As graduations and summer approach, young people everywhere imagine having their own set of wheels to celebrate their milestones and independence. Although some buy cars with earnings from fast food labor or hours of trudging behind a lawn mower, others receive an assist from Mom and Dad or grandparents.
Either way, you can provide valuable advice on how to save money on the purchase, what safety features the car should have and how to drive responsibly.
Purchasing protection
When you realize that your child or grandchild will command an object that weighs several thousand pounds, your mind naturally will turn to safety.
- How many air bags does the car have?
An air bag became mandatory for the driver of a car in 1989, while vehicles produced for the 1999 model year on had to have front air bags for driver and passenger. Some manufacturers have introduced side-mounted air bags in case a car is struck from the side. Some high-end cars even feature knee air bags. - Does it have new brake technology?
An anti-lock braking system prevents the wheels from locking during a panic stop, which helps a driver retain control of a car’s steering. Electronic stability control, or ESC, incorporates anti-lock brakes but is a more complex system. It compares a driver’s actions on the steering wheel, gas pedal and brake pedal with what the vehicle actually is doing. For instance, if a car fishtails, ESC adjusts the braking of each wheel individually to improve control. In 2006, researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced that ESC reduces the risk of a fatality in single-vehicle crashes by more than 50 percent. It’s standard on more than half of 2007 vehicle models, with all vehicles required to have the feature by 2012, according to the IIHS Web site. To check if a desired make and model has ESC, visit iihs.org/ratings/esc/esc.aspx. - How does a vehicle hold up under impact?
Many auto manufacturers tout their vehicles’ roll bars, support cages and crumple zones — designed to protect in case of a crash — but these safety features aren’t identical, and the only way to see how well they work is to smash a few hundred vehicles. The IIHS has done this and shows front, side and rear crash test results for most makes and models on its Web site: iihs.org/ratings. Five minutes researching the safety of a vehicle may be the best five minutes you ever spend: Teenage drivers have the highest crash risk of any group, according to the IIHS. - What has a used car experienced?
If you’re buying a used car instead of a new one, the safety features usually are listed on the sale tag, but as senior consumer advice editor Philip Reed of Edmunds.com points out, “there is no way to test the air bags in a used car. Some of them may be defective or even removed.” Have a mechanic check to see if the air bag is there, but also visit carfax.com/airbag and enter the vehicle identification number to get a history of air bag deployment.
Reed recommends that used-car buyers also purchase a Carfax report to learn the car’s history.
The $24.99 you’ll pay for a single-vehicle history report is worth every penny. “It will tell you whether the car has sustained flood damage, has been in serious crashes or has encountered funny business with the odometer,” Reed says.
You also can “purchase a factory-certified used car which has been thoroughly inspected and is sold with an extended warranty,” he adds.
Adding up the cost
When buying a car, keep in mind three numbers: the sticker price, which the dealer wants you to pay; the invoice price, which is what the dealer paid; and the true market price, which is what buyers actually paid. Edmunds.com offers a True Market Value feature on its Web site that gives you all three of these prices, and the prices are specific for your region. “Most people aren’t looking for the absolute lowest price,” Reed says. “They just want an average price to know whether they’re getting a fair deal.”
The more dealers in your area, the more negotiating power you have because you can request trade-in values and sale prices from all of them, then go with the best deal or use the prices to bargain. Even if you have only one dealer, though, a little homework helps. “You can save $2,000 to $4,000 by doing a half-hour of work with the base prices, sales tax, and additional warranties and so on,” Reed says.
Auto insurance costs vary widely, and although some factors are outside your control — typically, boys cost more than girls, teenagers more than adults — your decisions and lifestyle can affect your total cost. Having safety features like air bags and ESC might lower the cost, while a poor driving record and performance features such as a large engine could raise it. Adding a new driver to a policy generally is cheaper than creating a new policy.
Taking control
Help your teen manage life behind the wheel with a driving contract, suggests parent life coach and licensed clinical social worker Susan Epstein of ParentingPowers.com. It could spell out how many people are allowed in the car, when a cell phone can be used, what curfew must be met and how long a license will be lost for misbehavior — even unrelated to the vehicle. Include details in the contract such as who’s paying for what, she adds. “If kids pay insurance or monthly car payments, help them set up debit programs from bank accounts,” Epstein suggests. “This teaches them the real costs of driving and keeps you from picking up the full tab.”
Adherence to the contract shows responsibility and can lead to greater maturity behind the wheel. Says Epstein, “If your child cleans the car regularly and makes appointments for oil changes and maintenance, those actions show initiative and care that will translate into activities on the road.”
