<p>You guys are great, thank you for the thoughtful responses. I don’t believe he wouldn’t lend it out as he knows I’d string him up, but I’m not looking to create any wedge issues with him and friends/roommates re: rides, etc. We would not want him driving to/from Chicago as it makes more sense for him to hop a cheap SWA flight and getting to/from B’ham seems easy enough. I guess the main advantage would be having easy transportation to go visit his Aunt & Uncle in Atlanta & his Grandparents in Mobile. Lots to think about before the fall.</p>
<p>My son has made it four years without wheels, and he never has had any regrets. He’s always had roommates who had cars, so he can get a ride off campus if needed. Or he’s had friends with cars. If he had taken a car, his insurance would be $1400 or so a year. No car, so insurance is around $200.</p>
<p>I’m a bit surprised no one has mentioned the cost of parking violations as part of the decision. (My S will not have a car for his first year.) My friends tell me that parking enforcement is lightning fast and costs escalate very quickly.</p>
<p>Okay, true story that D and I observed yesterday at a gas station on University. Got gas and got in line to wash the filth off my car. There was a vehicle going in the wash. A fairly new large SUV. Person entered their code and proceeded to enter wash. What all transpired next will be a joke for a lifetime between D and I. Only wish we would have recorded the events.<br>
Poor girl, bless her heart, pulls in and we saw the green light change to red and heard the buzzer. Girl thinks it didn’t work and backs up and repeats the entry process. She did this at least 5-6 times. Then she backs fully out of the car wash, roll her window down and asks me how it works. I said the light will turn from green to red and then it’s ready. She tries again. Goes in light turns red and buzzes. She backs out halfway again. Goes forward, green to red light. She stops (whew, we think she has it!). No! She pulls all the way out and goes around and parks to go in the store.
Poor girl. I should have just offered to drive her vehicle IN to the wash for her.</p>
<p>Parents probably gave her this very nice large SUV to take to college with her and never taught her much else about driving and experiences one will encounter by driving.</p>
<p>^^ If you have a car on campus, you must get a parking permit. My understanding is that kids dont drive their cars on campus, as there is no where to park anyway (without the said violations piling up!!). </p>
<p>So the car sits in it’s parking place unless it goes off campus.</p>
<p>Momreads, the cost of insurance is what we found prohibitive too. Not to mention we are 15 hours from UA, and do nto really want him to do that drive, or think that his car could/should make those trips! </p>
<p>If he/we find he actually NEEDS a car on campus, we might consider getting a used car in Alabama that will end up staying there.</p>
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<p>This hasn’t been an issue. As I understand it, D can park in the Ridgecrest or Ferg garages, at the Rec Center and at the Student Health Center with her yellow zone permit. I believe she can park near the quad after hours if she’s going to be in a lab late or something. I’m not sure where else on campus she’d take her car. If you park legally, you won’t have parking violations.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman, we are from Illinois, and he has his car down at Alabama. For me it provides peace of mind that he has transportation being so far from home. I don’t worry at all about his loaning it out (he does give roommates rides - but doesn’t give them his car) or drinking and driving. He has seen a lot of drinking issues with his older brother and has deliberately chosen a different path. Not that he won’t drink but the personalities are totally different. He’s never had a traffic or parking ticket - at home or UA.</p>
<p>That said he doesn’t use the car day to day at school - only about a tank of gas every six weeks. He walks everywhere on campus - the car is for errands, occasionally fishing with roommates, picking people up from the airpost. We use is while in town instead of renting a car. Since we live in Illinois we have him fly home for Xmas - don’t want him driving solo 13 hours in possible ice/snow.</p>
<p>I forgot to post - he has said he certainly didn’t NEED a car down at school but likes having it. He likes being able to go off campus occasionally for a meal with his roommates, not having to shop only at Strip stores if he needs something (WalMart/Target much cheaper), being able to go to the Verizon store when he had cell phone problems, etc… We are going down to move him out of his dorm this May and put his stuff in storage but I am anticipating that he should be able to do that on his own going forward - saving us time and money.</p>
<p>Yes, your insurance costs may go down if your child doesn’t take a car to school.</p>
<p>Parking tickets!!! Well, depends on the kid. Older son was famous for parking tickets. Got 6 in ONE SEMESTER…all his fault). Younger son has only gotten one. (H admitted to getting over 50 parking tix as a college kid. )</p>
<p>Note to students: do NOT believe your friends when they say that you can park in XXXXX lot and not get a tix. lol</p>
<p>You’ll probably need to make this decision based on your child’s unique requirements, although you may not be able to predict all of them now. Mine is a triathlete and does her swim workouts at 5:30am. I don’t want her walking from her dorm to the pool in the dark by herself, or walking back cold and wet. She also makes a weekly Target run to pick up healthier food that she requires because of stomach issues. No one has ever asked to borrow her car. I will say, however, that she was getting a fair number of late night calls from drunk friends needing a sober driver. I appreciate her desire to help them but I put a stop to it because it made me nervous that she was going out late to the parking lot on her own. This year she has a practicum experience at a local school and needs to be able to drive herself. Her drive home is about 3.5 hours so it’s nice that she can easily get here, but in all honesty I pace the whole time she’s on the road.</p>
