Originally Posted by
Pete
Well, if 16 isn't the right age to give you kid a car so he/she can start learning, than what age is? The longer you wait to teach a kid something, the farther behind they will be from every other kid whose parents hook them up. When I tuned 16 in 2000, my dad gave me an 89' camry. Yeah there were times when I beat the piss out of it. Sure, there were times when I had near collisions. But that's why you give your kid a junker and not a $30k+ car to learn with.
I'm not arguing that 16 isn't an appropriate age to start driving, but not all 16 year olds are ready to have the responsibility of having their own car. I didn't get my own car till I was 18, and I think I caught up just fine. Junker or not, there are still liability issues that a parent will be responsible for. Yeah, true I could have as easily gotten into an accident driving my parents car, but it's limiting potentially dangerous exposure. I've been hit by a 16 yo who had their license for 3 months and decided to run. Guess what, her parents called me for 2 weeks begging me to call off my insurance, even though it was out of my hands at that point.