<ol>
<li><p>You don’t know where you will transfer, and some transfer targets are in places where a car (especially an expensive one) can be more of a hassle.</p></li>
<li><p>If you do need a car, there are plenty of cars that cost less than half as much but still provide the latest safety features.</p></li>
<li><p>Having an expensive car is not going to get you more job opportunities in most fields over having a less expensive car. If I am interviewing you for a job, I am not going to care about whether your car has a crooked H or a crooked L badge.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Actually if the parents give the OP a car and set him/her loose to pay for the rest of college it might not be a bad financial trade-off for the parents. “here you go, have a great life”…</p>
<p>I like the new VW Jetta ads…great looking car for $15,995.
Ridiculous for the OP to think there is a “need” for a luxury car that would not be met by the Jetta.</p>
<p>We spent our youth studying and working hard to get a good education. Then we sacrificed to buy a home in an upscale neighborhood in the best part of Orange County with great schools. We tried to teach our kids good moral values. We’ve arranged our finances so that he will graduate with little or no debt. Now our kid, two years into college, seems to think we owe him a $40,000 car! Where did we go wrong?? Why are his priorities so shallow? How did he get to be so selfish and ungrateful? Maybe we should have just stayed in that apartment in Santa Ana…</p>
<p>My high school senior bought himself a car this past summer. He had the money saved up and paid cash for it and is paying the insurance. He has worked since middle school with a pet care/ dog walking business and he works summers too. I had to go sign the purchase papers because he was 17, too young to enter into a contract of sale, but that was the extent of it.</p>
<p>He rarely uses the car since he takes public transportation to highschool. There is no where to inexpensively and safely park the car at school. Most of his college choices preclude taking a car. He just wanted the car for his own flexibility. I do borrow it on occasion. He still has enough to pay for his share of college costs and decided that the cost of the car was still not going to bring him up to another $20K a year needed for the top priced colleges. </p>
<p>I have not and am highly unlikely to buy anyone a car in this family. And they don’t get to drive my car without me sitting next to them. My oldest two wrecked our driving records and we are still doing time to get out of the high risk insurance group. I couldn’t afford the insurance for a $40K car even if someone gave it to me. We have one car with over 100K miles on it between DH and me, so there isn’t the question of borrowing it; there is no extra. With two in college next year, and one in a private high school, a new car isn’t happenng.</p>
<p>But anyone around here who wants to buy their kid a $40K car and insure it well is welcome to contact me. I have some young people here that would love to meet your kid and his/her car.</p>
<p>We have 4 cars in our household and all together, their values probably don’t add up to $40K. Our S is grateful to have the oldest, a 1992 car with nearly 140K miles on it that he insurers & has on AAA. Don’t have any plans on buying a $40K car for anyone in this lifetime. S is just grateful to have a mode of transportation, which is currently sitting in storage because he’s now in HI & car is in CA. D doesn’t want to drive because our rule is whomever drives pays insurance & gas; she’s not interested in paying for either of these items, for some reason. I also think she’s not all that interested in driving congested LA freeways & roads.</p>
<p>I would be very sad and angry if either of our kids tried to get us to buy them a $40K car (& we would NOT do it, much as we love our kids). Heck, that could pay for an entire college degree in our flagship U, if you commuted via bus, scooter, cycle, or used car.</p>
<p>Since there is a market for $40K cars, there are enough people out there who don’t look at it that way.<br>
I’d love a new car, and was taken aback to find out that to buy my car new is over $25K. I paid about $12K used for it when a new one would have been about $15-16K and I think I paid a bit too much. That was about 6-7 years ago.</p>
<p>Ah yes…IF…IF you need a car. Amazingly both of my kids managed to get through undergrad school without cars. Amazing, isn’t it? </p>
<p>First car for DS (which he borrowed during grad school) was one of OUR used cars. If ANYONE in this family is going to get a new car, it’s going to be the parents. Oh…did I mention that we don’t BUY new cars? We get gently used ones. And the notion that we would spend $40K on a car is laughable.</p>
<p>The above was posted by the OP on another thread…so OP…there’s your answer. Use public transportation and ditch the car idea…it’s cheaper and so what if it’s a bit of a hassle. So smart of the OP to post the above info.</p>
<p>I don’t know but when you figure it out, let me know. I’d settle for a Nissan Versa with AC, myself, so I have less of an uphill battle. True, I’m 33 and have been working for some time, but what the hey. If you can get something without paying for it, why not, right?</p>
<p>Heck, I’d settle for having my kids buy us ANY vehicle that runs well & reliably. Oh wait, gotta finish paying those tuition bills & maybe have them start jobs first. Oh well, we’re patient folks. ;)</p>
<p>I think things are getting a little out of hand. I guess i should have explained my situation further. </p>
<p>I will be attending a UC in the Fall. This means i will need a car. I’ll only be a max of 2 hours away from home, so i can’t rely on public transportation. I just thought it would be a good idea to buy a car i would like and would keep for a while, instead of buying something i will just get rid of later down the road. I don’t expect them to pay the $40,000 car in full, but that’s what financing is for. I did a little research and it should be only around $350 a month, which i think is really reasonable. Of course I’m willing to my parents pay for this. I should have money left over from financial aid over the years and can use it towards “transportation costs.” I just think this can be a early future graduation gift.</p>
<p>Everyone here raises their kid a different way, so you should all just stop the unnecessary judgments against me. I’m sorry if I wasn’t brought up the same way as your children.</p>
I also think she’s not all that interested in driving congested LA freeways & roads.</p>