<p>Our insurance costs definitely went down when our older son left his car home for a couple of years while in school and only had access to it on breaks. However, taking the car to school (for either boy) did not result in higher insurance costs for us - it was the same cost as when he was living at home and had a car. We have State Farm - that might be different with different carriers.</p>
<p>Be careful about insurance. The reason the insurance cost is higher is because a car is supposed to be tagged and insured in the state it spends the majority of the time in. </p>
<p>For us, that means getting son a separate policy in Alabama with him only on it. Very expensive. </p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>
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<p>We specifically had this conversation with our insurance agent, and were told that as long as the child is temporarily away at school, he or she and the car can stay on the parents’ policy, using the home address, even if the car is away at school in another state for 9 months of the year. Perhaps this is one of those things that varies by insurance company.</p>
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<p>I know this conversation has taken place before on CC and think that it is an insurer-specific thing. I see plenty of vehicles with OOS plates, including some from the West Coast. The student is not officially living in Alabama and getting Alabama license plates and an Alabama driver’s license may complicate residency and voting in their home state. </p>
<p>Having a car is more a personal preference than anything. The 2700 mile drive home makes driving home for school breaks very impractical for me and I get good deals on food by shopping the sales at Publix and taking the shopping shuttle to Target every couple of weeks. Otherwise, Amazon Prime works wonders and my mom likes mailing me care packages with certain foods that aren’t available in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham.</p>
<p>FWIW - S didnt have a car 1st Semester but based on his grades, he was allowed to bring it to campus for the Spring. He is not allowed to let friends borrow, but he is more than willing to drive them places (Target, Chipotle, off campus to the Retreat) in return for gas money, a free meal, etc… which is fine with us since he is responsible for car expenses while in T-Town. Its already provided a great, practical education in adult responsibilities since he has already learned to handle a flat tire and oil change by himself since Dad is 550 miles away. He is also now aware of just how much gas costs for that late night road trip to Whataburger in B’ham.</p>
<p>WHAT? They have Whataburger in Birmingham??? Who knew???</p>
<p>Growing up in Indiana, it was the first time he had ever been…</p>
<p>Mike, there are at least 4 Whataburgers around here. =] The closest one to TTown closed, though, I think.</p>
<p>Same as Rugbydad stated. </p>
<p>NO, No & No–first semester, too many outside distractions, i.e. “bigs” asking to borrow (psYou can’t tell them no), there will be drinking (even if your student is not a hs social drinker, don’t fool yourself), makes them step out of their comfort zone to have to bum a ride, cuts down on the freshman 15, roadtrips to all the away games (not ready for that), late night trips anywhere is dangerous (especially for a girl).</p>
<p>YES-second semester if all goes well first semester. In our house, it’s a “prove that your responsible and then you can take your car”. Having a car is not a right. It’s a privilege.</p>
<p>High school is different than college. We had NO incidents of irresponsibility in hs but college is a whole new ballgame. Having a car is an extra pressure that I feel most freshman don’t need. They will NOT die from having to bum a ride. Promise!</p>
<p>Our daughter is driving a sorority sister home to Atlanta this weekend. They’re both so excited. Mine is happy to have home-cooked meals. Home for her is 10 hours away. This is the next best thing :)</p>
<p>Remember that parking permits are an added fee. We made daughter pay for her permit. The first step to see how badly she wanted to take the car.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of great advice on this thread. I think there is no ‘right’ answer other than what works best for you and your kid. I will say that not all college kids drink. Mine does not - for reasons I won’t explain here, he is strongly anti-drug and alcohol. Also, he would NEVER, let someone drive his car, no matter how big. He barely let’s ME be a passenger. He’s a very cautious driver, with a perfect record. These factors made letting him bring his car on campus a comfortable decision, (although that first solo ride home from UA WAS a nail biter). I will add that having a car on campus has relieved pressure rather than caused it in his particular case, but that is what works for him.</p>
<p>You know your kid best, his maturity level and the stress or comfort a car would cause on campus, whether he would be able to say no to borrowers, etc. I’d go with that.</p>
<p>And slightly off topic, I thought the freshman 15 was a GAIN! After 1 semester, our poor boy looked like a walking stick. Happily, the doctor reassured us that all his campus power-walking has resulted an a lean, but healthy frame. Take that, video games!</p>