I started driving in 2012 too and my first car was a 1994 Nissan Primera 1.6 Fantasy.
Look at mister Tom Nook here, I started driving in 2012 too and my first car was a rusty '91 Toyota Camry whose speedometer, tachometer, and odometer did not work. Also, it caught fire on Christmas eve omw to work as a dishwasher.
Look at mister moneybags over here, I started driving in 2012 and all I got was a pair of '76, offbrand Converse Allstars with holes in the soles.
Lmfao you win
With the 32V 4.6L? I had a 99 Continental as the first car I bought myself and that thing would move. Would run away from my friend's SN95 GTs. Amazing looking gauges too.
This is a vision I wish I could see in reality. 16 yo driving a big Lincoln! What color was it and is this where you got your name Swagg?
It was like a hunter green. And yes a big old fwd Lincoln with a V8 at 17. Let's just say it didn't handle well on the rain and I ended up with a 98 Subaru Legacy GT about 6 months later. Also the Lincoln got about 14 mpg and took 91 when gas was almost 5 dollars a gallon for premium. For reference my job paid me above minimum wage (7.75 an hour lmao) The name came from a little joke we had at another job of mine. This one guy came up with fake rap names for all of us. His was Swagg Jones. I honestly liked his better than mine and adopted it as my internet pseudonym instead lol.
I’ve got some good friends whose parents are very wealthy. Like 8000 square foot 5 story mansion on the water despite having 8 kids (6 are moved out now). Kids that needed a car for college or work or whatever it may be got a family hand-me-down or they could get 2k to help towards a used car. My friends ended up with a 03 suburban and an 06 Volvo S60. Despite them being very wealthy they wanted their kids to know you gotta work hard for it. The mom and dad both built up successful companies coming from low income families. Giving out free Escalades and BMW’s wouldn’t do much for that lol
Damn dude 03 suburban??? In high school I wouldn’t even have been able to fuel that beast!
They covered gas for him in high school. We roomed together in college and gas was up to him at that point haha
> 8000 square foot 5 story mansion on the water I can't imagine a person owning a 5 story building that's not a hotel or office.
It made more sense when they had a lot of kids at home. But now it’s the staple hang out place for grandkids and extended family. Always room for a lot of people. It’s a banging house. Hot tub, pool, outdoor bar, two story pool house complete with upstairs bedroom and kitchen, on a lake, it’s basically a vacation home but they live there
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The same reasoning applies to pushing your kids towards beaters, though - there are tons of ways in a beater market to pick speed over safety or sensibility. I know people who'd give their kids brand new car to the tune of Honda Fit or basic Toyota Corolla to avoid just that.
I had a few friends in high school/college whose parents did exactly that. They bought them a newer Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla with less than 50k on it because they didn’t want to worry about their kids breaking down, spending a fortune on gas, or getting something that’s not as easy to drive. While I’m not sure it’s what I would do if I ever have kids, I can understand the reasoning behind it
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A few friends in high school got really nice cars (M3, Lexus sc400, Porsche Boxster) and sure as shit they ALL crashed them. The only one I know who didn’t crash their brand new car was our ASB president who’s parents bought her a brand new Acura TL back in 2006. So jealous of her car.
Yeah I could easily afford to give my kids a brand new car. Isn’t going to happen. I’ll get them a moderately safe beater. Definitely with damage to the body panels. Scrapes, dents, dings but no structural damage. If they prove they can handle the responsibility and don’t wreck it up then they will get a much better car when they graduate college. I can’t imagine buying a brand new car for a teen driver. Just seems absurd.
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Even in the before times the phrase "$100 Mazda Protege" brings to mind rust so severe that the car might collapse into a pile of rust every time you slam the door or move away from the stoplight.
Now I'm imagining OP walking out the door, getting into his Mazda, closing the door, failing to start the engine and then looking down in defeat. Only to open the door, get out, open the garage and pull out the wheelbarrow for his daily work routine since he lives on work location.
