This is an experience that many parents actually completely dread. When you are about to buy your teenager their first vehicle, you might well find yourself worrying about it, because you want them to be safe and you want to make sure they are happy with the purchase too.
Ensuring both of those things at once can be quite tricky, but it is something you can achieve if you focus on it in the right way.
In this post, we are going to discuss the process of buying your teenager their first vehicle, and all of the things that you might want to consider along the way.
As long as you are thinking about the following, you should find that you get the kind of result you want – and that they do, too.
Keep It Simple
Remember that you don’t need to go all-out and buy them something ridiculously expensive and over-the-top – in fact, this is probably the opposite of what you should do. Instead, aim to keep it simple and basic.
Go for something that they are going to enjoy and which will get them around, but is not a crazy supercar or sports car or something similar. You are only going to worry more if you put something like that in their hands, after all.
Of course, you might be feeling pressure from them to get them something like that. But it’s not worth it, and you are going to have much greater peace of mind on the whole if you keep it simple from the start.
Pre-Select A Few Options
One good approach that can help you to find the right option and will also prove useful for your teenager to avoid disappointment is to preselect a few options for them, and then give them the final say over which of these they are keen to go for.
You can do this in whatever way you like, whether you have a few similar cars or completely different vehicles, or something in between. The important thing is that you have control over the pre-selection, so that you will be happy with the final choice, whatever it turns out to be.
Give Them The Chance To Think About It
Because you are letting them ultimately decide from your pre-selection, it’s important that you are giving them the chance to really think about it. There is no rush anyway, or there shouldn’t be, so you can simply sit back and encourage them to think deeply about it.
This is going to be a good practice for them in making a big, careful decision anyway, so that is the kind of thing that you are likely to really want to do. You will find that they appreciate the final result more if they have put a lot of effort into it too, and if they have carefully weighed the options like this.
So there are many benefits to making sure that you give them plenty of time to think about their options.
Remember Safety
As a parent to a teenager about to start driving, safety is going to be the number one concern at the forefront of your mind. As such, it’s important that you are doing all you can to stress its importance to your kid, and that you are allowing this to also be one of the major concerns in the decision of which vehicle to buy as well.
As long as you are both thinking about the safety of the vehicle and how they use it, that is something that is going to really help you out a lot.
There are some concerns here you should definitely think about in particular, such as what type of vehicle you are happy with them driving.
There is no doubt that a motorcycle is much less safe, for instance, and if they are determined to drive one you will need to get the number of a motorcycle accident lawyer right away and encourage your child to take it slow and easy and learn well.
Beyond the choice of vehicle type, there are also certain models that are known to be safer for whatever reason.
For example, you would always feel happier if your teenager drove a Toyota, because they are known to break down less often and therefore get in fewer accidents and incidents on the road. That is the kind of consideration that you really need to think about in all of this.
Consider Ongoing Costs
All vehicles have ongoing costs, and you need to calculate what they are likely to be for whatever vehicle you ultimately buy for your teenager.
If you don’t, then you might find yourself shelling out for a long time to come where you wouldn’t necessarily have had to do so if you had taken more care. You also need to have the conversation with your child about who is going to pay for those ongoing costs.
Sharing the costs is a good way to make sure that the car is paid for well while also giving your child some responsibility, at a time in life when it is important for them to have that. So that can be a good balance, but it is finally up to you and it depends on your situation.
Use It As A Teaching Experience
Finally, remember that this is one of those rites of passage that your teenager will go through, and that the best approach generally is to make sure that you are using it as a teaching experience.
If you can do that, you are going to find that it helps to make the most of it, and gives you a much better feeling as a parent as well, knowing that you are making the most of this situation as best as you can.
With all that in mind, you should find that buying your teenager their first vehicle goes much more smoothly, and that it is likely to be a lot more successful in every sense.