Run?

Stick Shift - best theft and "hey pal let me borrow your car" insurance there is.

A St. Christopher medallion!!!!!!
Probably the only reason I am still around. My step mother got me a St. Christopher medallion for my 16th birthday when I started driving.
I have worn it everyday since. It’s only comes of for Xrays and scans that it would interfere in.

I had a Mustang as my 1st car and a 1969 GTO as my second in high school and did some stupid stuff!!!
I have 6 years till my oldest is driving and I am already scared to death!

As for the car. The bigger the better and a Toyota for sure.

A used Abrams M1A2 and prayer, a lot of prayer!

Good advice here. You just can't say it too much. Buy something cheap, used, cheap to insure and ready to be wrecked. My sister in law stupidly bought her 16 year old daughter a really nice 2014 Ford F150 4x4. One week after she got her license she hit a tree and totaled the truck.

Dave in addition to the advise already given please consider having your newly minted driver attend a driving course that is specifically geared to new drivers and how to deal with situations that are not taught in traditional Drivers Ed.

The program is called Street Survival and is taught by qualified instructors in one of the many car clubs around the country usually Porsche club or BMW’s equivalent using the students own car. It is sponsored by companies like TireRack and Michelin and is only a few bucks.
I have been teaching this class along with several of my fellow PCA members and I cannot recommend it enough.

Check it out here..
https://streetsurvival.org/

Here’s a video as well..
https://youtu.be/zKgLX1xAeoo?si=VT7WjjNl3H8g2eys

How long, or how many sessions is this class for the $ 125.00 fee?

Put my girls in an Explorer, the higher sight line was a pretty good idea. 2 of the three preferred it over a Mustang Convertible.

I’d pick something that was well maintained, a few whiskey dents to drive the price down. Take a few minutes to check insurance rates on the likely candidates.

I don’t know how it works in other states, but the insurance went up on all of our vehicles when we added our son.

The biggest heaviest car is the best.

I have seen what happens when little cars and big cars mix.

At 18 my son destroyed a Grand Marquis and walked away with a couple of scratches.

When a smaller Toyota rear-ended my 5000 lb vehicle there was nothing left of the front compartment or the engine.

My bumper was scratched.

This is not an exaggeration.

Stopped in traffic, distracted driver.

Put them in the heaviest car you can.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

I don’t know how it works in other states, but the insurance went up on all of our vehicles when we added our son.

Many years ago, when my son started to drive, we put him and his car on a separate insurance policy with a different company. He was not allowed to drive our cars, only his own. Our insurance rate did not go up.

My granddaughter is going to drive very soon and I've been thinking cars for her. Her mom does not drive, she'll need her own policy. I thought back to my first car, bought in 1963 for $265.00. I adjusted for inflation and it would be $2700.00 today, not getting much for that!

I have not had a discussion with her or my daughter about a car. My GD does not have a real understanding of money, spoiled by a mom that has none. I have money set aside, I'm thinking something a little sportier than a Honda Civic. I even considered sending her my Rubicon but it's overkill and not inexpensive to operate.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

I don’t know how it works in other states, but the insurance went up on all of our vehicles when we added our son.

Many years ago, when my son started to drive, we put him and his car on a separate insurance policy with a different company. He was not allowed to drive our cars, only his own. Our insurance rate did not go up.

That's not a bad idea as long as your primary carrier allows it to happen and you can find a good risk company that will take a 16 year old primary driver on a single car policy, likely they will put him/her into a higher risk group division anyway.

Great advice everyone! Keep them coming

Verfy with your insurance company if his drivers license is going to effect YOUR rates and coverages....Some equate him living under YOUR roof as a extra liability even if he "supposidly" will not be allowed to drive parents vehicles.............. Several years ago a friend was about to purchase a new Dodge Charger(performance model) for himself but insurance agent advised new rates would double just because the new teenage was living under his roof even with no legal access to the vehicle ................. But for him get a safe cost effective vehicle to start with.. Maybe not the prettiest vehicle but a starter platform...... Good luck........................................ drill sgt.

My advice as far as training is DO NOT TRY doing it yourself with him. Get a professional driving school and get him lessons, these instructors are trained to work with novice drivers and have far more patience and understanding than any of us could.

My Dad tried to teach me driving and I gave up after the first time, he just did not have the patience and the knack for it.

Since my son is in more or less the same boat let me help:

NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE

By reading this post you have waived your right to sue me or my wife for anything my child does in the car that is not an accident. S/he was raised by the internet and Mario Cart and you should (re)act according. This waiver is effective in the 50 US States, its surrounding territories, Canada, and Mexico.

Why not the family MB estate wagon?

I used Corolla or Civic will keep him humble.

I moonlight as a house painter. We had a job in the fancy neighborhood of Sacramento. The teenage daughter received a new Bronco sport to tool around in. The mobile detail guy showed up one time. I was feeling kinda lame in comparison with my 20 year old Civic.

I don’t know about CA, but here you can get a permit that allows you to drive with a licensed driver in the car for up to a year before you get a full blown drivers license. During that time we let the boy drive almost anytime we were together. Also, the rule doesn’t say anything about the licensed driver being sober, so he was the designated driver on a few occasions.

Regardless, I’d recommend lots of practice driving with you before being let loose. I decided to keep a log, and clock hours driven. I said that they could be let loose when they could drive 10 consecutive hours with no mistakes at all, and 30 consecutive hours with no major mistakes. I defined minor mistake as something like changing lanes without using a blinker. A major mistake was something that could have caused an accident if I hadn’t been there to stop it, ie. turning left because you have the green light, without yielding to oncoming traffic.

It worked well with both of my boys. I just kept a running total on a paper in the car, and if he was at 8 hours and veered across a lane line then it started over. While the judging was somewhat subjective, the idea was to have an objective standard that when met allowed them to drive on their own. And if you can meet my requirements I think you’ve proven you can drive alone. And while pretty harsh, they liked it better than my wife’s “I just don’t think you’re ready yet”.

One last tip- I told my boys to assume that there were suicidal children and dogs hiding behind parked cars, waiting to jump out in front of them. Really good for driving down streets with cars parallel parked on the side. It taught them to anticipate stupid and careless behavior by pedestrians. Same thing for someone opening a car door just as they were driving by.

Check your insurance prices, they have gone up substantially for younger drivers.