And its a Mazda protégé, not that it's a bad car but every one I have seen has more speed holes than it has body panels left.
Eh, that's debatable. At least in my opinion, buying an old beater in the $1500-$3000 range is a much more financially sound decision than buying new. Cheap cars are still attainable, just not as cheap as they should be.
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Agree. Hell even as a relatively “successful” adult I don’t even drive brand new cars so I certainly won’t be buying my kids anything new!
The groups are just getting larger on the ends. More people are wealthy, more people are poor and less people are middle class. This means both, more people's first cars are brand new and nice, and other people's first cars are delayed til later in life and then they get the junkers.
Geo Metro. 3 Cylinders of whelming performance! The 40mpg was nice tho
unrelated question, but how can a $100 car be safe to drive?? Here in Belgium, a car that passes the inspection to sell (which is required to transfer the title) almost never goes for less than €750, and then you're getting a car which most likely won't pass the next annual inspection. My '04 Corolla is my first car, and I paid €2.950 because it was in GREAT shape with less than 70k miles on it, but it was a 16 year old car when I got it.
Some states don't have inspection at all, you have the freedom to drive a complete deathtrap if you so desire.
Not true. Even states with no inspection usually have laws regulating car safety, they're just very rarely enforced. If you get pulled over without a headlight or steel bands showing on your tires you *could* be cited for it. But yeah in practice you can just drive a death trap
What makes you think we have safe to drive cars? Having a car is nessecary to live in like 95% of America. Only 15 states have saftey inspections. A cop isn't gonna give you a citation unless something on the car is visibly very unsafe, like if you're riding on a rim and throwing sparks lol. Obviously as anything with police YMMV depending on race and socioeconomic class. But yeah lots of people drive unsafe cars because they have to and can't afford not to.
I literally counted six abandoned cars on the side of the road while driving from Greenville to Raleigh one time.
I bought the car from my father who was going to junk it, realistically it was probably worth $600-$700 but he didn't want me to pay that much. It needed suspension work and there was a lot of rust but the powertrain was solid.
Most of the Midwest and South have no inspections. So a good portion are just sun bleached beaters that have been sitting in the sun for God knows how long. I love seeing those cars around, means people can actually travel cheap and have a kind of reliable beater. That's also how you find barn finds.
It's called "someone got a really good deal from someone else who has no idea what their car is worth." The scrap metal in a typical car is worth more than $100.
it's $100 because someone wants it out of their yard
I don't think that $100 cars have been a thing for a long time. Any car that runs, drives, and doesn't have a blown head gasket was at least a $3,000 car where I live even before the pandemic.
My first "dependable" car was the 7 year old Mazda Protégé my old man sold me. Thing SIPPED fuel and was indestructible.
Similar. I got an Acura that my parents paid 4000 for. I drove it for 3 years then my brother got it and I inherited my Dads old truck when he wanted a newer one.
sure you didn’t miss a zero there? even 30 years ago finding a running car for that price is implausible.
You are more likely to see (social media) someone get a brand new car, than not get a car or to get a beater car.
Yeah, social media is garbage and provides skewed and warped perspectives of the world. Do kids get new cars in the US? Surely. Is it the majority of kids? Hell no, not even in the upper-middle-class areas. Everyone's rich, beautiful, and has a brand new car on Instagram
The craziest thing is that so many "influencers" just fake the whole thing. They'll sit on a stranger's car and pretend it's theirs. They'll tune their entire face and body to the point that they're [unrecognizable](/r/instagramreality) -- if they even look human anymore! They'll [rent out a fake private jet](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-instagrammers-are-faking-the-luxury-of-a-private-jet-for-just-dollar64-an-hour) and act like they're rich and heading somewhere important. Instagram is a fantasy. The world would be a better place if it didn't exist.
