Deedee13

Well my daughter passed her test! apparently she messed the paralel parking up, actually ran over two of the four cones. Went thru a very red light, and she PASSED!! I am not saying a word. I know she is pretty much a decent driver, if u account for the fact that she is 16. A bit like a 3 year old on a bobbi car. Practice makes perfect.

Now the problem is what car does she drive. I could go out and buy her something. I was considering a smart car, the little teabags on wheels, but there is a 18 month waiting list. Then the insurance told me to get her a old old banger. But i want her to be safe. And not have to worry about bad tires, and breaks, and doors falling off. At the moment she is driving my monte carlo when i am at work, and this week coz i flew out too early she is driving around in the Ford 250! And by all accounts hasnt crashed yet.

still cant believe they let little snot nosed kids drive cars over here!!

Mummy in the foothills

I feel for you.
My 14 year old is on countdown to when he can get a provisional license, I'm not looking forward to that at all.
I still hold on when my 20 year old drives. He scares the life out of me, no wonder I have so much grey hair.
Dh is already looking at cars for the younger son. I'm not ready to do this again.

Octang Frye

Practice makes perfect, eh? I hope she doesn't practice her parallel parking next to my car!

Don't let her have teenage passengers...

Tracym

Passing after running a red light fascinates me... but ah well.

Insurance recommends a big old banger partly because of safety - if she hits some little car, her big old banger will squish it like bug, and she will likely be safe inside the huge sturdy old cage of steel.

But... it's your kid and your cars. If you don't think she's old enough to drive, you don't HAVE to let her. Of course, you'd then still have to live with her...

nethead

That's one way of putting it

Maggs

We decided that none of our kids would take their drivers ed before 16 and not take their test until they reached 17. We're now on the 3rd one going through their driving and it seems to be working out ok. None of them are/were happy at first to be learning later than some of their friends, but they soon figured it's this way or no way! Part of the reason is because the driving test are so ridiculously easy.

The two oldest are pretty good drivers and the next one will be 17 in Dec. The youngest who is 15 now would be a nightmare if she took her drivers ed now. She's unable to concentrate on anything, let alone driving a car!!

Deedee13

facinated wasnt a word i would use! however, i have driven with her for the past few months and she is ok, and I do think get her out and about and she will get better.....

She cant have music on, no cell phones and no passengers apart from her sister..which probably isnt good however its working out so far.

Sue

I feel for you. Our 15 year old son has got his learners permit. Paul took him out the first few times to teach him the gears (its a manual) and then we progressed to making him drive home from school every day (its a 30 min trip). The first couple of times I was a bag of nerves but he has improved in leaps and bounds and no longer stalls at traffic lights. Mind you, I don't know how I will cope, nerve wise, when he is out there driving on his own next year.

md95065

I thought that running red lights was practically mandatory in some states ...

penguinsix

Get her a clunker.

Make sure it a safe car or has a lot of tin in front of it. Something with airbags and hopefully automatic seat belts (the ones that basically buckle themselves--force you to wear them). Something that isn't going to break the bank and isn't going to suffer if it has a scratch or six down the side.

You can also think about 'self-insuring' the car. Not self-insuring liability, no (never), nothing like that, but not worrying about the car's value if it gets blown up or destroyed. Treat it as a disposable one. Not sure if that will save money or not but you should consider it when talking to the insurance company. Just the value of the car (definitely not the liabiliity stuff which is usually mandatory)

OiOi

And ban any participation in Squirt-Gun Assassin

HighSpeedGrandma

She messed up parallel parking AND went through a very red light and passed? Let me know when she's out and I can stay off the road.

I wouldn't get a brand new car, but not an old banger either. How about a bumper car?
Kidding. Congrats.

Tarkak9

Thanks for the warning and giving the heads up Dee...

What they want...
What they get...

find an old Volvo - they're tanks; just make sure its in good condition as repairs suck on them.

cindyabs

thank you for the warning.

Circus-of-Power

When my eldest stepdaughter passed her test I was dumbfounded, simply driving in a straight line was a task she seldom performed well.....she regarded most stop signs as suggestions rather than instructions and could never turn the windshield wipers on but could always find the radio station she wanted
1 week after passing she reversed the wifes car straight into a neighbours truck ....(brand new too ).....her defense was the truck was black and she didn't see it .....it was 7:45am on a sunny July morning

2 years on she's worse than ever ......my other step kids refused to go anywhere with her and I'd rather crawl over broken glass than get in the bloody car with her....despite warning of cell phone use whilst driving she'll call her mom on the way back from shopping ....the wife regularly swears she can hear horns blaring in the background ...

Anyways ...congrats to your daughter and hope everything works out