Get A Job
Do you all remember a few months ago when my oldest daughter got her driving permit? Well, we are closing in on actual “get your license” time. Kind of scary.
Even scarier than teenage drivers is the insurance premiums. Listing her as an occasional driver on my car isn’t all that bad, but Oldest Daughter wants her own car. Much more costly. It can’t be just any old car, either, it has to look good.
Times have really changed. My grandparents gave me their ’74 Ford LTD to drive when I went to college and I was thrilled. The rust, which took over most of the car, was covered up with some kind of tape and bondo. The huge beast was yellow and got 3 miles to the gallon, but I could fit like 10 people in there. All the kids drove beaters back then. Now the kids seem to be driving better cars than their parents. Not going to happen here.
I’m not sure who she thought her parents actually were all this time, but there really is a reason I’m driving a Kia Sedona and the hubby is driving a 10 year old car with sticking doors and it’s really not because I’m cheap. Adding another car and insurance payments to the mix isn’t going to happen, unless I win the lottery or make the blogging A-List and get all those celebrity freebies that I can then turn around and hock on e-bay.
Enter ex-husband. He offered to buy her a car. Since he’s contributed, well, nothing towards her so far 16 expensive years on this planet, I considered his offer. His nephew is selling a 95 Acura Integra and Oldest Daughter was so excited she was jumping up and down. At work I ran a rate quote for the insurance and OMG. $1400.00 every six months. That’s a lotta money and I told him to look for a different car. Nevermind the insurance, I’m sure with my luck as soon as we took possession of a ’95 anything, it would need a ton of repairs.
I told Oldest Daughter that I just can’t and don’t want to pay insurance premiums like that, so she decided to get a job and see if she could pay for it herself. She’s very intuitive because I was going to make her do that anyway.
She gave up her spot on the cheerleading squad this year and is now working part-time at Ace Hardware as a “helpful hardware girl/cashier”. She seems to like it so far. I’m hoping that after dealing with the public for minimum wage, she realizes just how much money $1,400.00 is and since she will be working only to be able to drive the car back and forth to work because there won’t be much time for anything else, she won’t want the car at all.
Keep your fingers crossed :)
10 comments:
There's a reason Integras are so expensive to insure... they're the car of choice amongst the Kamakazi Death Driver's Club. Around here if there is an Integra flying at you, get the hell out of the way. It's likely being driven by a testosterone overdosing boy who is hell bent on trying out his XBox maneuvers behind the wheel of a car. You're a wise, wise woman to pass.
Know what's scarier than an Integra? Looking up from the driver's seat of my Accord into the window of a very tall SUV next to me and seeing what appears to be a 12 y/o driving... alone!
Minimum wage, retail and car insurance, they're all a right of passage.
Aaah yes, I remember working so I could pay for insurance. Of course, that's all I could pay for so I basically worked to have a car to drive to work...It was cool then, however =)
When I was her age my parents let me use their cars as long as I paid my own insurance. Back then I worked 3 jobs and had a very active social life. Teenagers don't actually need sleep! ;-)
my oldest got to use the car because she became the taxi driver for the other two...
we really missed her when she went to school....for more than one reason...smile.
That's some expensive insurance!
how very sneaky of you!!! i guess it goes to say some lessons are better learned the hard way!
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That is how it is at our house! But our insurance is not that high. The best we've gotten for our teen driver is through General Casualty, I think $1600 per year, and for a BOY, even! It could have been less, too. Combining with your homeowners insurance brings it down, too. Now we are looking at a second teen driver. But I make them pay for their own insurance. And they don't get their own car. I keep a beater to insure. Much cheaper.
Reality hits like a ton of bricks. Kids are so used to having everything paid for them that they really don't understand how much things cost until they have to work for it themselves.
When I was a teen I innocently asked my parents to buy me a decent 35mm camera. They told me if I really wanted one, I'd get a job and buy it myself. So I did. That was my first big lesson in how much things really cost.
Good luck with the whole situation.
I had a 1971 Dodge Dart. The car was awesome! It looked like an old man car but I drove it like a yacht!
Tell your daughter she should work at a place where you get free food. You can't eat the nail and wood scraps at ACE LOL. Ahhhh, those young aged part time jobs. Life, don't it go too fast???
I love how intuitive your daughter is! When I moved out, my mom was a cosmetics department manager who came home with samples from all the pricier lines, so I never had to buy my own makeup. Off I went into the big wide world. First trip to the drug store to replenish my makeup really sold me on the natural look.
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