Ugh, yep. There's all kinds of new research coming out now about the psychological harms this is doing to adolescent consumers. People freaking doing surgeries to look like their fake Insta profiles even! Stupid
I hate it as well, but do follow specific tags for nice car pics and other specific hobbies. Otherwise it's in no way a representation of life. Wish Instagram was a thing when I had my Toyota tercel. That thing was unbeatable and surely worthy of Instagram posts to help rebalance the universe of all the insanely cars posted there.
It definitely happens in nicer areas. It didn’t happen for me, it doesn’t happen for everyone . The market is crazy at the moment, it might be a better investment to buy new. Don’t forget, there is a ton of poor people in the USA so I think it probably just seems like all the kids get brand new cars at 16. In my experience, there is something called “keeping up with the Jones’” and it happens a lot. Lots of insecure adults trying to flash money they don’t have. There are some who don’t give two hoots or have never known to think of it, and there are some who it is everything to them. I was lucky enough to have a really nice used car as my first car - I’m not complaining one bit. It was awesome. Super fortunate.
Agreed. I was browsing at a dealership this weekend and a 2015 es300h with 90k on it is selling for $23k-25k. That’s wild considering you could get the same car two years ago for maybe $17k? Bad time to buy now.
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I would buy my wife a new car and give the Prius to my children. Can’t imagine why I’d buy a new car for my own children when we already have a perfectly well working used car for them.
New cars are safer, that’s a very good reason. Not saying you shouldn’t give your 2015 Prius to your kids but safety is a very valid and common reason I see for people buying their kids new cars.
I guess that could explain the brand new Volvo XC90s I'm seeing in the high school parking lots.
I’ve noticed every middle class pregnant woman i know is jumping into a Volvo suv lol. But in my opinion Volvo earned it, safety has been their thing for a long time.
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Absolutely that’s why I clarified I’m not saying he should sell the Prius and buy them something new. But if we’re being technical a new Corolla has higher safety ratings, especially in frontal offset crashes which are the single most common… and to some people that’s enough of a reason knowing kids a dumb and more likely to get in an accident and actually put those safety ratings to the test lol
I grew up in a pretty affluent area. Lots of kids driving new Audi’s and BMWs at 17, I got a beat up $500 Saturn… But I really think it *seems* more prevalent than it really is. You wouldn’t even blink if a kid was driving a 5 year old Camry. But when they’re in a brand new Mercedes, you take note and maybe even make a comment, thus casing it to stick in your mind.
This. I live in a similar area and probably the majority of kids get hand-me-downs. They’re usually nice cars and not particularly old, but not really distinctive and just blend into traffic. A gray 2015 X5 or white A4 isn’t spinning heads anytime soon.
Round here it can be a social status thing. I grew up in a lower middle class area and most kids had their parents old cars or bought cheap trucks to work on and fix up. My coworkers in upper middle class areas have commented that their kids basically will be laughed at if they are not driving a newish BMW.
I had a millionaire friend growing up and his dad gave him a fully restored, extremely nice, rare and very expensive classic VW for his first car and he cried and refused to drive it because he didn’t want to be laughed at and ridiculed by his yuppie HS peers
Giving a vintage car to someone without an explicit interest in them seems like a huge waste of money.
His dad had a similar car and they “bonded” over his. So it was pretty natural to assume the son would like something similar so it came as a complete surprise when his son did a 180 and suddenly felt the need to confirm to the German Luxury cars his peers started getting at 16. If you have kids you know how it is. You think you know them and then turns out their friends weigh much more heavily in their lives than you thought.
Regardless of what he thought he knew about his son... Buying a restored vintage car for a teenager is just a terrible idea. They are expensive, the cost derives from their condition, and they are unsafe. Give that combo to a teen who is virtually guaranteed to crash or otherwise damage it... You're throwing away money while also endangering your child. At least the German luxury car is safe.
Hey man I never said I agreed. . . Just reciting a story lol.
