Helping Your Teen Buy His First Car

Many teenagers picture themselves zipping around in a sporty little car, but is that what's best for your teen? If you're in the market for a car meant for a teenage driver, you're probably looking for advice on how to choose the best car for your teen. Here, you'll find a few tips that'll help you find the best car for your teen.

Build a Budget        

Before your teen gets his hopes up, you'll have to work with him to build a budget to work with. The budget must include every expense that your teen has, as well as the income he's earning to pay his bills. Once you show him everything broken down on paper, he may be more understanding when you tell him that he won't be getting the $20,000 car he's been dreaming about.

Talk Insurance

Does your teen understand that he will have to maintain insurance on whatever vehicle he buys? Does he know that the cost of insurance will vary from car to car – the more expensive the car, the more expensive the insurance – the faster the car, the more the insurance will cost.

Discuss the possibility of keeping him on your auto insurance for at least the first three years of having his driver's licenses. In many areas, once a driver has held a license for three years, the cost of insurance drops substantially if there haven't been any claims or moving violations. If your teen was to take out an insurance policy of his own, he'd pay a lot more for the exact same coverage that he'll get on your policy.

Discuss Repair and Maintenance Costs          

The cost of repairing and maintaining a car will vary from car to car. Before your teen decides on any car, make sure that he has taken the time to price the cost of the common maintenance and repair parts. Some cars are quite affordable to replace the brakes – others, it will break the bank. Check the cost of tires, brakes, filters – all of the things that you know will need replace every so often – if the parts are more expensive than competing cars, consider talking him into choosing the cheaper car to maintain. Cars aren't any good if you can't repair them when they need it.

Get out with your teen and start looking at cars, like a new Honda for sale. Once he finds what he thinks he wants, go home and begin doing some research. Hopefully, in the end, your teen will end up with an affordable and safe car to drive around for the next few years.


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