Originally Posted by
Digital Gee
I'm moving toward Plan C: Public Transportation
More I think about, more I like it.
1. I keep the Avalon until I really want a different car.
2. Daughter goes to Defensive Driving Class.
3. Daughter works enough to pay her own insurance.
4. Daughter takes bus / trolley to junior college / work.
I'm having her do the research on bus routes, fares, etc. but actually I've already done it. (I just want her to start taking responsibility.) Turns out she can get from my place to school in an hour, changing buses once. She can get to work in half an hour, changing busses once. And she can get an unlimited Student Pass for $45/month.
Sounds like a pretty good solution to me.
I like this idea a lot*.
When I turned 16, my dad got a little dodge colt for me to use. On my first day, I was a little lost and made kind of a sudden stop to make a left hand turn and the person behind me hit me. Barely. Not enough to do damage. But this was my first day!
Until I graduated from college, other things happened:
I left the car parked on a busy street and it got totaled by a drunk. I got a rental car for that, and got into an accident when the sun was glaring in my way (didn't know about sunglasses yet) and I simply didn't see the person.
Oh, and the doors of my locked jeep got stolen once... apparently they are an option and easy to resell. You just peel the gaskets off the windows (CJ-5) and you're in the car. the doors came off with 2 bolts.
Oh, and the time I put the convertible top down in the spring but had a snow shovel in the back and it did a lot of damage to the rag top. I could go on, but I've blocked a lot of these from my memory.
My sister* left a car somewhere and forgot where she put it. We never found it again. We also got rear-ended at a stoplight at a college once because the guys behind us were wolf-whistling at girls.
We drove my dad crazy. Sometimes accidents happen, but let's face it--kids lack experience.
It's amazing. When I got my own car, I never had another accident or incident. Don't know if it was age or luck, but regardless I think it's good to learn how expensive the dang things are (and the cost of insurance!) as early as possible.