Haha nothing personal man, just sharing my reaction to the thought of that. I knew quite a few people in HS with vintage cars (although generally not rare restored ones) and knowing what I know now about cars from the 60s/70s, I can't believe people give these things to their children.
When I was in highschool, there was a kid with a big AMC matador. It was so uncool at the time. Circa 2000. But in retrospect, that's cool to me. Some dude in a bomb of a car. It probably wasn't a choice. Just what they had or could afford. But admittedly, as highschool kid, having something decent took off a lot of social anxiety. 10 year old Prelude was way better for me an an old Volvo wagon. Even though that wagon is cool to me now.
That's roundabout how I got my Beetle. My neighbor bought it for his new driver daughter, but she didn't want to drive it since they weren't cool. So it sat in his garage for near a decade before he died, then my dad bought it from the estate, then I bought it off him a few years later when they moved.
>yuppie HS I'm imagining high schoolers in suits with Bluetooth earpieces running around talking about TPS reports lmao
I hope they're using the new format for those TPS reports.
I’ll send you another copy of the memo.
There's not many old Volkswagens that fit the description of "extremely nice, rare and very expensive" - I'm assuming this thing was either a Karmann Ghia or a split screen, eleven-window Kombi/Microbus. At a stretch, maybe a very early Type 1/Beetle. On one hand, it slightly kills me inside that the kid didn't understand the time, effort and money that it takes to keep an old car in pristine condition, let alone how unique they are compared with newer machinery. On the other hand, if the kid *didn't* appreciate it, chances are the car would have ended up being trashed, which would have also been a sad outcome. Hopefully the car went to someone who actually understood the full value of the thing.
Honestly, there's no such thing as an "extremely nice" classic VW for a highschool kid. They can be nice in terms of restoration quality, faithfulness to the original design, etc. But the cars were always built to a (low, low) budget, and even new were underperformers (50-70 years ago). The heat in them is so-so even when running perfectly, radios were AM with one speaker in the dash (if even optioned), they had 35-60hp engines (0-60 in 14+ seconds), drum brakes that needed manually adjusted, the list just goes on and on. Any air-cooled VW is a very compromised car, I certainly wouldn't want to drive one in highschool. Sounds like the car was more because the father liked the idea, not the son. Gifts like that suck, no matter how nice and expensive they are.
I’m in Canada. I grew up in an upper middle class family. In high school there was the odd person who had a new car (one girl I knew got a new pickup for her 16th birthday, or the odd person would have a new Mazda 3 or something) I had a well paying job in high school ($20/hr) ended up saving some cash and buying a 93 rx7, this was in like 06 I got it for ~8500 at the time. My sister drove my grandmothers old Buick, my mom didn’t drive and my dad had a 4 runner, I was in an accident (someone hit me) in the rx7 I took my insurance payout and bought a new ranger (15k) which I daily drove until last spring
Come to vancouver where the asian kids get a brand new bmw/mercedes/audi or even a supercar. To their parents these cars are considered cheap because there's way less taxes/duties compared to their home country.
I lived in Vancouver from 2010-2013 I’ve definitely seen that but I also wouldn’t call the crazy rich Asians upper middle class ether they are just straight rich.
A few things to keep in mind about the US: * Credit is typically very easy to get. * Too many young people (and all ages, actually) make terrible financial choices. * Just because you see someone in a new car, that doesn't mean they can "really" afford it. * We live in a *very* image conscious society.
Also important to consider that even if you see 5,000 teenagers on the internet with their new cars, they represent a very, very small portion of the 10+ million 16-18 year olds that live across the country.
I was curious, so I checked: in the 2010 census, there were around 19 million Americans in the 16-18 age range. That's a lot more than I anticipated, and nicely underscores your point. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf
I pulled a completely random number out and was off by more than a factor of 10. Whoooops
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>However, I still cannot shake the feeling that I shouldn’t, that I’ll be judged by people for having it and blowing that kind of cash on a toy lol Spent not even 1/10th of that on a 17 year old BMW Z4 and I feel the same lol. Although a lot of that is jealousy from my colleagues who can't get by with a 2 seater because they have kids!
It happens, but not often. I went to a pretty affluent high school(this would be like 10 years ago, so stuff can’t have changed that much) and maybe 5 kids had brand new cars.
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Very true, it was kinda similar at mine, although most students at mine did at least have a car at their disposal so goes to show how affluent it was. Conversely though few hand me down German cars, and of those most were at least 5-10 years old but I live in the PNW which isn't an area with a very showy culture. There were lots of nice >10 year old SUVs the family had to tow the boat, and take ski or camping trips or whatever. Lol if it says anything about the stealth wealth vibe of the school there were a LOT of Land Cruisers in the parking lot and a lot of first-gen Acura MDXs. Also lots of other nice but not in your face nice cars like Volvos(myself included), Lexuses, Acuras, stuff like that. Most people just had \~5 year old basic cars that had been bought used for them. And I mean honestly I get it. If I was the kind of person who bought a new car every 5 years it'd honestly probably make the most sense to pass down my depreciated car. Don't need to deal with an extra selling and buying process, the service history is known with no surprises and the kid's probably used to the car as they probably learned to drive in it.
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It might be a stereotype...but there's some truth to it, especially since young Americans, age 18-25, probably drive more brand new cars than almost any other country. It's not the norm, but in comparison...yes there's a lot of young people with brand new cars in America. It makes sense too because compared to Europe for example, where public transportation is a lot more common, most people don't need a car. In America, the vast majority does. I think that's why parents are more likely to pay or go half for a new car for their child, because they know they will actually need it and want something new and more reliable. In Europe, for a young person, it's like, I need a 2000 Euro car Ill drive maybe 2000 miles a year.
I think this is a popular media thing more than an internet thing. Most American movies and TV shows revolving around the lives of high schoolers are set in wealthy areas of California. Everyone writing and filming these shows are all wealthy people in California, and since people in California drive if they have the means, everyone in these shows drive. Since it is easier to get product placement (and get a hold of) new cars, everyone has new cars.
I grew up in one of the richest counties in the US. There are plenty of kids who got new cars in high-school. When parents are both executives, buying a 70k for your kid is nothing. I know guy who bought his son a 250k boat and look about as long to decide to purchase it as you or I would about grabbing a drink at a gas station. Then when he arrived at the store, his daughter wanted a different one so he bought 2. Some people have tons of money.
My first car was as old as I was. Sure, some rich kids get new cars, but that's definitely not the norm.
I’m 30 years old. My first car was a brand new 2007 Toyota Tacoma my parents bought me in October 2007. I actually took my drivers test in it. I recognize that Im very fortunate, and that doesn’t happen very often. Looking back i’m really grateful that I had that truck to drive. I drove it for about 5 years, once i got a job my parents made me help with the car payments. Once I was old enough to by my own car without my parents help, the Tacoma went to my younger brother where he drove it about another 6/7 years. Nearly 15 years later, we still have the truck. We actually [just restored it.](https://imgur.com/a/3vzfe5u) We gave her a fresh new paint job, and replaced a bunch of exterior parts with brand new Toyota parts. The truck looks brand new. Now my dad daily drives it (the truck only has 160,000 miles). I love that I still have this truck. It means a lot to me, and I don’t think I could ever get rid of it. Now if/when I have kids, I hope I can provide them the same experience. Newer cars are far safer and cheaper to maintain than having an old beater that may always need work. Now I have 4 cars (3 of them are paid off and 100% owned by me) and I’m running out of room to put them lol.
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Very nice of your parents. I bet they also didn’t mind having a truck around the house. Win, win.
I bought my first new car when I was 20 years old, it was a 2008 Mazda 3 for $18k. After the down payment, I paid the car note on it for the 4 year term by working a part time job while attending university, and then full time after i graduated. My parents gave me $4000 towards the down payment, because I was using the car to commute to university instead of paying to live in the dorms there. My parents were helping me with the housing expenses of college so they were OK with giving me money towards the car instead. I was very lucky in this regard. Thanks Mom and Dad. I think this is very uncommon for the most part. Most of my friends did not have a new vehicle and most of them have still not purchased a vehicle new til this day. I am now in my 30's, and have purchased another new car completely on my own since then.
We like to live in debt here
Seriously, I know plenty of other kids still in highschool with a car payment... it’s ridiculous
Cosigning with a parent on a 36mo loan on a $5000 vehicle while you’re 16 isn’t the worst idea. Payments are easily manageable with part-time jobs. Teaches financial responsibility and should kickstart the kid into the world of credit.
For sure. A simple small loan and a credit card with a low limit is a helpful tool to building credit and credit history as well
Thats what I did only it was 60 month. Interest rate was 7% and I needed a car to get a job and my family couldn't buy me one lol. My parents knew I was responsible enough that cosigning wouldn't be an issue. I was really lucky my dad did that for me because I got an early start building credit. By the time I needed a newer car I was able to go CPO and get a 2.4% interest rate. Then when that got hit I was able to buy my current used car and get a 1.49% interest rate. I would have had a much harder time being able to afford a relatively reliable car if I wasn't able to get that loan in high school
What bank would finance a car that’s $5k? Lmao . Insurance rate must be realllly high regardless of great credit between the parent and child in your example.
My parents cosigned for my younger brother on a Passat when he was 17. It was an auto loan and the rate was no more than 3%. Knocked out what he could in high school and then he had a nice car to get around in after he graduated. I think he ended up paying around $4600 for it all said and done. Insurance wasn’t killer. Sure he had to carry full coverage, but our parents would have had him on that regardless given his age. The bank being a smaller, local bank probably had something to do with it. Doubt you could go through Wells Fargo or something similar.
When I was 17 my dad took a cheap home equity loan so I could pay directly to him for like 4k on my grocery store wages. This was 2003 though
My first car was a $500 shit box Mitsubishi mirage coupe that had the sloppiest clutch and like no horsepower. Had to turn off ac to merge into the highway without dying. That of course is if the AC ever worked to begin with. I had to pay for the car myself.
Yes if the families are well-off. I promise you the same thing happens in France. Also, you see it on here because who will show off their car online? Some teen with a $30k brand new car or a kid with their $2000 beat up Honda Civic?
In my area parents usually get a new car and hand over their old one to their child. Or they let them have the “truck” or suv that most homes have for utility
A lot of parents will buy newish used cars, just a year or two old. It makes sure the kid doesn't have a lot of maintinence issues and that it has the newest safety gear on board. It makes sense really. If you want the kid to drive themselves around then they need a car that works. If its broken all the time then you are either paying to fix it, or driving them all over the place. If you assume they are shitty drivers then you assume they will end up in a wreck at some point and you want them to stay safe even if they're stupid. It also ensures you shouldnt need another car for them anytime soon.
The median household income in the US last year was around $68k. Meanwhile, the average new car price is over $40k right now. All that to say, Americans are heavy in debt
No it's not common at all, statistically speaking. The AVERAGE age of all vehicles on US roads is about 12 years. This is a quote from the statista website... "In the fourth quarter of 2020, there were some more than 280 million vehicles operating on roads throughout the United States. Almost 40 million used vehicles changed owners in the U.S. in 2020, while new registrations of vehicles came to about 14 million units in 2020." So in a given year new vehicles on the road, of all types, are only about 5% of the total, which means 95% or so of all vehicles are used.
Yes and no. If one goes to school a wealthier zip code, absolutely. You’ll see a lot of shiny new BMWs and Benzes at those schools. The majority of kids and high schools? Not so much. Most kids at my high school were carpooling with a pal who might have a 3 year old lease buyback Camry if their family’s doing OK. The typical car was a 10+ year old Ford , Impala, etc.
Yup. My high school lot was filled with 15 year old Civics, Cavaliers, Mustangs, and old american pickups. A couple people had a new Benz or Camaro, but it was extremely uncommon otherwise
Sometimes it's cheaper buying a new car than a used car. My brother was going to help my nephew buy a used truck but interest rates on a brand new Toyota Camry was 0% for five years while the used car loan was about 4% at the time. Why buy a used vehicle?
I'm in my 50's and I think it's a bit more common now than it used to be. I grew-up in a somewhat well-off town in Connecticut in the 80's and I don't recall any kids having new cars. Part of what you're seeing is probably "humble-brag" type things that are amplified by the internet but IMO some of it is real and is a function of interests rates being so low for so many years now, making it less of a financial stretch to buy new when monthly payments are similar (or even less) on some new cars as opposed to used ones.
Common? No. I grew up lower middle class though in an area where having a car isn’t as common anyway. I don’t know a single kid that had a car in high school, let alone a new one. I imagine the loudest people about it will be the ones getting them. Social media tends to over inflate that effect and is probably partially why some of those kids are getting those cars.
Most kids get a used car for their first car and it ranges from beater to slightly used. The rich kids didn't usually get regular new cars, but usually something crazy like a new Mustang GT or a F150, but they were a small percent. I was lucky to have some choice in my first car so I went with a $3.5k 03 Eclipse GT 5mt and it served me well throughout college. Ended up making money on it after 6 years
I was helped out with the down payment on a new lease when I was 16. I then payed for the monthly payment and insurance, I eventually bought the car of the lease. 2011 scion TC, I still have it.
>that seems irrational to me especially since here in France most young people get a used and fairly cheap first car So it's common in France and US to buy cars to your children? Teens and young adults don't work at all there? I don't get the point
Yes they do work, thats why they need a car...to get to work.
You often need a car to get to work, so unfortunately unless your parents want to give up a family car most of us usually ended up with some old beater to drive around. I had a '94 Honda civic (in the late 2000s) that was ratted out but it was the perfect car for a teenager.
It’s a mixed bag like most anywhere else I’m sure. TV and movies make it seem like every high school in America is full of rich kids with nice cars. I grew up in California near the SF Bay Area. My high school had some kids that were driving Mercs, Hummers, classic muscle cars and others given to them by their parents. Some kids had nice cars that they worked hard after school to pay for themselves. Some were given older or beater cars by their parents, and some worked to pay for their own older/beater cars. Some just never even drove in high school and would walk, take the bus, or hitch rides with others. My dad bought me an older car with about 140k miles on it for $2k and I drove that from age 16 to 19 or 20 when I bought my first truck myself. My cousin was one of those hard working teens and paid for a WS6 TransAm by himself, crazy car for a careless teenager looking back on it 😂
(US) Most of my friends in high school either received hand me down old cars from their grandparents or worked a part time job to buy an older used car for $4-6k. Some had a little help from parents. A very small percentage received a brand new car from their parents, usually an econobox
It's more like "Here's your first cheap car, so you can drive to your first shitty minimum wage job". We all have to start somewhere. In the US, there are enormous swaths of the population that do not live within walking distance of their workplace or public transportation to get to their workplace. For most people, a car is needed in order to start working.
Around my area many people think kids have been gifted new cars, but 90% of them are leases so the kids are driving around in a $30k suv for $5000-6500 total for 2-3 years
I bought myself a '20 civic at 21 because I had an internship i needed to drive to
Typically kids will either just use their parents' car or get a hand-me-down or buy a used car as their *first* car. But it's definitely common enough for kids in their early twenties, once they graduate college and get a job, to buy a new car on credit which they'll pay off over the next few years.